The Cathay Pacific Problem

My collection continues to expand at a steady rate of about 10 models a month and yet I have sworn to myself that the footprint of my collection will not expand beyond its already impressive area at Yesterday's Airlines central. This poses some issues and requires creative methods to find new spots to place models, as the collection inexorably approaches 1500 aircraft in 1/400 scale. Cathay Pacific's placement has been a long standing issue.

For other posts detailing some of my Cathay and Dragonair fleets see:

• Cathay Convair 880s - Pacific Smokers
• Cathay A350s: XWB to AKL
• Cathay Flagships: 747-300 vs 777-300ER
• Cathay's Airbus Fleet Renewal Pt1: A340s
• Cathay's Airbus Fleet Renewal Pt2: A330s
• Enter the Dragonair Pt1: Finding a Niche
• Enter the Dragonair Pt2: Partnering for Growth

The new Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon / Dragonair display

To be honest I am blessed with space, having a huge garage, (see this blog category for posts about the hangar space) however although technically I could fit in a lot more models I am pleased with the general layout and not looking to change it. Plus my wife's patience has its limits! The glass cabinets I have are awesome but due to their very bespoke size and setup it is a major challenge to fit anymore glass shelves in them than they have already. I've already squeezed in several half shelves here and there.

In this shot from February you can see the first of 2 Chinese cabinets on the left with the Cathay fleet spread across the bottom two shelves. The rest of Asia fleet is in the next to the right on the bottom level

The left most 2 cabinets in my display contain the airlines of China and it is within these that Cathay Pacific and Dragonair/Cathay Dragon have resided. This hasn't felt right for sometime. Obviously Hong Kong has a separate relationship with the rest of China (I know this can be a sensitive topic) but Cathay also has a much more substantial history than all other Chinese Airlines. There are very few classics in the rest of the display case (just a few from CAAC) and I have often thought it made more sense to have CX in with my 'rest of Asia' fleet. There is however not enough room for that.

This was all a lot less of an issue back in 2015 when this was my entire Cathay fleet

This issue has been excacerbated recently by the expansion of both my CX Cargo fleet and also that of my HNA Group fleet so it was time to find an alternative. The solution came to me this last weekend and involves a new display case atop the model box storage chest of drawers. Technically I don't see this as a footprint expansion of my collection area since a) I already owned the display case and b) the area was already used for model uses.

The new case sits to the left of the line of non-US airline display cabinets

The new display case was acquired for $30 as part of the massive July Bonanza from last year. It had originally had a handbuilt F-14 Tomcat model within it but I bought just the case. I couldn't resist getting it at that price even though I didn't really have a need for it and felt sure I'd find a use eventually. It just about fits atop the chest of drawers (with some back support legs added) and gives an opportunity for Cathay and Dragon to break out into their own area, just.

It is already a tight fit in the new case for the Cathay fleet, with the recent addition of a pair of JC Wings Cathay Cargo 747-8s being a it problematic. I can see I'll need to be imaginative in the future with any CX expansions. Nonetheless it looks really good and has freed up a lot of space in the China cabinets. This has allowed me to have a reorganisation there providing some growth space for China Eastern (by moving Shenzhen Airlines down a shelf), Juneyao and the private airlines (again by moving down a shelf) but most of all Chinese cargo airlines and the Hong Kong based bits of the HNA Group which now occupy the lowest level.

So for now the collecting can continue with wild abandon. Bravo!