Sunday 11 March 2018

The cabinet is back

The only casualty of our house move last year was my acrylic mirrored display cabinet which suffered a broken shelf. I can’t even blame the removals company because I broke it myself taking it off the wall in our old house.

Its taken a whole year but I finally got around to replacing the broken shelf with a new piece of acrylic sheet which was a tricky and rather nerve-racking experience. Today I fixed it to the wall in my study and was finally able to get the Hinton Hunts out of their storage boxes and back on the shelves where I can see them.

The cabinet is very tricky to photograph because of the mirrored back so apologies for the quality of the photos but I thought some of you would be interested to see the collection en-masse. There are 600 figures on the shelves and I have another 200 or so that wouldn’t fit in.

The cabinet is 60cm wide by 50cm tall and has 6 shelves.
Repairs involved fixing a replacement bottom shelf and wooden
support strip. The tricky thing was trying not to get too much
glue on the clear acrylic.
Top Shelf - a mixture of British, Brunswick, French and
Prussian cavalry. You can see the mirroring effect on the
second shelf showing the backs of the troops.
Shelf 2 - the Poles are sharing a shelf with the Austrians.
Shelf 3 - mostly Prussians.
Shelf 4 - the Duke's finest on parade.
Shelf 5 - Vive l'emperor!
Bottom Shelf - French, Prussian and British heavy cavalry.

The question now will be which troops do I displace when I finish the Guard Marines?

24 comments:

Matt said...

A stirring site, that really is a fantastic collection! What would the young Stryker make of all that?

Stryker said...

Matt - the young Stryker would have been amazed and frankly the old Stryker is pretty amazed too. I'm not sure how it's all happened!

Vintage Wargaming said...

Ian they look superb all together like that

The Good Soldier Svjek said...

An elegant storage and display solution .

Stryker said...

Clive - thanks, I can't imagine how many cabinets you would need!

Stryker said...

Thanks GSS, it is a very clever design but I don't think they are still in production.

MSFoy said...

Excellent work - looks great. You must have to pay the cleaners a lot to get them to dust them carefully?

Inspirational. Good photos too.

As you know I keep my soldiers in the dark, or in magnetised box-files, so no-one can see them. It does seem a little unusual, but after only about 20 years my wife has stopped pulling my leg about it.

Gollum.

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

WOW!

The cabinet enhances the figures and the figures enhance the cabinet and the combined effect is, well, WOW!

lewisgunner said...

Perhaps you should organise a rota for units with all getting a turm, and a couple of limelight spots for special favourites?

Stryker said...

Thanks Ross, one of the good things is that because the shelves are transparent there are no shadows and no need for lighting.

Vintage Wargaming said...

I don't have enough walls

Mark Dudley said...

A position on the shelf could be based on a units performance in games. You could also have the prime spot reserved for the top performing unit.

Of course those that do not perform will end up 'sans shelf' with the 200.

Stryker said...

Roy/Mark - because the cabinet sits just above my desk the top spot is actually the bottom shelf at eye level. I guess I could draw lots to see who gets consigned to the storage boxes!

Wellington Man said...

Your cabinet, not to mention the troops therein, is the bees knees Ian. Certainly better than mine, which is a ginormous mahogany 1930s job which could fit about three thousand soldiers into it. I'm expecting to have it filled at some piont around my 93rd birthday.
All the best
WM

the Archduke said...

Hearty congrats, Ian. I remember the moment of reveal for my own lads. It's like being able to breathe again. I'm with Mark D and LG on display rights. Shelf loss could be equivalent to colour loss........ (That's flag loss, not paint fade).

Stryker said...

WM - I think you'll get to 3,000 long before then (after all Roy's not 93!)

Stryker said...

Archduke - breaking the shelf was a terrible moment but losing a colour may be worse. Hopefully the new shelf will stay in place!

James Fisher said...

What a marvellous way to store those beautifully painted figures of yours Ian. Worth the wait to get it fixed, no doubt!

Stryker said...

Hi James, yes it's great to have it back as I can see the troops on display as I sit here working!

Unknown said...

Hi Ian
Love it - and I want to make myself one and maybee more!

How thick are the acylic shelves and how long are they - just love a bit of DIY in between painting my figs?
Regards from another Ian

Stryker said...

Hi Ian - the shelves are 3mm thick and 59mm long. What's not pictured is the clear acrylic cover that fits over the whole thing attaching at the top by concealed lugs. A very clever design.

Unknown said...

Hi Ian
Just about to build my cabinits and then will order the shelves. One last qestion - I hope! haha

3mm is a bit thin - do you have a batton down the back to support the shelve?

Regards and thanks in advance

Stryker said...

Hi Ian

The shelves are rebated into the back board by approximately 5mm and this gives sufficient strength. Looking at the construction it would appear that the back board is in 2 parts each approx 5mm thick – one large sheet and then separate panels glued on top with gaps to provide the rebate if that makes sense?

Regards,
Ian

Unknown said...

Hi Ian
Great an excuse to buy a router!!!!!
Regards and thanks
Ian 2 haha