ABSTRACT We present long-slit intermediate-dispersion spectroscopic observations and narrow-band direct imaging of four classical nova shells, namely T Aur, HR Del, DQ Her, and QU Vul, and the nova-like source CK Vul. These are used to construct models of their nebular remnants using the morphokinematic modelling tool shape to reveal their 3D shape. All these nova remnants but CK Vul can be described by prolate ellipsoidal shells with different eccentricity degree, from the spherical QU Vul to the highly elongated shell with an equatorial component HR Del. On the other hand, CK Vul shows a more complex structure, with two pairs of nested bipolar lobes. The spatiokinematic properties of the ellipsoidal nova shells derived from our models include their true axial ratios. This parameter is expected to correlate with the expansion velocity and decline time t3 (i.e. their speed class) of a nova as the result the interaction of the ejecta with the circumstellar material and rotation speed and magnetic field of the white dwarf. We have compared these three parameters including data available in the literature for another two nova shells, V533 Her and FH Ser. There is an anticorrelation between the expansion velocity and the axial ratio and decline time t3 for nova remnants with ellipsoidal morphology, and a correlation between their axial ratios and decline times t3, confirming theoretical expectations that the fastest expanding novae have the smallest axial ratios. We note that the high expansion velocity of the nova shell HR Del of 615 km s−1 is inconsistent with its long decline time t3 of 250 d.