So I’m encountering a situation that I have not faced in the 14 years I’ve been a member here- I’m about to run out of display space, and I don’t have space for another cabinet, and honestly I don’t know what I’m going to do when I fill the last couple shelves I have left. I’ve got a few other things I want to mention about this, but I’d like to hear from anyone else who has found themselves in this situation.
Ha. Well that’s the thing. Over the the years I’ve been collecting, I’ve had to sell big portions of my collection for various “real life” reasons; it’s only now in the last few years that I’ve been able to significantly grow my collection... but this is just a long way around to say that I’ve already boiled down my collection to the essentials as it were. My Secretbase fight figure collection, for example, is about 50% of my collection and I have no intention of selling or stopping. I mean, ultimately tough decisions will need to be made- I’ll have to eventually go Marie Kondo and decide what doesn’t truly give me joy... unless I decide to pack up sections of the collection and rotate the displays. I used to do that in my 20s when I was living in a single bedroom apartment...
If you haven’t yet, one way I’ve circumvented some space issues is mounted wall shelving. I’m not too keen or big on display cases, and the ones I do want are ridiculous to house 57 Cinema Monsters and 76 Obake Dogs. But I also had a chunk of time where I really had to dwindle down to essentials, but those essentials are still coming with new releases. This hobby is so unsustainable.
Good call @xSuicide Squadx - I did that above my detolfs. Between the tops of the detolfs and the wall shelf, it’s easily 30-40% more space.
i haven’t done wall shelves. I’m committed to detolfs at this point. They’re packed with risers to fit as much as possible. I can get 20 secret base fighters per shelf, 80 per cabinet. I just don’t see wall shelves affording me more display space. Just a smaller footprint... plus the room is a smaller room in a 100+ year old house with low ceilings (7’ sloped to about 6’5” on one side). The hobby being unsustainable is true, especially with makers making more. And really I know what I will have to do eventually (barring a lottery win where I could buy a bigger house or something) but I like discussing this with others to see if there’s ideas I may not have thought of. The wall shelves are a fine idea, but not for my setup. as for @akum6n - I don’t know about bankers boxes. I’m more of a sterilite container fan.
You can fit more than 20 fight figures on a detolf shelf, just saying. 30 with everything still visible.
Sorcery! Pics or it didn’t happen. What fighters are you talking about though... a ghost fighter or Obake ghost generally takes up more space than a Skullwing, which takes up more space than a Skullbrain...
Skullwings. I don’t have pics handy but I promise you it can be done. To another point, I think the hobby in general is super sustainable. Maybe not as a completist, but otherwise a slow burn is actually ideal
For long-term storage, I think banker's boxes may be better because the cardboard allows the vinyl to 'breathe'. Personally, I had an Iris tub of vinyls in storage for several years, and when I opened it up, there was a strong smell and slightly oily film on the inside of the container. The vinyls seemed ok, but it probably isn't an ideal environment. Sterilite-type containers do have the advantage of water resistance (e.g., if you have a leak of something), but I don't have the same concerns about water damage with vinyls as I would with toys that contain metal or that are in cardboard boxes.
@hellopike The wall shelves I bought from IKEA are 23” wide and 9” deep. I fit a lot on the five that I have. One shelf has 10 Target Earth figures fitted with eight minis between 3” and 5” tall. Putting risers on those, I think, would afford you quite a bit of fighter display potential. And as for fighters in a detolf, I have 26 Skull Brain on one shelf, 26 Skull Bees on another, and 35 Ggml fighters on another. I also pack 21 Obake Dogs per shelf.
Open wall shelves would work ONLY if your cats leave it alone. My young ones are jerks and tend to push stuff off the tables and shelves so wall shelves were not something we could even consider.
I have some wall shelves that are made of unfinished blanks for 'narrow' hinged bi-fold closet doors supported by unfinished wood brackets that Ikea used to sell for cheap. Each blank gives a shelf of about 15"deep x about 6'-10" wide. (But even w/ 4 of these, a spattering of book cases and a few display cases, I am out of room.)
Luckily for me I like the crowded pack 'em in type of display, which takes time to set up properly. I reckon a lot of people could free up maybe 20% space with some finessing. Even so, I've ran out of room myself, toys take up so much space to display! Its one of the reasons I've slowed down on the sofubi. I haven't stopped buying books though, you can stack them up or double them up on shelves etc ...
Over here have a saying - ‘You can never fit a pint in a half pint glass.’ It’s simple logic . . . you need a bigger house or a smaller collection!
I am gonna dig a basement fill it with toys and fit an automated parking garage style system with conveyor belf shelves. A handy app will allow me to rotate my collection from my hoverchair.
I found with fight figures, if you keep the heads facing towards you on the shelf but turn the bodies on an angle, and raise the arms a bit, they fit together better in a row and you can cram some extra on the shelf (especially if they're the same sculpt). It doesn't compromise the display too much. I've angled my Hone Suke rows in a similar way and made room for at least two more per shelf ...
I've seen people take the tails off their toys (with big tails) to free up space ... I'm a fan of layering on the shelf, which seems the most natural way to do it. Biggest toys at the back, mid-size in front of those, all the way down to mini and micro. Sure, you obscure probably half of each larger toy but enough is left visible that its not a problem. Also, you can make bespoke risers out of clear plastic food containers. Soak the labels off and they look fine.
phil it can be done but i did it though custom risers. i'm about to get rid of all the detolfs once i get my bonus from work. gonna buy display cases with sliding doors for the entire collection. they are expensive but they basically make the need to dust a thing of the past. #worthittome
@devilboy I want to get the bigger, sliding door cases for my Secretoy and Obake Dogs. The numbers I have could easily fit it all in a couple.