How do you display minifigs?

LegobrandonCP

^^ Loving the case you made. I just don't know if I should use an "all LEGO solution" or your idea with the pine strips.

I decided to use pine strips to save the lego for other 'proper' projects, plus if you go for a larger frame you don't need centre supports if you use wood. Looks like most people who have used lego have found that it sags over the longer runs so have needed support coloumns.

True. Oh and about the depth of the frame, my 23x23 cm Ribba frame only has a depth of around 4cm with the glass on.When you have the time, could you please PM me or post on this thread how you screwed in the pine strips? Thanks.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Anyone considered glass or plexiglass shelves in the Ribba boxes? We've discovered the wood shelves in our golf ball display cases has warped over time. Not enough warp to mak hem unuseable but enough to be frustrating.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Make them! Ooops

woony2

Here's how I made the Ikea Ribba frames.
Measure the inner frame up and mark where the 2 shelves are to be, so that they are equidistant as shown in pic 1.
Cut 2 shelves to the correct length from 25mm x 6mm strip wood. (I used pine but you could do it with plywood or mdf to avoid any potential warping issues as mentioned by AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz . Warping shouldn't be an issue in the smaller 25 x 25 frames but could happen in the larger 52 x 52). Cut each piece of shelving to fit as the inner frames provided by Ikea are not all the same, so don't assume both shelves will be identical lengths. Pilot drill the holes for the screws. Screw positions are shown in pic2. It is easier to use screws than nails as trying to nail through a stapled together MDF frame will only cause it to fall apart.
Once both shelves are in place and your happy with them use matt black paint to spray the shelf assembly and the back board. Let it dry fully (the boring part).
Then attach the CMF bases to each of the shelves. Centre them correctly, there needs to be about a one and a half stud space at either end of the shelves. I used blue tack but you could use black tack or double sided tape. Make sure the CMF bases are lined up with the rear of the shelf and there is a small gap at the front as shown in pic 3. This allows just enough room for the figs to hold some accessories like light sabers and other weapons. Because there is only just enough depth you do need to angle the arms/torso to ensure that they don,t protrude out of the front of the frame (but so far all the accessories I've tried have worked fine, did have to turn the lightsaber hilts upside down though).
Next load up frame with figs and re-assemble the entire frame.
Stand back and admire your handy work.

Thanks again to LittleToki for the inspiration.

Nb. I did say in my original listing that the frame was £5.29, just checked the Ikea website and it now seems to have gone up to £7.29 and the large one has gone from £9.99 to £14.99. But still its much cheaper than anything else I've found so far.

atkinsar

^ those are the prices for the white frames, if you change the colour to black, you get the cheaper price.

LegobrandonCP

^^ Thanks for the great photographs! Very informative and helpful. I think I might just use you idea so I don't have to make a Pick a Brick order for new parts. And the current 23x23 Ribba frame I have on hand at the moment has a different inner frame than your woony2. As shown in the second picture, there is a little part of the black coasting that wraps on the the other side but mind has both edges wrapped with white paint leaving only the middle with exposed wood. I guess my frame is a bit old and they change the manufacturing process?

Anyone know where I can get the wood strips in Canada and the approximate retail price for each?

fauxfoe

shot glass display cases, i'm just sayin' ;)

the one at the following link isn't exact, but very close to what i have (way more expensive, too. i believe mine was more like $45, but i'll have to go back and figure out where i got it, especially since i'm now to the point where i need another):

http://www.amazon.com/Shooter-Display-Cabinet-Protection-Cherry/dp/B001LQZOFI

if you look around at more of them, you'll note some models have slots for double-sized shot glasses, while others do not. i actually got one that had some of those on purpose, just so i could fill them in with a few taller fig scenarios, such as ones on horseback, riding a bike or windsurfing, a couple that i built small vignettes for, etc. these should also work well for larger-sized figures, such as a wampa or the new hulk figure.

some may not like the separation, but personally i love the way it looks with each one sectioned off in his/her own little box, it really makes the overall presentation quite stunning. and of course the shot-glass-sized compartments are a great fit for the figs, leaving plenty of room for accessories and the like.

finally, the figs are easily accessible by simply opening the door in front :)

AvengerDr

Knowing that I would never have managed to cut wood, paint it, drill holes... I opted for an all lego solution. Here's my WIP CMF case fitted for a Ribba 50x50cm:


...however I seem to not be that good in maths either.. I seriously miscalculated the amount of bricks that I would have needed :D

CMFs are arranged according to how well the fitted together (ie, there's the "historical" CMFs floor).. A Zombie should be put in place of the mechanic, next to the Hazmat guy :)

It is "somewhat" stable.. It's able to hold itself. Placing CMFs is the only thing that could make it collapse.. Once in the frame there should be no worries, I hope.

LegobrandonCP

^Awesome! Looking good. I remember reading LittleToki's blog post about her minifg display case and mentioning something about a free wood cutting service at Home Depot if you purchase something.

prof1515

Pornographic poses.

Oh, wait. You meant something else. My bad.

:-P

CCC

@AvengerDr It might look better if you have variable height boxes inside (which is why Lego is perfect for this, it is easy to modify once built) so that you spear carriers can stand with their spears upright.

Plus it looks kind of cool unfinished / ruined. A bit like the Colosseum.

AvengerDr

Thanks for the comments :)
@CCC spears do fit inside, it's just the tip that "overflows" to the next floor. The dimensions were calculated in order to maximize the available space. Each floor is 6 bricks tall, except the last one which should be 5 & 1/3 (one plate).

The spears were somehow turned in the picture but here's how they look:


Now I need to get more figs to fill it :)

Countryboy

Anyone know where I can get the wood strips in Canada and the approximate retail price for each?

Take a look at Michael's. Taking inspiration from LittleToki's design, i went there about a month ago and bought two of their 16X20 shadow boxes. I was very lucky to be there just as they had a 2 for one sale. They were expensive on their own ($129 if i recall), however at the time, i thought i was ahead of the curve at $65 each with the BOGO. Then as i was heading to the cashier, i saw a shelf full of marked down items. Wouldn't you know it... There were two Shadow Boxes there of the same size!!! They were further marked down to $32 each. One had a scratch on the plexiglass front and the other had a nick on the frame... I quickly returned to two new ones and jumped on these.. 2 16X20 for $64.00..

After calculating width, thickness, side rails, etc..., i will be able to get 8 rows X 16 minifigs (Perfect for my CMF collection) in one box.

The one area i could have done more research was on the shelving wood. I went with the craft pine wood. I don't remember all the sizes but the shelving wood cost me another $50 or so when it was all said and done. I am hoping to build a sub frame shelf system that will just slip into the shadowbox.

LegobrandonCP

^ Thanks for the tips! But for now, since I am starting out I think i'm going to stick with the cheaper Ikea Ribba frames just to see if i'm liking the looks of the minifigs on the wall. If all goes well I might check Michaels and get the more expensive shadow boxes. They always have 50% off coupons available.

The wood at $50 is quite expensive for a project like this.

bricksan

I only display my CMF ones but use a glass cabinet, I get 3 sets to a glass shelf, will take a photo later.

samiam391

I have these simple plastic cases. It obviously gets rid of the warp and dust problem, but they aren't flashy at all. These "shadow boxes" and other cases are see look much more presentable, and I'm definitely tempted to purchase.
Here's a terrible photo of what I have:

Also looking at those CMF cases you all have, they seem nicer. Exactly how much does it cost for all those pieces and plates for them? I'm interested in possibly trying to build one myself.

fyrmedhatt

@samiam931 - I'm sorry for this slightly off topic comment, but do you really have 14! Jango Fetts in there? Thats awesome!

atxdad

I made this brick-built wall mounted display with 7-year-olds in mind. It makes it easy for them to find the figures they want, and it's sturdy too: it weighs 6 pounds empty, much of that in technic beams. At 31" x 31" it can hold 300 minifigs, and it's easily expandable too.

samiam391

@fyrmedhatt- Yes, those are 14 Jango fett figures, and quite embarrassingly I have quite a few more not in that display case! :-S That's what happens when your favorite Star Wars character is put in a LEGO mold! ;-)

^Now that's what I'm talking about. Looking at my picture on here, I'm beginning to dislike my cases even more. That's a beautiful piece of work @atxdad! Do you have instructions or anything for it?

atxdad

@samiam391 - Thanks! No instructions, but I think there are a couple in-progress photos in that flickr photostream. I will also send you the parts list.

vwong19

@atxdad - that's pretty sweet. how is that structure mounted on your wall?

atxdad

@vwong19 - The display is mounted with three screws through the center spine. (Look under Darth Vader's feet.) The screws pass through existing pin holes in technic bricks, so no LEGO were harmed in the mounting. :)

Because most of the structure is pinned technic bricks, it's very rigid; you can spin it around or drop it and it will stay together. (Again, it was designed to be kid-proof.) It's not obviously technic though because I covered all the pin holes with tiles.

CCC

Instructions - start at the bottom and work up ;-)

BrickDancer

I like your Lego-built display case @atxdad. Any estimates on how many bricks will be needed? I thought about going an all-lego route too, but figured it would be very costly.

samiam391

The screws pass through existing pin holes in technic bricks, so no LEGO were harmed in the mounting. :)

Always of the utmost importance ;-)

@BrickDancer, if you click on the photo it takes you to his flickr page where in the description of the photo it says the brick count on this is 1,515 pieces.

atxdad

@BrickDancer I have a parts list for my display in BrickStore .BSX format which I can share with anyone interested. Just PM me an email address to which I should send it. In the end, I used 1,517 parts total including 185 technic bricks and 660 technic pins.

I sourced all the parts for ~$110 off BrickLink, but at an average cost of $0.36 per figure displayed, I thought that reasonable. ( @ atxmom might disagree, if only she knew!) This was the first project I sourced using my BrickLink cost-minimization program, so I know it couldn't be done any cheaper, but that's a discussion in a whole other forum thread.

BrickDancer

Nice use of the cost-minimization program. A quick look showed 13 rows, each row using 12 plate tiles, 8 4x12 plates across, plus a row bricks behind and on sides. It started to look real expensive until you listed the final BL price you got it done for, which is not bad at all for something this big. Very well done sir!

vwong19

@atxdad - Is the structure expandable for adding additional rows or do you think there is an upper limit in terms of load. I assume you can add an additional screw mount for every 5-6 rows. I'm definitely toying with making myself an all Lego display case.

Jay_Lego

My saga is complete. I finally got my final bricks in the mail today so I was able to complete the shadow box display case I had been working on. It was a lot of work, but completely worth it!

So, here is the rest of my story:

I went back to Michaels and got the old-style frame that @littletoki used in her tutorial. I used the exact same kind of trim as well, just cut to a longer length to go horizontally. Home Depot was very helpful. I decided to use a slightly different side-support structure and it seems to be holding just fine. I used (from the bottom): (6) 3x1 bricks, (1) inverted slope 2x2, (1) inverted slope 1x2, and capped it off with (2) 3x1 black tiles. If I did it again, I would use only (5) 3x1 bricks and (1) 3x1 plate because the top row is slightly smaller than the other rows. I could take the supports out and re-do them, but since I don't have any series 1 CMFs it doesn't bother me that much.

Other than that minor problem, everything seemed to come together in the end. I'm pleased with the result and will probably do another one in the future for some non-CMF minifigs.

I know it is unbearably empty, but I'm sure that now that I have a place to put them, it will fill up quickly.

Thanks again @littletoki and @BrickDancer!

atxdad

@vwong19 - I don't think there's a limit to how many rows can be supported. Just keep repeating the pattern of extending the spine and adding a cross piece to support the next row. I also know that just one screw can hold up the whole assembly; I added two more just to keep it from pivoting.

The central spine is actually two parallel rows of technic bricks sandwiching two parallel rows of plates between them. This spacing aligns the technic pin holes to match those of a perpendicular technic brick that supports each row. There's a picture in the flickr stream that illustrates this.

Playftl

I've been looking at the tutorial that @littletoki posted up and I'm just wondering, is it cheaper to buy 100ish black 1x3 bricks on bricklink(with shipping and everything) or should I just get em from my local lego shop?

Jay_Lego

@Playftl, My total cost for the 1x3's was $4.80 from BrickLink. I bought 80 of them so my individual cost was $0.06 for each 1x3 brick. It looks like you might be able to get them for $0.04 or $0.05 from some international stores, so you're looking at $4 or $5 with a few dollars for shipping.

At the Lego Store, you'd do the Pick A Brick cup and pay somewhere in the ball park of $9 I think for the small cup ($13 for a large one). While I haven't done the PaB personally, I think you could fit 100+ 1x3's in there, as well as some other elements. Here seems to be a good PaB cup packing reference.

Just as a reference, the online Pick A Brick is $0.20 per 1x3 so I would stay away from that.

To sum up (estimating costs):
BrickLink: $4.50 - $6.00 (at .06 per brick) + $3 shipping(ish) = $7.50 - $9.00
Lego PaB: $9 + $0.72 tax? = $9.72

By my count, there isn't that much difference. It might be cheaper to go with BrickLink if you're willing to wait on shipping / find a good deal. Lego PaB might be better if you need other elements as well, assuming that 100 1x3's will fit with some room to spare.

Just a few thoughts. Good luck!

Jay_Lego

@Playftl,

Sorry for the double post, but wanted to add these couple things:

I would first call your local store to check the price of the Pick a Brick cups and check that they even have black 1x3's in stock. My local store doesn't which made my decision very simple.

I'd also evaluate any other brick needs you have and see if you can find a BrickLink store that offers everything you want and price it out as a reference. I built my supports with more than 1x3's and found a BL store with all the pieces I wanted at a good price.

Si_UKNZ

Hi all - I have a problem with my minifig display case I wonder if anyone can help with .. I have one of these



which I've packed full of minifigs, but I cant get it open, it seems to be jammed - anyone any ideas?

Si_UKNZ

Oh my god I dont believe it, after having this box for about a month I've finally discovered the hidden button on the top which unlatches the front! Thought it was a bit hard to open (feeling slightly embarrassed now). Hey, that latch is a nice touch.

LegobrandonCP

^LOL! Well, now you know!

vwong19

I'm playing around with color accents on the pedistals for my super heroes collection. I will probably frame them eventually...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7124738763/in/photostream/

BrickDancer

Nice idea! Looks sorta like action figures hanging in their colored packages to compliment the rest of your store room.

StevenAshby

one of my new display cases for my minifigs :D

got a few more on the go just got to get the bricks and work out layouts

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Hi all - I have a problem with my minifig display case I wonder if anyone can help with .. I have one of these



which I've packed full of minifigs, but I cant get it open, it seems to be jammed - anyone any ideas?

Where can these be bought? Would you measure the visible height of a top row space and a bottom row space? I'm wondering if my Jack Stone figures will fit and be fully visible.

CCC

^ In the UK, they are available at amazon and play online, and John Lewis (in store and online). A few other places carry them too. The non-yellow ones are just amazon (I think).

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Thanks, I'll search for a US seller.

LegobrandonCP

Thanks, I'll search for a US seller.

You can get those display cases at TRU, Walmart and other online retailers.

mrseatle

Just a basic "shadow box", $2 from the second hand store.

mrseatle

mrseatle

Sorry for triple post, I finally figured out how to post pics here.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Thx aLegobrandonCP, I'll look for them.

littletoki

Getting closer to being finished! I ran out of 2x4 black plates so had to do an emergency Bricklink order. Hopefully, I'll be done next weekend.

I usually have the blinds closed in this room to prevent any sun damage but I needed the light for the photo. Once the new Star Wars sets come out this year, I can finish up the 3rd Star Wars case.



My favorite case:

jadedanc

@littletoki Where do you get your cases? Those are gorgeous!

CCC

^ They still look fantastic, especially on white background.