What are the modules / pages / panels / or other features in Drupal which can be used to display an object which is made up of several content types?
what's the best way to...

That is subjective. Here is a way to do it, not necessarily the best:

Views Megarow


  This module allows you to display content coming from a menu callback
  between two items of a views result set as a modal-like. You can use
  it to display a preview of your node or to build an administrative
  form.
  
  Said otherwise, you can dynamically display content below a row of a
  table of results coming from a view. This content is shown when you
  click on a link, it means that you can display anything from a preview
  of your node for instance to a moderation form of an entity.