My Queen Has a Flat

Let’s assume that you have a prized shelf queen sitting somewhere in your house that you are proudly displaying. Did you just throw it on a shelf and walk away? Have you ever picked it up to show someone and noticed this?

This problem is very common when your car has been sitting on its tires for a while. Sometimes these dents come out … sometimes they don’t. So what is a good way to avoid tire flats? The obvious solution is to elevate your car so that the tires never touch the ground. There are numerous ways to accomplish that objective. Since this is your cherished display piece, you probably want the result to look nice in addition to solving the flat tire problem.

A long time ago, after many cars with flat tires I searched for a way to address this issue. The solution I settled on was to use some commercial acrylic display stands that I found online. Using these stands is a nice way to go because they come clear which makes them virtually invisible and the focus stays on your car. They also come in different sizes that can be used for various car sizes you might own.

You can purchase these displays for a reasonable cost, somewhere in the 3$-$9 range. You can also find sets of 3,6,9 but normally these sets include multiple sizes that you won’t end up using. Some sets that I found online look like this set. I was able to find a retailer that sold individual sizes so I could buy as many as I needed of each size. Make sure you look for ones that are long enough to extend a good portion of the length of your car. Something in the 8-10 inch range works well for 1/10 scale. Also make sure the stands are wide enough to make your display stable but doesn’t interfere with the tires. Something in the 3-4 inch range also works well for most 1/10 scale. Almost all the cars I display show well with a 2″ high stand. I do use some 3″ high stands for my trucks with larger wheels, like the Bruiser.

So if you are going to display your shelf queen, make sure you take care of its tires. Otherwise you might end up being sad the next time you go to show it off.