Displaying models in flight

[Rheged]

There have been several imaginative methods of achieving in flight display demonstrated here

Transparent plastic rod

Thread attached to a ceiling fan

Steel rod covered in cotton wool to show a RATOG take off

Fishing line from the ceiling......which leads me to these questions:-
Has anyone had an unscheduled descent of an aircraft/dirigible due to component failure?
What methods have people found to attach the model to the line to cause minimum chance of damage?
What is the heaviest/largest/ most unwieldly item you have ever displayed this way ?

When it comes to hanging huge  things from ceilings, I admit that I do have some experience.

Largest item I have ever hung from a ceiling was a 7 foot papier-mâché  and wire shark.  The class I was teaching were reading a simplified version of Kon Tiki Expedition, so we made a huge diorama of the underside of the raft in a corner of the classroom, with sundry ocean life modelled. The shark was papier-mâché on a chicken wire frame, the work of half a dozen determined 11 year olds.  It needed shark line to hang it up!   At the end of the year, it was sent home with the young lady whose name was drawn from the hat.  Her mother told me later she was terrified it would crash down from her daughter's ceiling and cause chaos in the dead of night. 

[PR19_Kit]

The only model I've hung from the ceiling was the first Monogram B-52 kit that I built, but it was designed for hanging as the wing roots and rear fuselage had socking great 'brackets' moulded into the airframe through which you could pass thread to hang it with.

I used nylon tow-line for flying model gliders to hang it, and it worked OK, but was a TOTAL pain to get down again when I wanted to display the model at a show. Eventually it fell down while I was trying to un-hang it for a house move and it was totally wrecked, sad to say.

[kitnut617]

Largest kits I've had hanging from the ceiling are a B-52, B-36 and E-4D, all in 1/72. I had to use extra thick sewing thread and then locate something solid in the ceiling (a joist) to screw a hook into.

[Rick Lowe]

I love the line about "...half a dozen determined 11-year-olds."
They can be a bit scary sometimes, pre-teens... best not to get in their way.

There was a quote from a film reviewer one time, talking about Peter Jackson's 'Heavenly Creatures': "The Sulking Child - Weaponised." 

[zenrat]

I used to drill a hole in the top of the fuselage and glue a T shaped piece of sprue into it.  I would tie thick black cotton thread round the sprue and then use a drawing pin to hold it to the ceiling.
I had a massive dogfight going on over my bed.  Largest were an Airfix 1/72 B-17 and C-130 (both well known for their dogfighting prowess).  I can't remember any coming suddenly to earth.

[kitnut617]

The donor for my AV-22 project was a kit that for some reason, kept coming down from the ceiling. The last time was a biggie and when I found it on the floor it was in a number of pieces so I just put it in a box to repair someday. Kinda strange it was just this one that came down as I had over 250 hanging from the ceiling. Thinking about it though, it was probably the way I had it rigged in it's thread hanger, there was a lot of lead in the nose of it which I had to dig out when I was doing the AV-22 conversion and I think the thread around the nose must have slipped backwards which caused the model to bounce when it came to a sudden stop which then cause the hook I had made for the end of the thread to jump of what it was attached to.

I had a network of wires criss-crossing the ceiling which I had the models hanging off where I then had some 2" square mesh placed above it. I've just found one of my photos I had taken of my models way back then, showing that might have been what happen to it ---

[NARSES2]

Last time I (or rather it would have been my Dad) hung kits from the bedroom ceiling would have been late 50's/early 60's when it was what you did with larger Airfix kits and yes I did get bombed by an Airfix Sunderland. Scared the heck out of me I can remember that much and the few remaining models were taken down under my Mum's watchful eye next day. After that it was and is shelving or storage boxes.

[kitnut617]

After that it was and is shelving or storage boxes.

Yeah! since our move some years ago now (12 I think), most of my models are still in their moving boxes. I've a few in a cabinet in my office though.

The house we have now won't allow ceiling hangers, because the ceilings are too low. Especially the room I now have as a proper hobby room which is in the basement.