How do you display minifigs?

littletoki · January 2012

I love it, @Brickdancer! Landscape mode works brilliantly for the CMFs since you can get all 16 per each series in one row. I wish I had thought of that! DOh!

princedraven · January 2012

^^ So is that the same size case/frame as littletoki used? Looks great both ways IMO

Legogeek · January 2012

@littletoki & @Brickdancer - the shadowboxes are awesome. I just bought 2 of the display boxes that were discussed as being available from the Container Store, but I think I may have to give the shadowbox method a try.....

littletoki, have you noticed any sagging of the shelves yet?

Another question - how do you access the box? from the rear or does the glass front slide open?

littletoki · January 2012

^^ I'm pretty sure Brickdancer got the same size case 18x24.

@Legogeek - no sagging and I doubt they will. The pieces of trim (aka shelves) are really quite sturdy. The weight of the minifigures are hardly noticeable. And even though I have bricks and shelves stacked on top of each other, I also adhered the support colums to the sides so they don't put much additional weight on the bottom shelves.

You access the case from the back, it slides out. The front glass is glued in and doesn't move at all.

Legogeek · January 2012

@littletoki - Thanks! I have a feeling I'll be visiting Michaels or Aaron Brothers soon.

tk79 · January 2012

Landscape? That is clever...nice look with all 16 in a row!

I'm torn between those display boxes from the container store and the shadowbox...the shadowboxes look very nice, but I want to keep it easy access so my kids can play with them when they want. Maybe I should do both...

At times like these, I think, "what would my wife do?"...then I quickly get some sense and move away from that dangerous line of thinking.

yys4u · January 2012

I'm with you @tk79. I really like the container store cases I've been using, as they're cheap, simple, and look nice. I like @littletoki displays, but it seems like a little too much work for me haha. But I like the fact you can hang it on a wall and display way more figures! I'm thinking maybe keeping the Container store displays for CMF's and using the shadowboxes for all the rest of my figures...

littletoki · January 2012

Definitely go with both @tk79! The display boxes are great for easy access - especially for the kiddies. I'm picking up a few myself because the larger figures won't fit in the shadow box - i.e. Jabba, Hagrid, the giant trolls etc.

BrickDancer · January 2012

@yys4u it was actually super easy. The shelves were purchased ready without any cutting or sanding necessary, 5 for $1 each at Home Depot. Then primer and black paint. Then just add the side supports made of bricks and you're ready to place the stands on. Took a couple hours of work, but was easy and worked out well.

Legogeek · January 2012

@yys4u it was actually super easy. The shelves were purchased ready without any cutting or sanding necessary, 5 for $1 each at Home Depot. Then primer and black paint. Then just add the side supports made of bricks and you're ready to place the stands on. Took a couple hours of work, but was easy and worked out well.

Wait, wait, wait! Home Depot actually had shelves that were ready to fit? Tell me more. :oP

yys4u · January 2012

Yea I'm starting to get convinced. I'll just keep the CMF's in the container store displays on top of my entertainment stand, and when I have time (and a place to spray paint, I live in a condo I don't know how the HOA will feel about me spray painting outside) I'll make some of these to display figures on the wall.

littletoki · January 2012

^ Give yourself more space to spray paint than you think you need and cover it up.

I have a nice rectangle outlined in black spray paint on my garage floor. The disposable table cloth I used was not big enough. >.>

BrickDancer · January 2012

@littletoki very true! I now have a permanent gray shadow of a rectangle on my patio =(

@legogeek they are named "Poplar Hobby Board" by the sticker on the back of them. They have dimensions of "2 feet long x 1.5 inches wide x 0.25 inches thick". Make sure they are all equal in length while still at the store.

tk79 · January 2012

@toki Both sounds good to me. Maybe like @yys4u mentioned, keep the ones for play in the displays and the rest in the shadowboxes.

By the way, if anyone is going the container store route, if you sign up for their e-mail list, you'll get a 10% off coupon (online or in-store) sent to your e-mail within 24 hours. That's the only discount I could find in my search.

jadeirene · January 2012

I'm also copying littletoki's shadowbox display. I bought two 16"x20" cases at Aaron Brothers for $60 total (it was during their buy one, get one for 1 penny sale). The front of the glass area swings open and has a magnetized closure, so I can have easy access to the minifigures.

I haven't finished building the boxes yet, but I've calculated that it will fit 8 rows of 10 figures, which will be exactly 5 series of CMFs.

Legogeek · January 2012

Thank you @BrickDancer

Looks like more versions of shadowboxes are materializing. Hope everyone will share pix of their version! ;oD

lulwut · January 2012

I have mine partying on the Creator houses. Displaying these in cases is just a tad dull.

Michaels has plenty of acrylic cases in varying sizes for cheap with their usual 40-50% off coupons.

littletoki · January 2012

@jadeirene. How did I forget about Aaron brothers?! The cases you found sound amazing - I would definitely prefer something front closing. That would make it so much easier to move the minifigs around.

Can't wait to see your pics!

Legogeek · February 2012

@jadeirene thanks for the heads-up on Aaron Brothers!

@littletoki - I went to Aaron Brothers to check out their "Keepsake Boxes" - they have several sizes that will work to varying degrees. The 9x16 & 11x14 are $40, while the 16x20 is $60. they are 2" deep and have a canvas cloth type of backing.
Right now AB has the "Buy one frame get another for 1 cent Sale"
Didn't buy anything yet - just wanted to know what was available and then go home to figure out size & approx figure space...
I'll be heading back tomorrow to get 2 of the 16x20 boxes!
:o)

littletoki · February 2012

@Legogeek - thanks for the info! But I've already bought around 9 shadowboxes and prepped the shelves. I'm committed. :\

Legogeek · February 2012

@Legogeek - thanks for the info! But I've already bought around 9 shadowboxes and prepped the shelves. I'm committed. :\

Whoa!
Looking forward to seeing the final results!

greekmick · February 2012

OMG I never realised it would be so hard to purchase shadow boxes in the UK unless you want a small one for baby castings. Does anyone in the UK have any ideas where to get a decent size from please?

princedraven · February 2012

^ I too have been looking, no luck at all yet. Will let you know if I find anything useful.

martyn · February 2012

^^ Found the same problems. Only website I could find that would sell one @littletoki & @BrickDancer used was here:

http://www.frames.uk.com/frameprice_box/framequote.html

I haven't spoken to them yet, but they let you enter a 24" by 18" box frame, which is better than any other website I have found. If anybody goes for it please report back.

princedraven · February 2012

^ Over £55! Ouch!

martyn · February 2012

^ I know, another reason why I haven't sampled yet.

greekmick · February 2012

I've managed to order one 24 x 12" with 2" depth from a company on ebay framingmadnessltd@fsmail.net. He said he could do the same as the littletoki picture for £26.99. Seems to be a reasonable price. Will let you know when it arrives.

littletoki · February 2012

What about this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Link-99800800-Display-Cabinet-Collecty/dp/B002PHLZJQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328115001&sr=8-3

I can't wait to see the cases from @jadeirene and @legogeek - front opening frames. Argh. Just ideal for something like this.

graphite · February 2012

I made a shelf from legos for my CMFs. It's not enclosed but it worked well for what I wanted.

BrickDancer · February 2012

That's a nice "all-lego" solution @graphite!

martyn · February 2012

@greekmick would be really good to see a picture when you get it, just looked on his ebay site and it seems they would be perfect.

atkinsar · February 2012

^ any chance of a link please, I couldn't find it on eBay.

canon03 · February 2012

I purchased the 24" x 18" shadow boxes yesterday and after getting them home, realized just how hard it was going to be to line the figs up and prevent them from falling over before placing the backing on and hanging it on the wall. I got a pretty good deal on them too at Michaels, but think that I'll return them and go with a home-made solution. I haven't seen any front opening boxes at a decent price.

littletoki · February 2012

@canon03 - for spacing and lining up the minifigs, I used 1x3 bricks as spacers in between each one and a 2x6 brick from the front of the minifig plate to the glass. I can post a photo of this tonight. It made it super easy to space each minifigure the exaxt same distance.

Also, I used acid free scrapbooking adhesives to fix the plates onto the shelves. They might be hard to see in this picture but they are clear, round stickies. I put them on the bottom of each plate.

They are super strong. So strong that when one of my cases fell over this morning, all of the shelves and plates stayed in place - only one minifig was knocked off his stand.

Also, I took apart one of my cases which I built back in October and I was able to peel of the ZOTs cleanly from the LEGO without any residue.

martyn · February 2012

^^^ Here is the link I found:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/mirrors4everyone

BrickDancer · February 2012

@canon03 you should use the sticky dots that @toki shows. Then use the dots on the bottom of each CMF plate to keep them in place, with 1/4" space between each. Only after all the plates are on do you put the shelves into the shadow box. Then it should be a cinch to put the figures on without trouble.

littletoki · February 2012

Here is how I do it but @brickdancer makes way more sense.

canon03 · February 2012

I contemplated using the Zots mentioned earlier, but I've never run across them and was trying to figure out how they could possibly be stong enough to keep a minifig and stand from moving. Sounds like I should give them a shot as they appear to be very inexpensive.

jocappy · February 2012

@littletoki went to the container store for the display. Thanks for posting that pic.

aplbomr79 · February 2012

All of my Castle minifigs are in ziplocks packed in Sterilite containers. When I get my trophy room finished, I will start to display them.

Most of the others are in Sterilite and are for my boys to play with. The only other series that I keep out of their reach are the Winter Village and a few MFS.

littletoki · February 2012

@canon03 ZOTs are sold in Michael's and Joann's in the scrapbooking sections. And they are STRONG. I put some on my wall to hold up a poster and then made the mistake of just yanking it off - pulled a nice piece of paint and bits of drywall with it. :D

I use the Large size (in the blue box) and put two for each side column and another 2 on the bottom of each plate/stand that the minifigs are on. They don't move.

I'm putting together a case now and here they are upside down for the last few days.

canon03 · February 2012

@littletoki Thanks...I was wondering what size Zots you used. I ran by Hobby Lobby the other day and they had a few different sizes and thicknesses. I'm guessing the large size you use is the width and is still completely flat? Some of them appeared to be rather thick and would think that would raise the baseplate up too much.

littletoki · February 2012

^ yup, large, flat and clear. On the side of the box is #3783.

I put one on either end of the stand/plate which secures it in place so it doesn't wiggle and they lay completely flat.

I checked Hobby Lobby's website and these are the ones you want - just in large. They only seem to have the mediums (green box) on line.

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=183785

maesterjay · February 2012

you know what works well for minifigs and for not too much money... A $40 Golf Ball Display @ AC Moore with a 50% off coupon (I didn't even have to print it out just showed them it on my phone from their site).

atkinsar · February 2012

^ displaying golf balls, and people make fun of our hobby ;-). Any way looks good.

maesterjay · February 2012

^ displaying golf balls, and people make fun of our hobby ;-). Any way looks good.

I know right!? I did find some comfort in seeing the dust layer on top of the packaging (must have been sitting there for awhile), at least we know no one will be displaying their balls with this one ;-).

ps: it is front loading with a magnet door, so changing them around is as easy as could be.

greekmick · February 2012

Finally got my display finished. The box frame I ordered was perfect for what I needed. I went for the 20 x 16 size in the end as I wanted a glass front. Cost £30 including delivery which was very well packed. More or less copied @littletoki so thanks for the guidance. Really pleased with it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76692135@N02/6881099845/

tategoi · February 2012

Sam someone using these. Individual case but connectable on 4 sides.

littletoki · February 2012

@greekmick - woohoo! It looks awesome! I like that you gave more space in between rows. Looks less crowded plus you can have them hold their weapons upright.

Very nice! Also, isn't it impossible to take a photo of it properly? Stupid reflective surfaces. :)

And that case above looks amazing.

greekmick · February 2012

@littletoki - the gaps between each shelf probably could have been a bit tighter but as you said they can at least hold their weapons upright. I do wish I went for the bigger frame although having only started collecting this year these were most of the minifigs I have currently. I will build another frame at a later date. My son wants one for his room with CMF as well so should be very busy.

Very difficult to take a good picture. I should have taken it before attaching the glass and outer frame.

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How do you display minifigs?

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