How To Get Model Cabinets For FREE

Irish

Well-known member
Hey everyone! I’ve had something in the works for a little while now and feel this is the perfect opportunity to write up a little thread on my new cabinet I got for my models and how you guys can find one too! Seems kinda good to be true at times but it really is simple. It really falls down onto your taste with what cabinet style you prefer.

So in this case china cabinets are some of the easiest to find for free and if lucky enough, look really good! Looking on Facebook marketplace, which is your best bet or whatever buy, trade, sell platform you may use. Make sure you only find ones for free, don’t EVER pay a dime for china cabinets, people get rid of them for a reason, however they work great for us model collectors. For example, I found one a week or two ago on Facebook marketplace (which is your best bet for finding free cabinets) and all it took was a truck and an hour drive. So really I should say “free at a cost” however in a lot of scenarios they *should* be closer.

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(Cabinet I got when we loaded it off the truck)

Now with the struggles is not everyone may have a truck or large minivan to move such a hefty object. One way around this is depending on the simplicity of the cabinet is you could take it apart and fit it much easier into a car. Now this doesn’t mean this works for everyone and doesn’t mean you still can’t get one online and such. This is more of sharing the one I got and more of an encouragement to others that you can save maybe even a few hundred bucks by taking some time to look onto FB. Reality is these things are really nice if you find a good example or even take some time to fix up one to your liking. Additionally it’s super rewarding in my opinion with finding deals like this. Real quick though here’s a few more photos of my cabinet!

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(Would’ve snapped some better pictures but I wasn’t looking too great this late at night 😅)

So with mine I did remove the arch on the top because of space and just wasn’t my thing. Secondly since we had to take the whole thing apart to get downstairs into my room, during that one of the mirrors cracked, thankfully it wasn’t too bad and we could fix it easily (seen in 3rd picture, bottom right). This unit was a two piece set as well so the bottom had storage for all my boxes! Some also may come with display lights which mine did, however i’m a little concerned if it will do anything to models given how powerful they are, especially when I plan to get some Dragons soon.

To wrap up, this is nothing much other than me sharing my new cabinet I got as well with some information on how you could get score a deal like this. I hope I covered everything in this, doesn’t help I impulsively make a post this long at night so feel free to ask any questions and I would be more than happy to help anyone look for one!
 
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Nice work. That looks really good. I don't think the light should impact the models at least not if you don't have it on fulltime
 
i’m a little concerned if it will do anything to models given how powerful they are, especially when I plan to get some Dragons soon.

Halogen lamps or LED? If halogen, depending on their quality UV might not be a huge concern, but you might want to check temperatures. I regularly see collectors reporting bubbles/cracks and think quite a few can be blamed on heating.
Regardless of type, if lights are so close to your models I'm with Richard here: just switch them on when really needed.
 
That's super cool! But I guess that just works on the US, where people get rid of things quite easily...???
This would never happen here in Brazil 😆
 
Halogen lamps or LED? If halogen, depending on their quality UV might not be a huge concern, but you might want to check temperatures. I regularly see collectors reporting bubbles/cracks and think quite a few can be blamed on heating.
Regardless of type, if lights are so close to your models I'm with Richard here: just switch them on when really needed.
They may be halogen? I can always replace the bulbs to LED which should then be fine as long as it’s not on for super long periods of time?
 
That's super cool! But I guess that just works on the US, where people get rid of things quite easily...???
This would never happen here in Brazil 😆
True! We throw out so much stuff so it is easy to find people who just want it out of their houses!
 
They may be halogen? I can always replace the bulbs to LED which should then be fine as long as it’s not on for super long periods of time?

Just check if these lamps emit heat. LED does not, but there are some LEDs that emit UV rays too. Recently had problems with UV-laquers curing much faster than before. All that was changed was the layout of the (LED!) lighting...
 
Just check if these lamps emit heat. LED does not, but there are some LEDs that emit UV rays too. Recently had problems with UV-laquers curing much faster than before. All that was changed was the layout of the (LED!) lighting...
They do emit heat so yeah I will try and see what I can do for that.
 
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