Tropical Aquarium display solution from Unique Display
Posted by Huw,
10366 Tropical Aquarium is a wonderful model and one you're likely to want to keep out on show once you've spent 10 hours building it.
To prevent it getting dusty, Unique Display has come up with a display solution that integrates with the model's frame to make it look more like a real aquarium.
Four acrylic panels are provided which affix to the front, sides, and top in various ways to enclose the model. There are two versions, one with slots at the top to allow the filter to be added, and one without.
It's priced at £44.99, but the first 50 purchasers who use the code AQUA15 at checkout will receive a 15% discount, taking the price down to £38.24, and we'll receive a small commission. If you miss out on that, BRICKSET10 will provide a 10% discount.
View more photos after the break, and buy now at Unique Display.
There's also a short video about how it goes together on YouTube.
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24 comments on this article
So first you spend all your savings to get the aquarium itself, and then you need another fortune to get it protected?
It's such a shame for a beautiful set otherwise, but I am not spending any money on this unless the price is near the half of what it is now. And then there's the next issue of course, where should I put it if I ever get my hands on it? lol
Considering the price of the aquarium, this solution feels pretty affordable. The aquarium isn’t really my thing, but the display adds a nice touch and makes the set look complete
Is it water-tight.
It's not just cheaper to buy a real aquarium, it's also cheaper to buy a real aquarium to house your fake aquarium.
What are we even doing? Is this who we are now?
I don't really see how paying an extra 10% on top of an exorbitantly priced set is any kind of solution
Shame you have to remove a side panel to use the functions. Otherwise, this looks nice! If I had the space, this might tempt me to get the aquarium.
@Auctorius said:
"So first you spend all your savings to get the aquarium itself, and then you need another fortune to get it protected?"
Even if you're paying full price, £44.99 doesn't sound like a "fortune" to me.
Putting aside for a moment the arguably justifiable criticism of the set, for anyone wanting to showcase this model then the solution from Unique Display is both elegant and straightforward. Periodically dusting the plants and animals in the aquarium will be unpleasant and this keeps the display clean and tidy, whilst the addition of sides to the tank brings the model closer to the look of a real aquarium. I don’t feel the price tag is unreasonable considering the finesse of the solution and the effort required to create a similar system manually. So this looks like a win for those people who’d want to own this model.
My “Solution” is don’t buy the set.
Or you could buy a second hand aquarium of that size probably for less than £44.99
Everybody is whining about the price (me included) but the aquarium has been backorder in Canada (and in the USA as well I think) for a few days now. It's either super popular or they made really few copies.
If I ever get round to buying this set, I could probably get my Dad to do this for free.
You can buy a brand new aquarium for about £100. Or if you don't mind getting rid of the horrible black frame, and reconfigure the insides and get rid of the background you could get away with a smaller aquarium for about the same price as this. And it would look like a real aquarium and could later be used as an actual aquarium with water in it.
Two things can be true about 10366 at the same time.
1.) The price is too high.
2.) The discussion about its pricing is also absolutely ridiculous.
@Crux said:
"It's not just cheaper to buy a real aquarium, it's also cheaper to buy a real aquarium to house your fake aquarium.
What are we even doing? Is this who we are now?"
I can only assume you’ve never run a freshwater tank, never mind a saltwater one.
Hello Huw, what do you think about trying to place it in a real aquarium of a similar size, and fill it with water to see how the setup really looks when submerged? The effect you get from seeing an aquarium with real water is not the same as when it's surrounded by air. I’d love for you to make a post about that, as I don’t have the financial possibility to buy this set myself.
@daniellesa said:
"If I ever get round to buying this set, I could probably get my Dad to do this for free."
My Dad never does anything for free. I guarantee you those weren't actually gifts.
@CCC said:"You can buy a brand new aquarium for about £100. Or if you don't mind getting rid of the horrible black frame, and reconfigure the insides and get rid of the background you could get away with a smaller aquarium for about the same price as this. And it would look like a real aquarium and could later be used as an actual aquarium with water in it."
That sounded like a good solution until I remembered the functions. The crank in particular would be hard to turn if you had to stick your hand down in there and mush it up against the glass. Sure, removing four screws so you can take one side of the display case off could be a pain, but that way, your hand and arm aren't getting in the way of what you're trying to show off.
I mean it's great and all but how much are people actually willing to invest into a fake aquarium?
@lego4elio said:
"I mean it's great and all but how much are people actually willing to invest into a fake aquarium?"
Quite a few it seems. The set is currently backorder in Canada and was in the US a couple of days ago (and might still be, I have no way to check).
@eiffel006 said:
" @lego4elio said:
"I mean it's great and all but how much are people actually willing to invest into a fake aquarium?"
Quite a few it seems. The set is currently backorder in Canada and was in the US a couple of days ago (and might still be, I have no way to check)."
Yes, still on back order in North America.
For this set, half the RRP price would make sense. The GWP should be part of the set....
I have no interest whatsoever in this set - at that price or even at half price. However, for those who do, this is a very nice solution (to the dust problem) and considering cases of that size are normally two to three times that price, I would say, this is a rather good deal.
Allow some additional budget for a lighting solution.
As for price comparison with the real thing, unless you have gold fishes or betas, running an fair-sized aquarium is quite expensive. Tropical is not too bad but if you do salt water, you need quite a bit of equipment to run it and many fishes are triple-digit to acquire (you do hope the water is just perfect for them to survive!) Also quite a bit of work, you cannot let the water go off the tolerable range for too long or everything will die. Basically, you are trying to keep a busy toilet with living things in it in good shape enough to be nice to look at.
@eiffel006 said:
"Everybody is whining about the price (me included) but the aquarium has been backorder in Canada (and in the USA as well I think) for a few days now. It's either super popular or they made really few copies."
Probably more than a few whales out there buying it as a parts pack. Lots of awesome pieces and recolors in here.
@Bagelwolf said:
" @eiffel006 said:
"Everybody is whining about the price (me included) but the aquarium has been backorder in Canada (and in the USA as well I think) for a few days now. It's either super popular or they made really few copies."
Probably more than a few whales out there buying it as a parts pack. Lots of awesome pieces and recolors in here."
Yes, it also has quite a high value if parting out to sell - mainly due to many newly recoloured parts.
Plus of course we don't know how many they made.
This looks like an awful solution. The "glass" being outside the frame with holes necessarily cut for the studs completely kills the illusion a product like this should exist to create. If you're considering this, just get 3 acrylic sheets cut to size to insert in or behind the frame. Depending on where you are the price will be the same or less but it'll look 10x better than this.