My collection boxed up and home construction photos

[Astro Galaxy]

Seeing your collection packed, house foundation layed, house completed, doing the basement..etc.
It's so interesting! 
Wish I could built my own house too 
All the best and hope to see your entire collection real soon

[Morgbug]

It's coming.....

[JesseVader08]

Tease. 

[Rob]

This is like Chinese Democracy all over again.   

[Morgbug]

This is like Chinese Democracy all over again.   

True dat.  To wit:

I don't think I'll have any display space for over a year, so that's going to be fairly disturbing during that time frame.  Collecting just to put it away won't be much fun

So it looks like it will be about 18 months from now before I see the bulk of my collection again. 
to box up. 

It will be a long time though before I have a room for all my crap.  We don't have any family here in town, so everyone comes to visit and we've been wanting to have a couple of spare rooms, so now we will, but I can't make one into a toy room without affecting that.  So it's about waiting until the basement is done.   

Tons to do, but I know as soon as spring comes I have to finish the fence (about 100' left), build a deck and get some landscaping done so we're not living in a mud pit again.  That all means my room realistically won't be done until next winter at the earliest. 

Still in storage, going to be there a long time, probably until Christmas '07 or so

So the room should be done probably within a month or so, depending on when the inspection is scheduled and whether we have to rip down any walls to adjust the electrical.  I imagine it will take part of February to get the shelving up.  After that I will start to get the stuff out of boxes, but that will take a long time to get it all on display.  But finally, finally some progress.

So I'm guessing my entire collection won't see the light of day until fall, simply because I won't spend enough time in the basement during the summer months.  Still, progress, however slow, is being made.

Not much I can offer more than that really.  I did seriously drag my ass.  Various reasons.  I did finish the fence; built a shed; put in a pool; built a deck so the summers went according to plan.  The last straw was the carpet, which seemed no matter where I went it was a huge wait.  It finally went in today, so tomorrow I'll do the trim/baseboards and the room will be done.  Pictures soon, but I will say the feeling I have now is not relief, rather I'm totally overwhelmed at how and where to put stuff out.   I have three, eight foot shelves (12" deep) so I've got a bit of space, but I imagine the loose star wars will eat that up in no time.  Plus I'm still trying to figure out what to use for risers to elevate figures towards the back. 

So very, very much crap.  If it's all on display by the end of winter I'll be impressed. 

And the Chinese Democracy comment is well placed. 

[JesseVader08]

Pictures soon, but I will say the feeling I have now is not relief, rather I'm totally overwhelmed at how and where to put stuff out.

Boy, do I remember that feeling.  When we moved to Kelowna, it took me over a year to set up my room because it was such a daunting task and I kept having to reorganize things to make them fit on various shelves and such.

I'm still trying to figure out what to use for risers to elevate figures towards the back. 

Those expandable kitchen shelves / spice racks are pretty damn handy.  You can find them at WalMart and Home Outfitters.



http://www.kitchencollection.com/Temp_Products.cfm?sku=00822195&Location=RelatedProduct

Good luck Brent.

[Morgbug]

Thanks Jesse, those do look interesting and I'll definitely look into them.  Basically the shelves I have are 12" deep, so a base section, one about two inches high or so and another twice that is what I'm after.  The shelves hold six figures deep with stands and about 7 rows per foot, so 42 figures per foot.  Eight foot shelves should hold about 336 figures total.  I figure I have well over that, but two shelves should take care of the vintage, modern and Kubricks/bustups (I hope). 

Anyway, some pictures.  I did finish the trim (less doing some touch up work around the nails and joints, but that can be done later.  Quickly first a pair of pictures of the shed (8x10) and the deck (16x16 - still needs the railings finished):







So the room itself ended up being basically 9x13 with a slight jog near the door that eats up a couple of feet of width.  Lots of bedrooms around in new houses these days are 9x9, so down the road this is good as a fifth bedroom in the house when we sell. We did the paint and the design for the most part as a bedroom with that in mind, though I'd have to add a closet.

Towards the door from inside the room:



Looking into the room from outside:



I've started putting some stuff out already and it will be slow going.  First up is vinty stuff and some titaniums (and iPod).  With due respect to guys that have their stuff lined up like that, I'm not a big fan, so the need for the risers to display a little better.  I'm not as ambitious as Rob, but I'd like to have clearer views of things.



The other end where I'm going to display my droids in this display I absconded with from Walmart.  You can see some Kuby's and other stuff in there.  After the vintage stuff though, I was most anxious to get the Simpsons stuff out.  I hadn't seen any of it in so long and I really missed Homer. 



Some Simpsons shots, if only to taunt Scott, who I still cannot believe he parted with that stuff.  I'm a bit amiss about the display of this stuff as I have a number of playsets not even up there and really no room.  I'm thinking more shelves on another wall with way more clearance so I can do a bit of stacking.  I'm missing a few Groundskeeper Willie figures I'll have to pick up as well. 








By far the worst part is realizing I've used up about a third of the shelf space for roughly four boxes.  I've got easily 40 more to go   So more shelves or something will obviously be in order.  I've moaned about Ikea stuff before, but it will be a while for that stuff, so in the interim I'll have to make due.  I'm probably having the most grief from how to display my diecast stuff.  A Bertby would be ideal.

So I'll plug away at this stuff over the next while and update as stuff gets out. 

[Matt_Fury]

Looks good so far Brent...although I think Frankenberry's eyeing your beer!   

I think we all feel your pain on the space/display issue.  I'm still tweaking things here and there and now I need to find a spot for my vintage playsets and vehicles that UPS will deliver this week.

I have a feeling none of us will ever be finished with our collection displays.   

[JediJman]

I have a feeling none of us will ever be finished with our collection displays.   

My new year's resolution is to be caught up by end of Feb - we'll see how that works.

Great pics Brent - can't wait to see more!

[JesseVader08]

It must have felt good to finally break into those boxes, despite being pretty damn overwhelming at the same time.

Is that door wider than usual?  It looks a lot wider than what I'm used to in our house.  Or maybe my eyes are just fooling me.

BTW, look out, your daughter is growing up!  She's older than my first girl, but I still didn't expect her to be that tall. 

[Morgbug]

Yeah, it was fun seeing stuff.  Until I sat down and figured out just how much stuff I have.  Those three shelves I'm not even sure will accomodate all the SW stuff.  I have seven rather large boxes of loose modern stuff, probably between 500-1000 figures   That's ignoring Kubricks and Bustups which I thought I'd get up there too.  Plus the IJ stuff.   There's so much Marvel, DC, BTVS, Futurama, Simpsons (which you can see most of already), Family Guy, Sportspicks, Diecast and other crap as well.  On top of that are the statues, maquettes, busts, posters.  None of that counts the carded or boxed vintage and modern stuff.  Honestly, I thought the room was big.  Not a chance it's close to big enough. 

The door is 36" wide.  I think normal is 34" or even 30".  I'd wanted to have no problem moving stuff around, so we planned for the extra width but the defining factor is the doorway at the top of the stairs is 34" wide, so not really much point in having the extra width.  Too late now, but it is still nice for getting stuff into the room and not rapping the knuckles. 

The kid is a weed that just won't stop growing.  Most people think she's 10-11 years old when they see her. 

[Matt_Fury]

I know what you mean Brent.  When we moved in a year ago, I had all my stuff in large rubbermaid totes (about two dozen total) and they were stacked floor to ceiling in my office/collection room.  I had planned on putting all my carded figures on the wall along with a few shelves to display loose figures/vehicles but that idea got tossed when I wallpapered the place with figures and wasn't done!   

I changed focus and bought 6 bracketless shelves from Lowes to display some ships (TIE fighters and the Imperial Shuttle ended up there) and some battle scenes on and a couple of organizers which I decided to display a number of my vehicles in (mainly Jedi Starfighters and a few others...one set of organizers was designed to fit in the corner which I filled with loose figures, clones, sandtroopers, wookies etc).

I then purchased two TV tables which I put back-to-back and made the top look like a Rebel Hangar scene with all my rebel fighters (minus the snow speeders) and the BMF Falcon.  The shelves are filled with various figures (Jedi, Sith, Politicians, a rogues gallery (basically all the aliens that didn't fit into my Jabba's Palace dio), a medical set-up where half is the Luke in Bacta tank scene and the other is the rebuilding of Vader scene, and an EU/concept shelf where I have my concept vehicles and a few random things that don't fit anywhere else).

Even with this new set-up I ended up putting my Star Wars Weekends beanies and LE/SE Sabers in another room!  I'm sure I could've done it a different way, but I like what I have so far...and I'm not quite done yet.   

[Morgbug]

No "other" space allowed for me, so some serious culling will be in order. 

I went through the boxes of loose figures last night.  I can't shake the feeling that I am missing a box or two (so maybe 200-300 other figures) but I actually felt better last night after getting an idea on stuff.  At some point along the line I must have realized I'd actually not want one of absolutely everything.  Oh there's 30 or so Luke Skywalker figures for sure, but I was quite surprised to see only 4-5 Boba Fett's.  Definitely going to cull back on the armies and Jedi and the prequel stuff is likely to go down to far fewer figures.  It was also interesting to see some absolute crap in there and some old stuff that actually wasn't that bad.  The Luke Skywalker from the Death Star Clash cinema scene is really not that different from the Throne Room Luke minus the action feature.  On quick glance last night it actually looked better and it's gotta be 7-8 years older. 

I'm a little more optimistic about getting all the SW vintage/OT/PT figures and the Indy stuff onto those three shelves.  Possibly the GG bustups, Kubricks and titaniums as well.  If I could manage to get all that stuff up there I would be quite pleased.  There also aren't as many sportspicks as I thought there'd be, so that was a plus. 

On the down side I went through the Marvel/DC stuff last night too and oh how I wish that stuff was in the 3.75" scale.  It is going to take up a huge amount of space. I expect a bunch of the stuff I bought for BAF parts will go by the wayside as well.  The larger scale, be it Marvel, DC, BTVS, Trek, Movie maniacs or anything else is nice, but horrid for display. 

I'm already making plans for downsizing on a number of items.  I've set myself a space limit for the Gentle Giant stuff which is pretty substantial as the shelving units are five shelves, each 14"x36".  But if I can't get all the stuff out there, it'll have to be sold off.  Also contemplating moving out some of the other stuff that's higher end including some of the MR helmets.  While the task is daunting, even at a fraction of what I paid I figure I can get a couple of grand back out of the extra stuff.  Probably the best news I heard was from my daughter telling me that all the boys in her class are star wars nuts and want to see my room.  I see a potential for a garage sale there

So I've got to make my risers now for the shelves and then get stuff out as I'd like.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with styrofoam and cut it to fit, glue it together and paint it.  Dirt cheap as you can buy the insulation sheets for fairly cheap and easily cut them to size.  That should make it pretty easy and clean looking plus easy to cut to fit if I need some larger spaces for something.  I'll get on that before I put out too much more stuff as the shelves are already cluttered and stuff (like the Simpsons) will have to be taken down to allow for adjust the shelves.  Need to figure out how I want to display the figures as well.  Possibly chronologically by character; maybe the traditional by movie, not sure. 

diecast stuff is going to be a bit of a bitch. 

[Mikey D]

Woah, is that a ghostly spirit I see there?  That's some crazy ****...

[JesseVader08]

So I've got to make my risers now for the shelves and then get stuff out as I'd like.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with styrofoam and cut it to fit, glue it together and paint it. 

Neat idea, I'm curious to see how that works.