Inexpensive display for HO slot cars

[Coelacanth]

For a few years now, I've been trying to find a nice way to display my small HO-scale slot car collection and never could find what I was looking for. A lot of guys buy those cheap plastic dollar-store containers with the dividers inside, but since the partitions are quite a bit bigger than most cars, it's a lot of wasted space. I use these containers for my spare parts, they're perfect for that, but it isn't a proper way to display my small collection, after going to the hours of trouble to rebuild all the cars and get them all working again.

Something caught my eye while randomly browsing Amazon...lipstick organizers, of all things! Here's a 5-tier example, I've seen them go up to 6 tiers, but for some reason, those aren't free shipping with Amazon Prime here in Canada.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B017K19KRK/

After reading the exact specs of each tier length, width and height, on paper it looked like an excellent idea. I bought one and it was perfect! Each tier holds 4 cars, though you might have to put one of the shorter cars on the same tier as 3 longer cars.

I took it to the next level by buying some 1/2" x 1/8" x 82' foam weatherstripping tape, sticking on a length along each side of the rectangular "trays", with a space between the tape for the slot car guide pins to protrude. The foam tape should protect the tires from flat-spotting. One roll and a bit of a second roll did all 5 tiers on 2 organizer stands. I went with 82' because, for some reason, it was quite a bit cheaper than a much shorter, single roll. Maybe a pricing mistake? Oh well, I'm always needing stuff like this for weatherstripping and hobby projects so the extra will come in handy.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B078H8Y95X

[Coelacanth]

Here's the display, finished and stocked up...about the only thing missing that would've made it perfect is a lid to keep dust to a minimum, but since I'll display these in a display cabinet with glass doors, it shouldn't get too dusty.

This is 32 cars displayed, with a little room to breathe. This might not be economical for someone with a much larger collection, but for a few dozen cars and about $56 CAD, it's not too expensive, looks great, and has a nice custom look.

[matt1ptkn]

Don't you just love it, when a plan comes together. This is a superb idea! If I ever have proper display space, I may follow suit. You've created a very nice collection of cars, too! Flawless execution!

[Coelacanth]

Thanks Matt! It took me 2 solid evenings to rebuild all of the cars to get them all working properly again. I had my track set up for a few months 2 Christmases ago, but after putting the track away, it seemed a shame to stuff all the cars in a box, hidden away somewhere.