Introduction

These “pole and branch” coat stands are a classic of the twentieth century, often lurking in the background of films from the 1930s and onwards. They are still made today – I have one in my office! The number of arms and feet may vary between three and six.

Contents

There are seven blocks holding fourteen parts in slightly flexible grey resin. There is a little flash, but it scrapes off easily with a hobby knife.

the coat rack

The real thing has a set of bent-wood feet that often support a wood or metal ring to hold umbrellas. Up top are a set of bent arms to hold hats (on the top end) and coats on the bottom end. At the base of the shaft is a counter-weight to help keep it all balanced, shaped as a dish to hold the bases of wet umbrellas to catch the drips.

Assembly is fiddly, since the leg locations are only marked by a groove. Since the legs only touch the shaft at one point on a curve, getting the angle right is tricky. I used superglue, but perhaps Gator’s Grip glue would be better since it gives longer working time. Getting all four legs to touch the ground is a challenge! The upper arms are a little easier since there are five dimples around the shaft to locate them. Part of the problem is the round profile of all the parts – it would have helped if the attachment points were all made flat to offer better fit. All in all assembly took about 30 minutes.

While it looks good, the finished rack stands a whopping seven feet tall. Most racks advertised on the internet are in the 5’6”-6’ range. (Sad to admit, but I really did surf the furniture websites for this review!) Of course, it is perfectly possible for some racks to stand seven feet tall, but it isn’t as likely. This kit could be shortened with a little surgery, but because it is well proportioned as-cast that would make it look decidedly squat. My guess is it would fit better with 1:32 or 54mm figures, but I’m sure it can look okay in a 1:35 diorama as long as nobody is placed too close to it.

Conclusion

Despite being oversize, this coat stand is a classic design that should look good in an office or even in a ruined building set any time in the past hundred years. Pity it is a handful to assemble.