Slick Rick's Model Car Display Cabinet

  • Thread starter Slick Rick
  • 9 comments
  • 2,729 views
3,534
United Kingdom
London
A while ago some of you may remember me sending out a few questionnaires asking about a display cabinet for model cars.
Well its taken me 5 months of hard work and heres what i built:

Its a model car display cabinet made from beech chipboard with clear acrylic covers and shelves. It has a working turntable which runs on one AA 1.2V rechargeable battery and can turn up to 10 Kg comfortably!!, The turntable is made from 2 layers of yellow 3mm acrylic glued together.
The cabinet is designed to display 1/24 and 1/18 cars but can obviously hold other things just as long as their no taller than 14cm.
Its designed to go in a corner and can be wall mounted.

Here are some more pics:

This pic was taken with slow shutter speed so you can see the table turn:

Like i mentioned earlier you can put other things in like hot wheel cars, bikes or even your old lego models:

This is the turntable, mech and a little diagram i drew so you can see how it works:


The clear part of the shelf is held in place using a 3mm deep rebate so it will be flush with the rest of the shelf:

The cabinet is put together using butt joints and countersunk chipboard screws and no glue(its a bit like a flat pack):

The cabinet doesn't have doors but individual covers which slot into a grove:


For the final part of my project i have to evaluate it and find out other peoples opinion. This includes you the model car collector at GTP!
I have come up with 8 short questions that i would like you to answer to help me evaluate my cabinet:

1) What was the first thing you noticed when you saw the cabinet?
2) What do you like about the Cabinet?
3) What don't you like about the Cabinet?
4) What else would you have liked in/on the Cabinet
5) How much would you be willing to pay for the cabinet if it was for sale?
6) Where in your home would you put it?
7) What else would you put in the cabinet to display?
8) Any other comments about the cabinet or related to the cabinet(optional)

Id prefer if you could post your answers here on this thread instead of in pm and sooner rather than later so i can complete my evaluation. This is a big part of my project so please try to answer the questions fully and truthfully
Ive uploaded enough pics for you to get a good idea on what it looks like but if you want to see more, don't hesitate to ask :)

Thank you for your time and input,
Slick Rick.
 
Wow, thats badass.
1. Glass! (shelves)
2. Its enclosed
3. N/A
4. Mirrors on the sides, maybe? Lights?
5. Not sure, but its definitely worth some $$
6. Office or bedroom
7. Memorabilia
8. Wow.
 
Maybe somewhere around the $185 mark since it has a turntable, yet made of chipboard.. I hate to put a price on it, because I cant see your worksmanship (which looks great, though). I'm sure you put hard work into it.

I did a search for other cabinets, which all pretty much seem to be mirrored and plexiglass, hard to find a wood one. So, its hard to name a price. They run ~$145

Remember, just an idea! I'm not an appraiser or any kind! I'm sure you could sell it for $200++ and someone would still buy it..!
 
1) Glass (front and bottom)
2) Turn table and glass front.
3) Glass bottoms could maybe be a bit bigger.
4) Lights coming from the top, and maybe side lights pointing at the turntable
5) $120-140
6) Living room beside my TV.
7) Girlfriends stupid little stuff that she likes.
8) Not really, but great idea on the turntable, very creative. 👍
 
1) Light wood color and lots of glass
2) Shape, glassed-in sides, turntable
3) Light color of wood - Bit darker=better.
4) Mirror instead of yellow plexi on turntable, and lighting inside cabinet to highlight the (presumably) expensive models inside.
5) Assuming good build quality, $180-200. Real wood instead of chipboard/mdf would also raise value.
6) Living room, bedroom, den.
7) Models, and more models.
8) Looks great.
 
1) What was the first thing you noticed when you saw the cabinet?
Nice, unique shape and the fact that it's a corner-mount piece

2) What do you like about the Cabinet?
See-through shelving and the airyness of the design.

3) What don't you like about the Cabinet?
The yellow turntable might look better if it was clear...but not sure on this?

4) What else would you have liked in/on the Cabinet
It would be cool if the shelves had little triangular supports (like a 2x2 split along the diagonal) near the rear so they could hold heavier stuff, like china. Also some lighting would be nice, like those little halogen bulbs.

5) How much would you be willing to pay for the cabinet if it was for sale?
Assembled, $160-$180, and $110ish if it came ikea-style, parts in a box.

6) Where in your home would you put it?
Dining room

7) What else would you put in the cabinet to display?
Some china and knick nacks

8) Any other comments about the cabinet or related to the cabinet(optional)
Looks very professionally done 👍
 
Very nice work!

1) The nice looking wood finish.
2) The turntable, and the over-all looks of it.
3) The color/material the surface of the turntable is made of.
4) A mirror would make a great surface for the turntable. Lights. AC powered.
5) As is, $100US. With a mirror on the turntable, good lighting, and AC power, $200US. (That's just me, you could probably get more.)
6) Living room corner.
7) I would use it for model autos like you, but I think anything of proper size would look good.
8) I'm no expert, but it looks very nice to me! Looks like quality craftsmanship.
 
1) Glass shelves + turntable.
2) Glass shelves, turntable, the fact it only needs 1 AA battery, and the fitting-into-a-corner thing.
3) Real wood would be nicer, and it's a bit smaller than my first impression thought it to be; could probably only fit about 7 1:18ths in it (plus 2 more on top).
4) Mirror turntable and a few lights in there.
5) As is, about £45-50; with the mirror turntable, lights and better wood, about £90-100.
6) Bedroom
7) 1:18ths and maybe a few 1:64ths.
8) Good work! Looks very nice for a DIY cabinet. Impressed by the turntable mechanism.
 
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