Displays and displaying

Hi all from a shaken New Zealand! This is not directly about displays, but some of the hazards. Most of my collection is behind doors which are solid (no light through), but a few items are on open shelves. Recently there was a magnitude 7.5 Richter earthquake near my home. There was an interesting effect on the open shelf ones - some going forward and others going back. None fell off however. Unfortunately a couple of the doors were open and a few made their escape to the floor. No damage as the floor has a thick carpet. Ron F

You must be relieved, Ron,that nothing more serious happened! Kind regards, Jan

Ron Also glad to hear that you and your collection survived in good shape; that had to be quite frightful for sure. Was there much damage to homes, roads, or business near you? Kind regards, Terry

Kia Ora Jan and Terry, Thanks for you concern. Luckily I think we were just outside the damage area whereas areas closer to the epicenter (south of us) did suffer damage (only about 10 kms away). Today we have very heavy rain and flooding, but we are safe from that. Ron F

Ron You certainly were very fortunate. It appears that a very essential item to have in the Land of the Long White Cloud is to have a very thick carpet at the base of every display case! New Zealand has certainly been copping its fair share of earthquakes in recent times. I am glad I have my collection safely ensconced in many plastic lidded boxes with them sitting close to the floor! At least they are also safe from binatangs (silverfish, moths etc) as well as earthquakes of which Australia is fortunate in not having very many. But you were certainly very lucky Ron, and I can only wish you continued good luck during these very unsettling times in New Zealand. Kind regards Bruce H. (150) 20161117/1041/218

Hi all, fortunately I cannot complain about earth quakes, but, living below sea level, I have always been well aware to keep, display and store everything that is dear to me above sea level, secure and dry when the dikes collapse! Kind regards, Jan

Hi all, some 1.5 months after conceiving a new additional display I managed to virtually complete it, slightly sooner than I had scheduled. But the whole project is not complete yet, the layout shown is provisional and makes part of an overall re-arrangement of the entire collection, because everything has started to move now. Moreover, the new display case itself will need some slight adjustments in order to function smoothly. And it will not be fully locked until half December, to be sure that all paint, kit, cement used is thoroughly, 100% dry and without any vapour accumulating inside the closed display unit. As this display, like the ships display below, is much deeper than the majority of my display units, I decided to include lighting. This LED lighting is without any heat and in practice I will only turn it on for a quick glimpse or at a special occasion in order to avoid any discoloration. Three deep shelves could be inserted and the base is covered with nice red velvet, similar to my other displays. As the angle of the displays front below is continued up to the ceiling displays I did not need to construct complicated and less dust proof glass doors. The glass plates just rest in that angle and are supported by the base. Less than half a millimeter is the seam in between, much better dust proof than average sliding or hinged doors. I have even made some small holes in the back for allowing some minimal ventilation. It did require some very accurate working indeed to have everything perfectly square. Starting the operation it was just the need for space in general, I had no specific idea of what items would be on display there. In the course of the work I had the time to think about that and it turned out that it could easily accommodate my modest size pre-war Dinky collection, mainly ships, aeroplanes and some gift sets, which deserve a nicer way of displaying. Having extracted them from my existing displays they left a lot of space there, allowing to have a far more spacious line-up of the rest of the collection. Now I have started the re-arranging of the contents of these. I presume that everything will be settled definitively early December. Kind regards, Jan

Jan----Congratulations on the completion of your new display area....it looks very nice, and fits in perfectly with your existing unit below. I meant to ask you just how deep your normal display shelves are; I know this one is deeper, due to the angle, but I am assuming your normal Dinky displays are maybe 10' or so deep. Reason I am asking is that we are contemplating building a whole new display cabinet.....badly needed, as my current one is terribly crowded.....thanks!Best regards, Terry

An intriguing question that is Terry, because all display units are custom made, suitable for the models they were to contain and depending on the space available at various locations in my study/hobby room. The vast majority of my shallow cabinets are 15 cm deep (60,25 m). But I also have ultra shallow cabinets (like the 'ceiling displays') of 8 cm deep (18,00 m). My deep cabinets (for layouts, diorama's etc.) are 26 cm deep (7.80 m). The new display case (shelves ranging from 30-40 cm deep) adds another 5.80 m to that deeper display accommodation. In all this is over 90 m, running meters - my non-Dinky displays excluded (which amazes me because I never made a calculation like this before!). This makes me think that I should write about the evolution and the 'making of' my displays, since 1979, in The Journal. May be an inspiration for other fellow Dinky enthusiasts. Kind regards, Jan

Beautiful boats Jan. By the way, I was in the navy for my military time. Best rgds Richard

Ah, something to discuss next time we meet, Richard! Kind regards, Jan

Jan----Thanks for your reply and further information on the depth of your shelves. My display case will be somewhat boring, and only one depth, unless I decide to make a deeper cabinet on the bottom, with a shallower one on top....we will see!Best regards, Terry