BrickZoneHub display frame for McLaren P1
Posted by Huw,
Display frames provide a means of showcasing your favourite models on the wall, and are particularly useful when you've run out of horizontal surfaces to put them on.
In addition to making acrylic cases, such as the one we reviewed recently, BrickZoneHub also manufactures wall-mounted frames for specific models, such as the Technic ultimate cars.
The company has sent me one for 42172 McLaren P1 to peruse, which incorporates an LED strip around its perimeter.
The first thing to note is that it's big: 50x80cm, so it doesn't fit on my photography table, and it's also very reflective, which together make it difficult to photograph. Furthermore, I don't have any space on the wall to hang it, because my LEGO room on the top floor of the house has sloped walls on two sides, and the other two are occupied with storage units. So, please excuse the quality of the photos!
Anyway, the frame is manufactured from black anodised extruded aluminium with a sheet of printed acrylic forming the back board. A USB-powered LED strip runs around the perimeter, with the cable surfacing at the back out of sight.
The frame is fitted with two hanging plates at the top, which is just as well because, with the car mounted on it, it's quite heavy.
It's accompanied by a small box of accessories containing the two metal hooks and corresponding nuts and bolts upon which the car is hung, a USB extension cable, a remote control for the light, and solid wall fixings.
The two hooks are positioned so that they mate with beams on the model just in front of the front wheels. When the car is suspended on them there's no chance of it falling off, even if the frame is tilted forwards.
The backplate is printed with an orange gradient that complements the colour of the car. There are other versions of the frame available with McLaren and P1 logos on them, but I think I like this clean, uncluttered one.
The LED strip provides a cool white light around the entire perimeter, and the car looks fantastic when illuminated by it. In addition to providing an on/off switch, the supplied remote control allows the brightness to be controlled and also for it to be set to flash in a number of different sequences, which I think would be quite annoying, but it doesn't hurt to have the option, I suppose.
One thing to remember is that the light requires power, of course, so you'll need to run the cable behind the wall, otherwise you'll have unsightly wires dangling under the frame.
The illuminated version of the frame as shown costs £139.99, the non-illuminated one is £99.99. Both are available from the BrickZoneHub website.
Overall, it's well-made, and looks great. It is expensive, though, especially if you need to buy one for the whole collection of Technic ultimate cars!
Thanks to BrickZoneHub for sending the frame for my perusal. All opinions expressed are my own.
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8 comments on this article
Looks sick with the LEDs on. But that's a hefty price to turn an already expensive shelf queen into decent wall art.
I guess the price might actually be worth it for collectors of this series of cars. Or even this car specifically.
"Looks great, but it's expensive."
Think that pretty much sums up everyones thoughts on this.
If you were going to illuminate a whole collection, a DIY solution would be much cheaper. You can get a controllable 5m light strip for about a tenner on temu and if you have a shelf with a lip on the front edge (which helps stop cars rolling off anyway) then you can hide the strip behind that and front illuminate everything on the shelf.
@CCC said:
"If you were going to illuminate a whole collection, a DIY solution would be much cheaper. You can get a controllable 5m light strip for about a tenner on temu and if you have a shelf with a lip on the front edge (which helps stop cars rolling off anyway) then you can hide the strip behind that and front illuminate everything on the shelf."
My daughter has an led wall strip with exactly the same remote as the one pictured. It was from Amazon, not Temu though! I'm thinking of doing what you've described, once I finally build the cars!
@maffyd said:
" @CCC said:
"If you were going to illuminate a whole collection, a DIY solution would be much cheaper. You can get a controllable 5m light strip for about a tenner on temu and if you have a shelf with a lip on the front edge (which helps stop cars rolling off anyway) then you can hide the strip behind that and front illuminate everything on the shelf."
My daughter has an led wall strip with exactly the same remote as the one pictured. It was from Amazon, not Temu though! I'm thinking of doing what you've described, once I finally build the cars!"
I'm not privvy to your daughter's search-history, but if she bought the strips from KEGYYYYK or HERSAAVUU or HORGLEBLORK or BAAAAAAAAARG or similarly-named sellers - she's still pretty much buying from Temu.
Amazon isn't nearly as exclusive as Jeffy B. would like it to be.
@Crux said:
" @maffyd said:
" @CCC said:
"If you were going to illuminate a whole collection, a DIY solution would be much cheaper. You can get a controllable 5m light strip for about a tenner on temu and if you have a shelf with a lip on the front edge (which helps stop cars rolling off anyway) then you can hide the strip behind that and front illuminate everything on the shelf."
My daughter has an led wall strip with exactly the same remote as the one pictured. It was from Amazon, not Temu though! I'm thinking of doing what you've described, once I finally build the cars!"
I'm not privvy to your daughter's search-history, but if she bought the strips from KEGYYYYK or HERSAAVUU or HORGLEBLORK or BAAAAAAAAARG or similarly-named sellers - she's still pretty much buying from Temu.
Amazon isn't nearly as exclusive as Jeffy B. would like it to be."
Yeah, Amazon has given up any pretence about being exclusive, by choice.
It is mostly a marketplace these days and many of the sellers are selling TEMU sourced crap with the only difference being their margin and Amazons margin bumping up the price versus TEMU pricing.
@gunther_schnitzel said:
" @Crux said:
" @maffyd said:
" @CCC said:
"If you were going to illuminate a whole collection, a DIY solution would be much cheaper. You can get a controllable 5m light strip for about a tenner on temu and if you have a shelf with a lip on the front edge (which helps stop cars rolling off anyway) then you can hide the strip behind that and front illuminate everything on the shelf."
My daughter has an led wall strip with exactly the same remote as the one pictured. It was from Amazon, not Temu though! I'm thinking of doing what you've described, once I finally build the cars!"
I'm not privvy to your daughter's search-history, but if she bought the strips from KEGYYYYK or HERSAAVUU or HORGLEBLORK or BAAAAAAAAARG or similarly-named sellers - she's still pretty much buying from Temu.
Amazon isn't nearly as exclusive as Jeffy B. would like it to be."
Yeah, Amazon has given up any pretence about being exclusive, by choice.
It is mostly a marketplace these days and many of the sellers are selling TEMU sourced crap with the only difference being their margin and Amazons margin bumping up the price versus TEMU pricing.
"
I prefer to go to a DIY store nearby even if it’s a bit more expensive. I don’t support Amazon, TEMU and other online stores like that.
I’ve been seeing this all day, and my mind still instantly identifies it as a Balrog.