BrickZoneHub case for Williams FW14B
Posted by Huw,
Acrylic cases for keeping your models dust-free appear to be popular, judging by the number of companies that make them nowadays.
Relative newcomer in that space, BrickZoneHub, has sent us one of its offerings to examine, designed to house 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell.
It has a few nice features that I've not encountered in its competitors, but they come at a price.
The sides are manufactured from unbranded 3mm acrylic sheet and the base from a heftier 7mm sheet. It comes flat-packed, as you'd expect, so assembly is required.
Once you've managed to peel the protective film from all the sheets, which is easier said than done, putting it together is straightforward. Small metal cubes and flat-headed bolts are used to hold the panels together in the corners, and an Allen key is provided to save you hunting round for one.
A feature I particularly like is that the front panel is held on with magnets, making it easy to remove to access the model inside. It even has small tabs on the sides for purchase.
The thick base has small recesses on the sides to aid picking it up, which is another nice touch.
The back panel is printed with technical data about the car. It's hard to read, and I have no idea if it's relevant or accurate, but it adds interest and enhances the overall appearance.
The one I was sent has a black base, but one with a printed pattern in Williams colours is also available.
It's well-made and very sturdy, so quality-wise there's nothing wrong with it but, unfortunately, at £99.90, it's a bit pricey. That's more than double what a similar case made by other companies would cost, so while the thick base with finger recesses and magnetic front panel are nice features, I'll let you decide with your wallets whether they are worth paying a premium for.
It's available from BrickZoneHub with free shipping to most of the world, something not offered by other manufacturers.
Thanks to BrickZoneHub for sending the case for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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14 comments on this article
Nice to have another display case manufacturer to choose from but they don't appear to have many cases at present plus their prices (as the article points out) are at the high end. I may keep a watching brief on their site to see what they add but I'll be sticking with my other two suppliers for the time being.
It looks nice.....but apart from the fact that they seem to take Brexit so seriously that they deny the existance of Europe, the case would be about twice the price of the thing to put in it.....
Also, looking at that background.....at first I did appreciate them picking Spa, but that is a kinda weird pick since Mansell didn't win that race that year (he only got pole). But looking closer......none of this has anything to do with the Williams or even F1 in 1992 for that matter. It just seems like a generic F1-esque background with random stuff, probably just AI generated? Considering the price, that is an absolute no-no for me.
@WizardOfOss said:
"It looks nice.....but apart from the fact that they seem to take Brexit so seriously that they deny the existance of Europe, the case would be about twice the price of the thing to put in it.....
"
I don't understand this fixation with 'Brexit'. They ship to Germany which, last time I looked, was in Europe. They also ship to Switzerland (also in Europe albeit they are not an EU member) Add Australia and Singapore and I don't think they are being UK/US centric.
You need to remember that we're not all Europhobes......
@Belboz said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"It looks nice.....but apart from the fact that they seem to take Brexit so seriously that they deny the existance of Europe, the case would be about twice the price of the thing to put in it.....
"
I don't understand this fixation with 'Brexit'. They ship to Germany which, last time I looked, was in Europe. They also ship to Switzerland (also in Europe albeit they are not an EU member) Add Australia and Singapore and I don't think they are being UK/US centric.
You need to remember that we're not all Europhobes......
"
Ah yes, I now see that hidden away in the FAQ.....their shipping information page doesn't mention any of that.
(and obvious joke should have been very obvious....I thought Brits were known for their sense of humour?)
And since those Germans failed miserably in 40-45 Dutch vacation, still not much use to me.
@WizardOfOss said:
"Also, looking at that background.....at first I did appreciate them picking Spa, but that is a kinda weird pick since Mansell didn't win that race that year (he only got pole). But looking closer......none of this has anything to do with the Williams or even F1 in 1992 for that matter. It just seems like a generic F1-esque background with random stuff, probably just AI generated? Considering the price, that is an absolute no-no for me."
Looking at the airflow diagram in the "notes" my brain immediately said, "That's not how that works." Then I saw the V6 with 4 of something cylinder-related on one bank, and then I started looking at actual details and pretty much everything is wrong. All wheels have different asymmetric spoke patterns. There's a "6 SPEERD" gearbox. The total car width is 1.422 (meters I presume), but so is the width between the inside edges of the rear contact patches. Suspension components were apparently all designed & linked up by different species of spiders. The front, rear, and top views are all of different car designs. Length & of laps for Spa are wrong. The track map print is also different on the website version. It's all very silly.
Nearly £100 for this? Short of the back printed panel, and the screw cube parts, theres several companies online who'll cut Acrylic to shape and add holes, and I've found one who, I could order all the parts for this for less than £60 in 8mm thickness...
@theJANG said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Also, looking at that background.....at first I did appreciate them picking Spa, but that is a kinda weird pick since Mansell didn't win that race that year (he only got pole). But looking closer......none of this has anything to do with the Williams or even F1 in 1992 for that matter. It just seems like a generic F1-esque background with random stuff, probably just AI generated? Considering the price, that is an absolute no-no for me."
Looking at the airflow diagram in the "notes" my brain immediately said, "That's not how that works." Then I saw the V6 with 4 of something cylinder-related on one bank, and then I started looking at actual details and pretty much everything is wrong. All wheels have different asymmetric spoke patterns. There's a "6 SPEERD" gearbox. The total car width is 1.422 (meters I presume), but so is the width between the inside edges of the rear contact patches. Suspension components were apparently all designed & linked up by different species of spiders. The front, rear, and top views are all of different car designs. Length & of laps for Spa are wrong. The track map print is also different on the website version. It's all very silly."
Lol, some of those I hadn't even noticed yet, but the 3.0 V6 Turbo was a dead giveaway for me. Also cool that they have that star pointing north next to the map.....too bad it's about 80 degrees off.
As for that total distance of 424 km.....in 1961 they actually had a 423 kilometer race, which would be closest. That was still on the old 14 kilometer long track. Before that they even had 500+ km races....kinda a miracle anyone even made it to the chequered flag....
There’s a lot of VERY WRONG in the specifications and dimensions blueprints. And not just obvious to us lifelong motorsport geeks.
Better left blank to let the model speak for itself than unverified (AI garbage?) nonsense…
Like all such sized acrylic case kits, it would surely be “a bit pricey” if it was anything more than £25.
I don't like expensive cases that then even need to be assembled first. Plus all those screws ruin the look for me.
All the cases I have are made to measure in high quality acrylic, bonded together without any visible seams, which makes for a very clean look and a completely dust-free model for life. Not cheap either, certainly, but imho better value for money overall.
You can get a glass IKEA cabinet and display four sets for about the same price or a bookshelf with glass doors.
@CCC said:
"You can get a glass IKEA cabinet and display four sets for about the same price or a bookshelf with glass doors."
And a back panel that is a lot more accurate!
@GrizBe said:
"Nearly £100 for this? Short of the back printed panel, and the screw cube parts, theres several companies online who'll cut Acrylic to shape and add holes, and I've found one who, I could order all the parts for this for less than £60 in 8mm thickness... "
Its the convenience. Very few products are priced at the sum of their parts.
£100 for this is extortionate though.
@derekthetree said:
"Its the convenience. Very few products are priced at the sum of their parts.
£100 for this is extortionate though."
The point I was trying to make was pretty much that about how extortionate it was for something that is already a flat pack kit, that you have to make yourself when it arrives, that you could buy and have made all the parts separately for far cheaper. Even using expensive 'make to order' websites.
Convenience aside, the mark up they want for this is utterly ridiculous.
@CCC said:
"You can get a glass IKEA cabinet and display four sets for about the same price or a bookshelf with glass doors."
Never again will I buy anything display-related from IKEA after a Detolf cabinet imploded in my LEGO room into thousands of tiny glass shards. Took me ages to clean the room and the Modulars that were displayed in the cabinet. Plus it was highly dangerous due to all the sharp tiny glass splinters.
One good thing at least in that IKEA stopped selling these defective cabinets. Doesn't help me though. I still have three more of these, with disaster waiting to happen at a moments notice.