# Hot Wheels Display Case



## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

How would you build this?

I might get suckered into building one for my grand daughter who just turned 20 today. She has a bunch of them.

I like the KISS method. Keep it simple stupid! :surprise::grin::grin:

There's a minor disturbance in the Force on FaceBook.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Your grand daughter is 20 already , and she's into hot wheels lol .

Someone sure went to a lot of trouble making that display , wow!


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## Admin (Feb 13, 2012)

I saw that on Facebook and shared it with my daughter. My grandson would LOVE that.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

It looks like a lot of work. @RainMan1 - she's been collecting them for a long time...almost 20 years! :surprise::grin::grin::grin:


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

That will keep you busy for a little while.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Cricket, I get the feeling he ain't even thinking about taking any orders for Christmas delivery. LOL


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

RainMan1 said:


> Your grand daughter is 20 already , and she's into hot wheels lol .


Yep. She also likes to play in the dirt! :grin:

She can handle a short hop with no problem! 

And pitch too.

From her junior year (2012) at Bristow HS, Bristow, Oklahoma.
Edit: Now she is helping her dad coach a 10U girls fast pitch travel team.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

go the MISS route... Make It Super Simple...


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

MT Stringer said:


> How would you build this?
> 
> I might get suckered into building one for my grand daughter who just turned 20 today. She has a bunch of them.
> 
> ...


Make the dividers out of hardboard, egg crate joints - a bunch of them. Make the tops, bottom and sides out of plywood, cut full width dadoes and glue banding on the front edges to cover the plies and hide the dadoes. The cars are light and the hardboard should be enough to support the weight.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> Make the dividers out of hardboard, egg crate joints - a bunch of them. Make the tops, bottom and sides out of plywood, cut full width dadoes and glue banding on the front edges to cover the plies and hide the dadoes. The cars are light and the hardboard should be enough to support the weight.


Like I said. Sounds like a lot of work. :surprise:
I just about worried myself sick building that darned liquor cabinet, but the egg crate style wine bottle rack turned out perfect.

That is 100 cars per frame! :surprise:
UGH!


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

you realise the money tied up in that would buy a REAL car?


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Well, it's a start. :grin:

I noticed one row was larger for trucks so I made the first row 3 inches tall; the others 2 inches tall. All cubbies are 4 inches wide.

A 1/4 inch back is recessed into the frame. The frame is 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 inches wide.

I don't have any actual cars to use for reference. If anyone has some measurements, it would be appreciated.
Mike


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Amazing. Even this old man would like that.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

A couple of thoughts............

I'm not sure if Hot Wheels are like other collectibles, but the value of most things goes up if the original box is available. If your grand-daughter doesn't have them displayed at the moment, but keeps them in the original box, it may be an idea to store the boxes - just in case.

I can't see my wife being overly enthused about having to periodically remove all those cars, dust them (and the cubby holes) and then put them back. Just saying.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Well done and a most appropriate design.

Great photos from the ballpark as well.


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## AndyL (Jun 3, 2011)

I'll be interested to see how this turns out Mike. I've got a display case project on the go myself. Not for cars, but similar with lots of closely spaced shelves. Rather than a grid of cells, I'm using just horizontal shelves, but because they're thin they need good support. To that end I'm using 1/2" plywood for the back, and I'll rout 1/8" grooves in it for the shelves to slip into, so that they're supported along their full length.

I'd second Tom's concern about the dusting! Sliding glass (or perspex) doors would be pretty easy to do and would keep the dust off. On mine I'm putting a wood-framed door with a window; that does reduce the available display area quite significantly though.


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## aahwhatever2 (Oct 16, 2015)

I would have loved that as a kid! I can't wait to start building things like this for my grandkids, as soon as I have some. lol


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## PhilBa (Sep 25, 2014)

I've made several grids for display of small items. What worked well for me was to cut horizontal 3/4" deep kerfs in a 1.5" thick piece of pine. I then sliced off kerf wide strips using Marc Spaguolo's thin strip technique (magswitch as a left side stop). Worked pretty well but takes some trial and error to set up. Once tuned though, it went really fast. Since your's aren't square, it will take 2 different kerf spacings.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Thanks Phil. I asked her how many she had. Less than 100, so one grid would work.

Then she said recently so guy was selling his collection of over 3000 but she didn't have the funds...$1 each.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

When I suggested Masonite (hardboard) for the dividers, given the size of the openings and the light weight of the cars, I was thinking 1/8" material. The slots could be cut with a "flat-top" rip blade in one pass, and it would be easy to make a fixture like those used for box joints to cut equally spaced slots. You would have to make the fixture so you could cut the 2", 3" and 4" spacings - and probably clamp several together and cut them at the same time. Or, you could look at your idea of ganging two 7-1/4" thin-kerf blades together and see how the combined kerf compared to the thicker hardboard.

I've used hardboard for drawer dividers, someone may have some experience to say whether the thinner hardboard might sag over time when used horizontally.


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## Ratbob (Apr 6, 2015)

Looks like a fun project Mike! I just checked 3d Warehouse and there are a bunch of hotwheels that you should be able to download into your SketchUp drawing.


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