Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 54

Thread: Transformers Room Construction - any tips?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    2nd Jun 2011
    Location
    Rylstone
    Posts
    8,382

    Default Shelving and lights

    Well we finally managed to get a builder out to look at our place and over the plans, apparently he will provide us with a quote in a couple of weeks and could start construction early in the new year. Every other builder I have rung has never rung back, and the one I managed to talk to kept giving me different emails to send my plans to and then never emailed me back - builders suck up here!

    When looking at the TF (rumpus) room he didn't think he'd be able to position ceiling ligts to illuminate all the shelves correctly (I want them at 50cm intervals above each other) so suggested I put led strips on the undersides of them to illuminate the shelf below - how do people think that would go? He also asked what I would like the shelving made out of and I must admit when it comes to inside construction I have no idea (I mainly build chook pens and cubby houses) so does anyone have any tips there?

  2. #22
    Join Date
    14th May 2008
    Location
    Back in Brisbane
    Posts
    2,477

    Default

    I think led strips inside the cabinets would look good. I would buy 1 or 2 and muck around with positioning them until you know what looks good and how many you'll need.


    Edit: I see you dont have the shelving yet. I would worry about the lights after the shelving but consider the power (mains or outlets or battery leds?) options, flexibility of installation (can the lighting be changed to suit as the display may change), and how to hide them during shelf construction.
    "I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
    The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose

  3. #23
    Join Date
    23rd Sep 2010
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    9,352

    Default

    There are a lot of factors to consider with LED lighting.

    the colour, Warm white or cold white, or multi coloured?
    the size of the LED's, the density of the LED's on the strip, both of these factors will effect the size of the power supply you will need. ie: Voltage, currant and as a result Wattage/power.

    For a whole room I'd suggest, multiple strips and multiple power supplies. Strips can be purchased fairly cheaply off eBay, as can connectors and other elements to make the installation neater.

    the packs that can be bought at retail, bunnings, Aldi, Ikea etc are very expensive. LED's are very cheap to manufacture.

    Make sure you get a power supply that meets Australian standards.

    I'm still putting mine together but I want to angle the LED's so they are facing into the cabinet from the front, hopefully reducing some light bleed.

    I'll post some more thoughts and details later if you are interested.
    My Fan interview with Big Trev

    my original collection from when I was more impressionable.
    My Current Collection Pics (Changing on occasion)

  4. #24
    Join Date
    2nd Jun 2011
    Location
    Rylstone
    Posts
    8,382

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Deonasis View Post
    I think led strips inside the cabinets would look good. I would buy 1 or 2 and muck around with positioning them until you know what looks good and how many you'll need.


    Edit: I see you dont have the shelving yet. I would worry about the lights after the shelving but consider the power (mains or outlets or battery leds?) options, flexibility of installation (can the lighting be changed to suit as the display may change), and how to hide them during shelf construction.
    Quote Originally Posted by UltraMarginal View Post
    There are a lot of factors to consider with LED lighting.

    the colour, Warm white or cold white, or multi coloured?
    the size of the LED's, the density of the LED's on the strip, both of these factors will effect the size of the power supply you will need. ie: Voltage, currant and as a result Wattage/power.

    For a whole room I'd suggest, multiple strips and multiple power supplies. Strips can be purchased fairly cheaply off eBay, as can connectors and other elements to make the installation neater.

    the packs that can be bought at retail, bunnings, Aldi, Ikea etc are very expensive. LED's are very cheap to manufacture.

    Make sure you get a power supply that meets Australian standards.

    I'm still putting mine together but I want to angle the LED's so they are facing into the cabinet from the front, hopefully reducing some light bleed.

    I'll post some more thoughts and details later if you are interested.
    Cheers for the tips guys! Construction is still a long way off but sounds like LEDs might be the way to go. Will hit you up for more tips down the line

  5. #25
    Join Date
    2nd Jun 2011
    Location
    Rylstone
    Posts
    8,382

    Default

    Trying to sell my wife on this layout:





    Still haven't heard back from the builder we actually managed to get out here. He said we'd have a quote in two weeks - been nearly 4.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    14th May 2008
    Location
    Back in Brisbane
    Posts
    2,477

    Default

    I dont think you will have to sell her with that layout, she will leave. And don't forget your room.. the doghouse.
    "I am not a gun. I'm hitting people with a hammer. On Mars."
    The Iron Giant / David Wildgoose

  7. #27
    Join Date
    4th Jun 2016
    Location
    nil
    Posts
    720

    Default

    Just my opinion, I don't know how much of a movie buff you are, but I'd lose the DVD display area, or least minimise it. DVDs or BD on a shelf take up HEAPS of space that could be better used for something else either functional or purely aesthetic, I mean what is more attractive, a big pile of movies in plastic cases, or a really cool framed mounted picture of your fav movie, or transformers art or whatever.

    With the rise of digital media, I find myself only buying the odd BD these days, and even then it usually site on a shelf or box to be forgotten, and its quicker just to grab something from online for convenient watch.

    If you are a BD home cinema enthusiast, you could look into buying those big movie wallets which can hold over 100 discs in each, and be tucked away anywhere in the house out of the way, which means freeing up more room for cooler displays or whatever in your mancave.

    Just looking at the crap on my shelf, the toys and books look okay -it is a bookcase FYI - and the movies are just the ugliest part, I try to keep one small section for stuff I want to rewatch this year or whatever, anything else goes in the sleepout for storage.

    Box set can look okay if they have cool covers or art, but vanilla movie covers are pretty ugly.





    I used to have a really nice hard wood bookshelf that was nearly 8 feet all and quite deep, but after I moved all I could afford was crappy IKEA sawdust shelves that strain with the weight of books on them. Only thing I do like about them is that with two sets of kit shelves next to each other, gives me heaps of space, and the shelves are easily removed to give bigger or smaller areas.

    so yeah, swappable shelving is a must, the peg system is okay, but for higher quality stuff you would want a stronger type of peg that can take the weight, or whatever you use, plastic, metal, glass whatever make sure it is not going to bend or break as the shelf gets heavier with stuff.

    My mancave is actually a dedicated space for me to write my blogs and stuff, and all around is pictures, posters, couple of framed things of Spider-Man and just stuff that inspires me, and while I read books for fun, most are for reference in my writing.

    It's surprising how much use you can get out a shelf, if you use the back portion of it, as well as the front, if you are going for a nice display don't be like me and just cram everything you can on there, give things room to breathe, and maybe think about having some sections that are more long term displays, or even permanent, and some areas that are easy to swap stuff around (like you most recent acquisitions etc).

    Those same boring shelves are crammed with transformers now instead of hero stuff. Well still some hero stuff.





    Another thing you might want to think about is levels

    "The bets off... I'm not doing the levels..."

    "But that WAS the bet, that you wouldn't do the levels!"

    Now, this is just a crappy old wooden closet thing, and is not actually mine, it has old clothes in it (again not mine, my partners stuff) but seeing as it's in this room, I stacked toys on top of it, and the ones at the back are just on top of toy boxes so you can see them raised up.

    to do this properly, you could have some staggered platforms / shelves / whatever, so that you can see a whole bunch of stuff in a SMALL area, making good use of space. Again, I overcrowd things, also the wallpaper here is like from the 70's and pretty ugly, so excuse that if you will.





    Anyhow again this is just my writing room, so toys are not the priority, but I believe that large or small, you can dedicate a portion of space to any type of collection and have it brighten your room up a bit, or be a more professional looking display area. But you have got to have FUN with it too.

    I tend to just chuck stuff *wherever*, so yeah I get as a "display" my stuff looks like shit, and I don't really care - but with a bit of planning and thought, you can do a much better job, but I hope you get the basic ideas I wished to communicate.

    Also, those glass display cases are awesome for upscale stuff, if you take a look at the Kool Kollectibles site - awesome photos of collections, you can see some great display options for glass case stuff.

    https://www.instagram.com/koolkollectibles/

    Last edited by Batfan007; 30th June 2016 at 07:02 PM.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    4th Jan 2015
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    1,180

    Default

    When (if) I ever get the chance to do my display room back in Oz I am leaning towards glass and under-shelf diffused lighting. There are some amazing examples of that here in HK which make the figures and boxes - beit Gundam, Transformers, breasty anime, die cast cars - they all look stunning as long as the shelf isn't too dusty or cluttered.. but even the cluttered shelves draw you in.
    As always though it is the $$ that is going to restrict how awesome any display can be.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    2nd Jun 2011
    Location
    Rylstone
    Posts
    8,382

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Batfan007 View Post
    Just my opinion, I don't know how much of a movie buff you are, but I'd lose the DVD display area, or least minimise it. DVDs or BD on a shelf take up HEAPS of space that could be better used for something else either functional or purely aesthetic, I mean what is more attractive, a big pile of movies in plastic cases, or a really cool framed mounted picture of your fav movie, or transformers art or whatever.

    With the rise of digital media, I find myself only buying the odd BD these days, and even then it usually site on a shelf or box to be forgotten, and its quicker just to grab something from online for convenient watch.

    If you are a BD home cinema enthusiast, you could look into buying those big movie wallets which can hold over 100 discs in each, and be tucked away anywhere in the house out of the way, which means freeing up more room for cooler displays or whatever in your mancave.

    Just looking at the crap on my shelf, the toys and books look okay -it is a bookcase FYI - and the movies are just the ugliest part, I try to keep one small section for stuff I want to rewatch this year or whatever, anything else goes in the sleepout for storage.

    Box set can look okay if they have cool covers or art, but vanilla movie covers are pretty ugly.

    I used to have a really nice hard wood bookshelf that was nearly 8 feet all and quite deep, but after I moved all I could afford was crappy IKEA sawdust shelves that strain with the weight of books on them. Only thing I do like about them is that with two sets of kit shelves next to each other, gives me heaps of space, and the shelves are easily removed to give bigger or smaller areas.

    so yeah, swappable shelving is a must, the peg system is okay, but for higher quality stuff you would want a stronger type of peg that can take the weight, or whatever you use, plastic, metal, glass whatever make sure it is not going to bend or break as the shelf gets heavier with stuff.

    My mancave is actually a dedicated space for me to write my blogs and stuff, and all around is pictures, posters, couple of framed things of Spider-Man and just stuff that inspires me, and while I read books for fun, most are for reference in my writing.

    It's surprising how much use you can get out a shelf, if you use the back portion of it, as well as the front, if you are going for a nice display don't be like me and just cram everything you can on there, give things room to breathe, and maybe think about having some sections that are more long term displays, or even permanent, and some areas that are easy to swap stuff around (like you most recent acquisitions etc).

    Those same boring shelves are crammed with transformers now instead of hero stuff. Well still some hero stuff.


    Another thing you might want to think about is levels

    "The bets off... I'm not doing the levels..."

    "But that WAS the bet, that you wouldn't do the levels!"

    Now, this is just a crappy old wooden closet thing, and is not actually mine, it has old clothes in it (again not mine, my partners stuff) but seeing as it's in this room, I stacked toys on top of it, and the ones at the back are just on top of toy boxes so you can see them raised up.

    to do this properly, you could have some staggered platforms / shelves / whatever, so that you can see a whole bunch of stuff in a SMALL area, making good use of space. Again, I overcrowd things, also the wallpaper here is like from the 70's and pretty ugly, so excuse that if you will.

    Anyhow again this is just my writing room, so toys are not the priority, but I believe that large or small, you can dedicate a portion of space to any type of collection and have it brighten your room up a bit, or be a more professional looking display area. But you have got to have FUN with it too.

    I tend to just chuck stuff *wherever*, so yeah I get as a "display" my stuff looks like shit, and I don't really care - but with a bit of planning and thought, you can do a much better job, but I hope you get the basic ideas I wished to communicate.

    Also, those glass display cases are awesome for upscale stuff, if you take a look at the Kool Kollectibles site - awesome photos of collections, you can see some great display options for glass case stuff.
    Cheers for that - great pics by the way!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bladestorm View Post
    When (if) I ever get the chance to do my display room back in Oz I am leaning towards glass and under-shelf diffused lighting. There are some amazing examples of that here in HK which make the figures and boxes - beit Gundam, Transformers, breasty anime, die cast cars - they all look stunning as long as the shelf isn't too dusty or cluttered.. but even the cluttered shelves draw you in.
    As always though it is the $$ that is going to restrict how awesome any display can be.
    Yeah I'd love glass display cabinets but too expensive to outfit an entire room with. Thinking of one for the centre of the room though

  10. #30
    Join Date
    4th Jan 2015
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    1,180

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev View Post
    Yeah I'd love glass display cabinets but too expensive to outfit an entire room with. Thinking of one for the centre of the room though
    I think as long as the figures are protected behind glass doors they can still look pretty good in regular cabinets if the design doesn't overshadow the display. I love your idea of a central glass display. That would draw people to the centre of the room.

    If I had the $$ and didn't think movers would smash them to bits I would have glass cabinets made here in HK and shipped to Oz because custom cabinets are reasonably priced which is why I think so many stores and collectors in HK can afford them.

    I dread to think how much custom glass cabinets would cost to have made back in Sydney... although when we move back and do have some $$ I will probably be crazy and price it.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •