I decided to try my hand at building some shelves for my diecasts. This was a fairly quick & easy project for me, though having a pneumatic narrow-crown nailer is what made it easy.
This entire shelving unit was built from these 1/4" 2" x 2' boards from home depot and a 2'x2' piece of luan plywood. I cut all but two of the boards 1/2"shorter so I could use the two remaining as vertical sides and make a square. I made a distinct error here. I assumed the backer was actually exactly 2'x2', but it turned out to be a little smaller, so the backer doesn’t fit well. Something to correct on future versions.
I built the basic box and added the backer, then spaced the shelves by simply using another shelf as a spacer.
2"wide and 2" tall is the perfect size for all but the largest diecasts. This spacing resulted in a larger lowest shelf, which gives me space for the biggest cars there.
One side done. The other end was done by simply turning it around and doing the same spacing.
Once I was done the sides, I measured very carefully and put a staple though the back and into the shelves at the center back to keep them from sagging.
Since this was a test run I didn’t bother to putty the staple holes, and simply gave the whole thing a coat of antique copper spray paint. The paint was thin enough it looks stained rather than painted (a happy accident).
The unit holds about 95 cars, and could hold a round 100 if I was willing to park them on top. I’ll definitely use this basic technique to build more shelving.