So here I am. Almost 13 years of serious collecting behind me and I've been a member here since 2005

<-- see!

Well I did have a collection showcase but that's so old that I don't even know where the pictures have gone. Ever since then my collection has grown way out of proportions and I had to move. Okay not really but I did move. Now about a year and a half after that move I've finally got to building my master display.

Before all this I lived in a studio. I had my collection displayed in the biggest part of my studio. I tried not getting it into the sleeping area but it was difficult.
I started out with a 'big' display case that my father wanted to throw out so many years ago. Once that filled up I ventured into the world of display cases and decided that it was too expensive to get another one. Eventually I found a small discount one (this is before detolf was made) but it broke to pieces within a year or two. So I decided to go for shelves. I put up some seriously long shelves and my living space was dominated by it. Crazy enough it never held back any of the girls...

This is what it looked like about two years ago:


The display case. Filled to the brim with plasticrack.


The wall with all the filled shelves.

But then I moved. I bought a new house and my girlfriend moved in with me. Really happy with my hobby of course she opted for a mancave. I gladly accepted to have a room where I can display my toys, have my workbench etc etc. And it doubles as a guest room too! Now of course the rest of the house had priority and my collection remained in boxes. Lot's of cardboard boxes (And I hate boxes!)

Now a year and a half later the day draws close that I will finally be able to display my collection. And to be able to show the people I know. That I'm a serious collector. That I not just collect a few toys. I collect a lot of toys!

Having the funds available I decided to wander back into the display case business. I found a lot of pre made glass cases. Aluminum, wood. Very small to very big. But nothing really that would fit my room in one go. I went to a lot of showrooms. Tried to buy those awesome automotive display cases (always littered along the BMW showrooms...) contacted builders and carpenters to spew ideas. Then I thought what the heck. I can do this. I know Sketchup. So I started drawing to see what I could come up with for the room.


This is what I came up with. It looked great on the map of the room and it is precisely what I had in mind.

So I went out and found a friend of a friend who is a carpenter and who gave me a quote I would be able to afford and which I could live with. I gave the order.

So this week he and I started to construct the case. He had pre fabricated the most part in his shop. At the end of day one this is what I had standing in my mancave...





Let's throw in something familiar for size. Like Legends Prime. Or Jetwing Prime for that matter...





BEHOLD THE BEAST! I have totally misjudged the size of this case! I must have pictured it in my mind while staring at the wall a hundred times but it didn't make that much of an impact.

Come monday we will attach the 2 sliding doors, the 2 swinging doors and finish up the drawers as well as the ceiling. Install the glass and wire up the LED ceiling spots and adjustable side spots. Tuesday will be paint day and after that I'll be gone snowboarding up until the next week. So Expect an update monday, tuesday and after that I will try to photograph everything as I start to fill up this case with all my Transformers.

Let me know what you guys think!

*Edit*

My collection now. 22 moving boxes, 2 tubs and some loose change.

update 12-3

A little update today. We got to place the glass in the doors, hang in the doors and we mounted the entire thing to the wall and the ceiling. (just for good measures) fixed the front of the drawers too. Pics!







Also we decided were to put the light and figured out how to mount it all. In addition to the 6 ceiling spots there wille be 5 magnetic rails with spots. They are completely adjustable!



Tomorrow we'll install the lights and start painting.

*update 14-3*
My last update for this week. It's time to try out my Custom X!

Testing the ceiling spots. They are small but they definitely light up the big hunk already.


Here the inside is all but finished in high-gloss white. I wanted to really have a light surrounding for the clash of primary colors that will be displayed in it.


Another shot from how you enter the room. I will probably reserve a place in the head-on view for either Gundam or Masterpieces.


White is white.


The drawers. There is 5 in total. I still need to find some suitable knobs to use. As the strips of gaffertape will not suffice once it is done. And indeed Kek23k. This will be were I will try to stuff all the instructions and maybe even trailers and big accessories as such.

*update* 19/3
It takes some time to put this together! pfff. Even the carpenter had totally miscalculated the work that had to go into this beast. Good thing for me we agreed on a price up front.


Lights! There is already so much light in this case can ou imagine we lost one of the rails? So eventually there will be more light in the middle.

The top will be finished as soon as he finishes with installing the remote control dimmer. It's a pain to find LED dimmers...


Still need to buy some knobs for the doors and drawers.


This is what a lightrail looks like. I can't wait to shine these lights at some plasticrack.

Also, the sliding doors are so heavy that they are bending the wood a little in the middle. Therefor we need to cut up the middle drawer and install another beam or leg for the case to rest on. The drawer will still be functional but I won't be able to fit as many parts in there as I wanted.

Tomorrow the glasscompany will drop of the 8mm shelves. I hope I can install these later that day.

*edit* 22/3

Well it takes time... :s

Wednesday the glass shelves finally got delivered. These are some heavy plates of glass (8mm!)

first the stuff that still need to be done:

- Dimmer for the LED lights. The electricians finally found how they can dim all the LED's at once without the strobe effect. It will take another week for the dimmer to arrive and be installed.

- Some paint touch ups. We dented the corners a bit when we manhandled the sliding doors in. Also the floor still needs a layer of paint.

- The ceiling needs to be finished. This is on top of the case to blend it into the room. It's going to be chic.

- We somehow lost one of the light rails. As you can see in the next pictures. I still think it needs 5 instead of 4. Where that last rail went.... no one knows!

- I still need small handles or knobs for the drawers/ doors.

BUT I can start setting things up in the case. It will be a lot of trial and error at first. I placed in there what I had lying around not packed up in boxes:


The glass shelves in the corner are heavy and have to be handled by two people because of the restricted space...



It's very museum-esque for me to have just a couple of bots displayed. I kind of like it. But I know as soon as all the boxes start to unpack it's going to be rows and rows of TF again. I hope I get to vary it a little in the end.

update 26-3
Thanks guys for all the kind words. Finishing up the case is still taking up a lot of time BUT I got the okay to start filling it up! Then I fell into a giant black hole...

I didn't know where to begin! I unpacked one box only to discover I was looking for an item from another box! So I had to pack that box up again... Already hours in and I finally started filling it out. Remember this is just the first test-fit. I will enrich the case with acrylic risers and such later in the game.

As G1 is almost 30 years old I figured I should just begin there and move up while filling up the shelves. I got up to Victory and I wanted to throw things around already! It really is braincracking.





I hope that the outside of the case will be finished up next week.

*Edit* 05-04

I have an update! The case is still not finished. Tomorrow the electrician is finally installing the remote control LED dimmer. The dimmer was constantly on backorder everywhere   And before the electrician is done the carpenter can't finish his work. And before the carpenter has everything installed the painter can't do his work. So This is what needs to happen now:

- Instal LED dimmer
- Instal top of the case + instal some bits and bobs
- Paint the top part and the floor
- Clean up paint on the glass.

BUT I did get to put everything in. It was such a big task and it's not done yet. This is just the preliminary setup. I have found that I need some more shelves. I've decided to fit a couple of halve shelves on top to display small bots.

enough talk!





The bad news is that I still have a box of Binaltech/ Alternators, 2 boxes of Gundam. A bag of Micromasters and a box with their accessories. And a huge bag of minicons!

Shuffling around the displays will help this a lot but I won't have any display room for trailers and such...

*edit* 19-04
Yes an update!

The guy that came by to install the LED dimmer needed an entire afternoon to install the thing. First try nothing, second try with a different transformer gave a strobe light effect and then the third try with another transformer it was finally done. BUT the electric buzz was so loud that I couldn't agree with him leaving it like this. So I had him pack his things and come back another time when he has a solution.

So he did and came back a week later with what he was certain was a silent transformer. He installed it and as soon as we switched it on it started to buzz. Not so much as with the one before but still an annoying electrical buzz. (Like a mosquito buzz) You don't hear it when the dimmer is off or fully on. But as soon as you dim the lights. bzzzzzzzzzzzz

So we agreed on me using some leftover sound-insulationfoam and having the carpenter close the hole and then check on the sound. If it's still on an annoying level I'm just going with on/off and no dimmer.

The carpenter is here now finishing the top and making some last adjustments. Then painting again tomorrow.

After that I get to do the 'final' display installation! and then I can finally do some proper pics.





iDD

 

Wow, that certainly looks to be epic! I never really thought of having a custom case built but that's a great idea!

 

Wow, that looks VERY awesome. I can't wait to see the finished product man!

I've always thought about building my own bookcase, similar to what you're in the process of doing. However, I still live in an apartment and figure it'd probably be better to wait until the Missus and I move into a house.

Back to you, though, I'm pretty effin jealous. If it turns out like your sketch, it will certainly make your collection look like more than just plastic crack!

 

lol

U stole my sketches lol

Seriously I came up with that exact setup but flipped end to end

Then I had to move to the smaller room so the critter got the bigger one.

I'm definitely excited to see this completed.

Are u allowed to talk about cost, I never broached having someone do it for me, was gonna be a labor of love with a friend of mine.

 

Very nice id love to get rid of my shelves and have huge display cases instead. Now you got me thinking.!

 

Sure I am. But it would be a but crooked to compare prices. Man-hours are very expensive in my country compared to just about any other country. It would be like comparing apples with pears. If you would really like to know the cost PM me and I'll gladly open up to you.

I can say with certainty that this year there will be no Grand Max, fortress Maximus or black zarak on my 2012 haul list. Or any other kind of expensive toy.


iDD

 

thats really impressive. I am thinking of having something like that made but to accommodate both my transformers collection and my gunpla since my MISB items will stay in a separate shelf unit. Overall its looking mighty epic  

 

Dude, awesome!

Any close-up shots of your TFs?

 

Excuse my french, but MAN, THAT'S FUCKING BAD ASS!   Can't wait for the finished project!

 

Nice shelf man! Really looking forward to seeing the finished product!

 

Not at the moment. I will start posting photos when I'm unpacking all the bots and displaying them in the display case for the first time.

I will also try and fit in all my gunpla and my other random figures. Mostly anime and revoltech. I'm sure there is enough space to accommodate another shelf. Anything that doesn't fit in the end will be sold.

iDD

 

The new display is SO gonna rock!

 

My collection now. 22 moving boxes, 2 tubs and some loose change.

iDD

 

Looking good iDD, can't wait to see the shelves up and populated with TFs!  x

 

When you said epic display case, I thought you were joking.

I stand corrected. Well done sir, well done.

 

I REALLY like the first picture with the one large display case. I could fit my whole collection in there, very nice

 

Wow, that picture of Jetwing OP in your new display is already 10times more epic than my whole collection! Can't wait to see the whole display, but I hope you'll show us bit by bit so that we can enjoy the process, too  

 

if only i could display mine like that -.- no room in this apartment

 

Have patience my young padawan! One day you too will be able to move to a bigger place and display your collection like this. Perseverance is key!

Of course I will share all my progress with the boards. No fun in just keeping this to myself. It's kind of what a display case is for right?!

iDD

 

That's awesome.