Making a Scale Model Display out of Old Bumper Parts

As you know from the posts related to the Gas Station, the Mustang Triplet Project and others, my brother visited me for a Modeljunkyard Week in summer. We had quite a few busy days and to take a rest from all the model building and photo shootings, my brother started to put a display out of some old bumper parts from my I had laying around after replacing them with new ones.

The pic below shows the base. The entire display is made out of thick cardboard (the kind used to build models of buildings and so on – available at any art store or architecture model building store). Note one of the bumper corners already glued to the cardboard base and the other coner next to it on the table.

Here you can see the base upside down. You may be able to appreciate the thickness of the cardboard – this material is pretty stable and easy to handle (cut, glue, bend, etc).

This pic shows the back wall from the rear side. One of the side walls is held with tape while the glue dries. The hole on the back is to be able to switch the model cars every once in a while. The piece that covers the hole has a frame to hold background photos.

My brother then finished the roof and we painted it together using semi gloss black. I only had to make the front acrylic glass cover and glue the upper chromed part.

The following three photos show the display already painted. Note the different background pictures behind the cars. To switch them, I just need to slide one photo out and the next in.

The idea was not to make a complete scene, nor a simple empty display. The cool thing about the black background is that it makes the background photo more present, which goes along really well with the model car. And since the photo I need is not too big, I can take any photo I want and print it anywhere – for instance at the mall around the corner from where I live or even with my own printer.

Below you can see the entire display finished with the acrylic glass cover on the front and both bumper parts glued.

In case you wonder where the parts came from, check out the pic below. There you can see the corners of the bumper, still mounted on my car before I replaced them with brand new ones. You may see the rusty corner on one side.

I hope you liked it and most of all, that you feel inspired to make your own displays for your cars! You may find lot of useful parts in the junk yard. We had a very cool display made out of a Ford A radiator frame in our children bedroom – that’s a long time ago. Sadly, we don’t have that display anymore (it is stored somewhere miles and miles away from us). We also had picture frames made out of the chromed side window frames from old cars. The possibilities are endless

Tagged as: junkyard parts, Scale model display