Display cases, showing off your collection

Compared to many Hot Wheels collectors my car collection is meager. Serious collectors probably buy more cars in a single month than I’ve managed to collect over the past 10 years. But regardless how much you collect or why you collect, everyone likes to show off them off. So how do you show your cars off?

Size matters not

My personal and only display case

Some people have rooms dedicated to nothing but Hot Wheels, walls covered with blister packs and loose cars on display. Some people, like myself, have slightly less space and are limited to a shelf here and there while the rest of cars end up in bins. I have one display shelf that I’ve had since I was probably 8 or 9 that my grandpa made for me. It’s a simple six-shelf, stained wood display case. Simple and in many ways quite elegant albeit extremely dusty…at least in my house.

To wood or not to wood?

Personally, I favor the wood display cases because I think they look better. They’re simple yet the quality in most is evident. The clear plastic plexi display cases always looked kind of cheap to me, even though they’re probably the exact opposite buying them. I guess they’re just a little to Sharper Imagine for my tastes, but to each his own. However, I have to question anyone that uses the mirrors with their displays.

Mirrors are just tacky. It doesn’t matter if you’re showing off Hot Wheels or using them in your living room. There’s a point when mirrors are just too big and too much. I know mirrors can create this infinite facade that makes your car collection look bigger, and mirrors can also let viewers see the far side of a car without having to touch them (heaven forbid). But if there’s one thing that bothers me about the mirrors is that you can’t take photos. And I have to guess that keeping the mirrors clean is a real pain in the but. Believe me, dusting my wooden shelf is pain enough let alone if I had to worry about fingerprints.

Getting serious about displays

Recently in the forum Redline Derby member Jim posted about his own display shelf creations. Jim is a avid Hot Wheels collector and seems to be half carpenter too as his shelf designs are great and the build quality looks impressive. He doesn’t seem to be partial to blistered cars or loose, he’s built displays for both.

Jim's Mini Track display

Jim blogs about his creations over at Carlson442, where you’ll find great articles about displays and a lot of photos. My favorite display is the one I’ve dubbed the Mini Track, which looks like a cut away of a race track. It shows off two cars wonderfully in a race scene, plus it looks like it would be the perfect size for your office desk.

Perhaps the best thing about wooden display cases is that just about anyone can build one, regardless of carpentry skill. Sure, it helps to have a handy man’s mind, but in the end a display case is just a bunch of planks attached to a back. Simple…yet you can get as complicated as you want. You can paint it, stain it, bedazzle it, whatever you want. Not to mention wood is completely accessible through your local home store, unlike the plastic, glass, or mirrors.

A great project for everyone

A lazy weekend and $25 worth of parts will yield you a display shelf guaranteed. You don’t even need any special tools. A saw, hammer, nails, maybe some wood glue for good measure…most of those you probably already have. Of course, if you want a shelf that looks pro like Jim’s you’ll need to plan things out more, but it’s not necessary if you’re looking for a fun family project.

I encourage everyone to check out the forum and check out Jim’s thread, as well as the other great diecast project conversations going on there.

And for all you collectors like me that DON’T have a dedicated Hot Wheels wing of your house, how do you show off your Hot Wheels? Snap a few photos and share them in the forum.