How do you display your collection? (1 Viewer)

[rcapps]

Last night my wife made a comment about my toy soldier collection. She said my soldier cabinet does not look good because everything is crammed in with no rhyme or reason. I guess she's right. I have a decent size collection of K&C Alamo, Civil War, Kings X figures, LAH, the JJ planes, Little Legion Napoleon, Zulu, Imperial Napoleon, Trophy Civil War and Monarch Crimea. I would still like to add First Legion AWI and have not even mentioned all the buildings, walls and displays.

So how do you display your collection? Right now all of my guys are stuffed into a large 6' by 6' cabinet or in separate display cases. Do you always display your figures in dioramas? Do you display them in battle scenes or do you just line them up?

Guess I'm just interested in how others display these wonderful treasures.

 

[lancer]

I don't have the room to display dioramas, with one exception. What I do have are bookcases. My collection is not organized by bookcase but by bookshelf. I try not to mix time periods. Each period has it's own shelves and within a given period, gloss and matte ate kept seperate, as are scales in the case of aircraft. This gives me some control over the chaos.:rolleyes2: I have close to 3 dozen shelves for my soldiers (and some 22 shelves of books) and only 2 of them have multiple time periods/scales. It works for me.^&grin -- Al

 

[Mitch]

Mine are in Glass cabinets for the more expensive stuff and things I try to keep dust free like the LAH parade figures. The rest is on shelves and book cases, my real WWII memorabilia is in the loft in cabinets along with most of the books I have. Probably similar to most collectors
Mitch

 

[thebritfarmer]

Currently most of mine is boxed up except my Zulu collection which is on display on a large table as a dio.

The boxed stuff will eventually go into display cabinets of some type.

 

[Obee]

I have 3 BILLY bookcases, by IKEA.

They are great, as I have added 8 glass shelves instead of the 4 wooden ones, and inside down lighting.

To keep dust out I have added glass doors.

As they are modular, I have some half bookcases to match to hold books (of course) and some other half ones with doors, to hold magazines and such that looks untidy, and some boxes.

IKEA make some good, cheap, but efficient storage, AND its great fun assembling ot too

Available worldwide.

John

 

[29 Let's Go]

I only collect figures to fit into a specific diorama e.g. Battle of Snowshoe or Monongahela. I have four built in shelves 22" x 72".

 

[Phantom Warrior]

I have 8 glass door cabinets each with 4 glass shelves 23 inches wide by 13 inches deep. Some of the shelves have terrain mats and small dioramas. A shelf has only enough room to display one side (Brit, US or German) with armour and buildings. For opposition I can continue the same display on a shelf at the same height in the adjacent display cabinet.

Other shelves just have a row of AFVs.

The shelves that hold the samples of British Empire, Naps , knights, etc just have small groupings with the groups differentiated by pieces of different terrain mats. This keeps the small unrelated groups visually separate from eachother and prevents a shelf of mixed figures from looking like a jumble. (Don't ask for a photo of this technique as I haven't actually put the small terrain pieces on the shelves yet.

Terry

 

[Grognard]

I have 2 curio cabinets: 1 small (6 shelves) and wall mounted, and one large (5 shelves - armoire style). You can see both on my Treefrog album. I have also a couple of 90 mm figures on one of my bookshelves. Everything is in my home office.

 

[Currahee Chris]

Currently, my collection is fully displayed in glass cabinets. I am in the process of building plywood tables to display my larger dioramas. Will commence with that once I move back into my house. Since the fire, I had some new ductwork and furnace work done so I lost some space in my man cave basement.

 

[theBaron]

Most of mine is packed away, because I have no real display space, except for a barrister in my living room. I'm gradually renovating my house and adding display space. I have a small display case on my phone table, and another one on an end table, and otherwise, I can only display some of my collection at Christmas, as part of the Putz.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Louis Badolato]

I have my collection displayed in ten closed glass cabinets, on several shelves, and on 19 dioramas on top of display platforms, tables and the glass cabinets in three rooms (800 square feet). But my displays have definitely become overcrowded, and I am planning on, for example, hanging several of my Heco Tinplate aircraft from fishing line over my airfield diorama in order to make it look more like an airfield and less like a traffic jam.:redface2:

 

[Currahee Chris]

I have my collection displayed in ten closed glass cabinets, on several shelves, and on 19 dioramas on top of display platforms, tables and the glass cabinets in three rooms (800 square feet). But my displays have definitely become overcrowded, and I am planning on, for example, hanging several of my Heco Tinplate aircraft from fishing line over my airfield diorama in order to make it look more like an airfield and less like a traffic jam.:redface2:

I would advise against that Louis. You remember how many times you had to tell me to watch my head on Saturday- imagine if my big dome was knocking into those beautiful planes of yours. I really like how your collection looks now. I always get worried when people start hanging cabinets on the walls or suspending planes from the ceiling as I am so worried of them coming crashing down- especially at your crib where you have sometimes the only model in existence.

I also know a lot of people who hang them from the air and they get really really dusty that way.

Your man cave is perfect the way it is. Start messing with perfection and that's when the wheels come off

 

[Louis Badolato]

I would advise against that Louis. You remember how many times you had to tell me to watch my head on Saturday- imagine if my big dome was knocking into those beautiful planes of yours. I really like how your collection looks now. I always get worried when people start hanging cabinets on the walls or suspending planes from the ceiling as I am so worried of them coming crashing down- especially at your crib where you have sometimes the only model in existence.

I also know a lot of people who hang them from the air and they get really really dusty that way.

Your man cave is perfect the way it is. Start messing with perfection and that's when the wheels come off

Your probably right, Chris. I got a new glass topped and sided display table today, which I put next to the Chimney in the rear of the main room, and will use it to ease some of the overcrowding. I think I'll put all the Heco Armored vehicles presently in the Heco cabinet on the other side of the Chimney, and use the space cleared in the cabinet to ease some of the congestion on the airfield.

 

[Wraith]

Your probably right, Chris. I got a new glass topped and sided display table today, which I put next to the Chimney in the rear of the main room, and will use it to ease some of the overcrowding. I think I'll put all the Heco Armored vehicles presently in the Heco cabinet on the other side of the Chimney, and use the space cleared in the cabinet to ease some of the congestion on the airfield.

Louis,
Haven't you got a garage that's just itching to be converted in to a museum annex? :wink2:
Go on, dare you to suggest it.

 

[Arnhemjim]

When my wife and I designed our retirement home in 2000, she got her dream kitchen, and I got my dream library. I did have the collection displayed in a series of lawyer’s bookcases, curio cabinets, and small glass cases. At a local Scandinavian furniture store I was able to find a combination of modular teak (remember not oak) display cabinets and bookcases. The display cabinets have glass shelves and doors, and are top lighted. Each cabinet module has a double-door bottom storage area where I can keep the empty boxes. It wasn’t cheap, however it was a lot cheaper than installing built in custom cabinetry, and although not likely to happen anytime soon, the units can (in theory) be emptied and moved. I'm including a couple of jpgs to show the overall effect. Unfortunately even with "thickening up", i.e. closing ranks, I'm running out of display space. At least it provides a rationalization for what in actuality has become my budget imposed very selective "troop reinforcement".
Arnhemjim

 

[lancer]

Arnhemjim, that is one beautiful layout. -- Al

 

[Louis Badolato]

Louis,
Haven't you got a garage that's just itching to be converted in to a museum annex? :wink2:
Go on, dare you to suggest it.

Oh sure. After I come up with the money for a new Kitchen, to have the greenhouse converted to a conservatory/breakfast nook, and to install the light blue silk she wants in the formal dining room, I'm sure she will have no objection to converting the garage to an annex - I just have to convince her to have her Brother and Sister remove their stuff that presently fills both bays of the garage.

In short, not bloody likely, Simon!^&grin:salute::

 

[Louis Badolato]

Arnhemjim, that is one beautiful layout. -- Al

I'm with Jim, great layout!^&cool^&cool^&cool^&cool

 

[4th Hussar]

I am planning on, for example, hanging several of my Heco Tinplate aircraft from fishing line over my airfield diorama in order to make it look more like an airfield and less like a traffic jam.:redface2:

That works well, plus you can push them and watch them fly back and forth, up and down and around again.............................^&grin^&grin

 

[Go for Broke]

Chris Curahee, are you that bald guy in Louis's symposium pics wearing the Army T-shirt?