Pastor Robin's Office (updated 09-2018)

3 Minute Demo

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=357284875064871

Full Video

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=897561947109694

More pictures & videos here:
https://www.facebook.com/mpcraftsbyrobin/

Video Highlights




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EVOLUTION OF THE DISPLAY

The display began with humble beginnings in early 2016 when I first removed by desk hutch to install my first set of LACK floating shelves on my wall behind my PC. My very first LED mod was in March of 2016, when I drilled a gaping 5mm hole in the back of my MP-10 to install an LED to light up his matrix. I've since removed that LED in favor of installing an LED within the matrix itself, but I leave that hole there as a reminder of how this all started. "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." -- Albert Einstein


As the months went by I had installed many more LEDs amongst the figures, including a variety of accessories such as energon cubes, kremzeeks and explosion effects. They were all battery powered and could individually be turned on by remote control. As the collection grew, I also started to expand the display by installing more floating shelves around the room.


The display was really starting to look beautiful even in the dark. However, I soon discovered a flaw in the remote control sensors I had installed on each of them. They were constantly draining the batteries even when they were turned off. This was necessary for the sensors to constantly remain active to the remote control. I realized that needed another solution.

By November 2016, I had rewired all my figures to run by AC adapter instead of battery power. This was quite the project, as I had to set up many wires and splitters around the room to provide power to each figure. The wires were a lot messier than what I'd had hoped for, but at the time it was a worthwhile tradeoff. During that time, I also took an interest in fairy string lights as a nice (and affordable) means to provide lighting to the display.


I was also able to install different colored lights to different shelves, based on theme. The fairy string lights are not rigid and so each light had to be measured by distance and glued in place by hand with hot glue gun. It was quite a bit of work, but the overall result was fairly impressive. Every single power adapter was extended and united to a common power strip and soon the entire collection was able to be turned on by the press of a single button. "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." -- Aristotle


The next step for me was to install some creative backdrops. Since we own our own color copier & color printer, I printed my own backdrops and pieced them together to install onto the walls. By May 2017, the entire display had taken on a new personality and had also gained some public interest at that time. Many thanks to Maz @ TFSource for a Collectors interview that year.


The following year. as the collection continued to grow, I saw that I was running out of space in my room for each figure and so I had to make some very difficult decisions for the display. An "MP display" is just as important as an "MP figure" in my opinion and deserves just as much attention. Overcrowding of figures on a shelf is simply not an option for me. So in May of 2018 (12 months later), I had decided to tear down and renovate the entire display. Every backdrop was torn up and trashed. Every fairy string light was torn down, never to be used again. I removed my bookcase (and other furniture) and rearranged all the floating shelves to maximize room for all the figures (including combiners). I also sold off my entire Beast Wars collection and numerous figures from CHUG & other lines and focused purely on G1 Seasons 1-3 only (MP/3P). "Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind." Ecclesiastes 4:6


During the renovation, I took the opportunity to upgrade the lighting for the entire display. Instead of fairy string lights (which I thought were nice, but fairly distracting), I looked for the most densely compacted LED strips I could find on the market. I eventually found an SMD2835 strip featuring 240LED/m. It was obviously more expensive than the string lights, but SO worth it (and easier to install as well!). By that time, I had also learned a lot more about customizing my own wires instead of purchasing them. Not only would I save money, but a lot of space as well.


Although the strips were easier to install, there was even more work than before because I had many more shelves to work with now than I had just 12 months earlier. I had to blueprint all 4 walls of my display to figure out how I was going to connect each strip to each other and somehow unite them to a single source. It was a fair bit of work, but the overall look was so nice that it was well worth it.


The next step was to restore power to each of the figures. By this time, I had at least 14 AC adapters being used to power the room. Since I work extensively with computers, I carry a fair bit of spare parts and so I decided that I'd try opening up an old 400W desktop power supply (PSU) and see if I can run the room with a single power source instead. After a bit of simple hacking, it worked! I found that not only would I have the means to power the 12V shelf lighting, but the 3V figures as well, since both voltages are provided by the PSU (yellow & orange wires respectively).


If the installation of the LED strip lighting was a challenge, providing power to each shelf would be a nightmare by comparison. It would require manually twisting many hundreds of feet of enameled wire and preparing (soldering & gluing) almost 200 power connectors across all of the shelves. The 4 walls had to be blueprinted a 2nd time around so all the splitting wires could be mapped and directed to the PSU. It took a while to get them all prepared, but the difference it would make in cleaning up all the wires for each shelf was so worth it, I would gladly do it all over again without hesitation.


Finally, it was time to get the backdrops printed and installed again. Neither my printer nor my copier supports borderless printing and so I searched online to see what service options would be available. I soon found BestValueCopy.com, which offered 11x17 borderless printing on cardstock for $0.22 per sheet. I gave them a try and sent in a big order (about 170 pages), and I was truly amazed at the quality that I saw (I will never print my own backdrops again!). As of the end of 2018, the display should now be ready to handle the rest of the incoming figures to complete the collection. It's been quite the journey, and a lot of mistakes made, but if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Always looking forward to seeing what the future holds!

"Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams." -- Ben Carson

 

The Jet Judo pics are my favourite. Nice display.

 

Woah!  

That is a really cool setup!

 

I like the breakdancing Soundwave and Blaster  

 

Just picked up some display stands on ebay for my Cassette display. They're around $3 each now (someone on ebay was selling them for $1.58 before) What do you think? (check out the album here)

 

Now that, is a well thought out display. Not gonna lie, I'm quite jealous of the posing and themes you have going on.

All of my figures are perpetually stuck in the "just stand straight up, arms by your side" look. I can't pose them to save my life.

 

Thank you! I really do put thought into a unique pose for each figure to give them more personality; I appreciate that you notice! Perhaps some of these poses can give you a few ideas for your collection/display?

 

cooooool.
Are all the led features hardwired? or batt?

 

Did you look at the pictures?

Hard wired

 

Ideas are a lot of the reason I visit this section. As it stands, with somewhere in the 600 range, I don't really have room for dynamic display options. I've been pondering downsizing to figures I really like in order to open up more room.
I'll be keeping your display in mind if I venture that route.

 

I had them all battery operated at one point, but it got so tedious as my collection grew, so I reconfigured each one with a very short detachable plug so they could all plug simultaneously to one master power supply. That way, I can turn the entire collection display on and off with one button!

If you check my page (from my sig), you can see a number of figures that are configured to turn on by remote. Again, battery pack or hardwired options are pretty interchangeable as long as it comes from any 3V power source.

 

Recently modded some Quintesson figures for my display. For more figures, check out my page: https://www.facebook.com/mpcraftsbyrobin/

 

"WOW THAT IS AWESOME!" That's all I can say.

 

Just made an update video of the LED collection in my office. It's a bit lengthy, but feel free to skip around through it and check it out. I made it a bit more watchable by adding different background music for each display. Feel free to ask any questions!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=438538766512624

 

Video Highlights

 

Dayum. Awesome set up. Your computer is off the hook too  

 

Your display is a treat for the eyes.  

Where did you get those colorful kremzeeks from please?

 

Thank you Venixion! eBay will be the place to go for Kremzeeks. I bought a set of 7 from collectorcrafts. They are all the same mold, but he offers color variations that no one else does. I bought 3 more from radeonxp11. He's based in China, but he offers 2 other molds besides the standard one that no one else does. They do not light up on their own unfortunately; I customized each one with different colored LEDs. I also broke and reattached many of the limbs of the standard Kremzeek molded figures to give them unique poses.

I hope that helps!

 

Welcome. And thank you. I'll have to check that seller out. I really like the different poses. Cute little buggers. :3

 

LOVING ALL OF IT! Love your dedication! Good job Rob!