Shelves for figures...

[Rex Mason]

Hi all, posted this on the Matty boards, but thought I'd try here, too.

Been working on my office/Batcave and am planning on making an entire 20+ foot wall into shelves. I'm using wood shelves and plan on painting them white. But I've been worried about the figures sticking to the shelves if it gets humid or something later on down the road.

Anyone paint shelves for their figures and had problems with figures sticking to it later on? And if your figures don't stick, any kind of paint you can recommend?

Thanks guys!

[AcidDragon]

Hi Rex, have you considered not painting them and just staining them instead and them keeping them conditioned with mineral oil? Otherwise if you definitely plan on painting, use a good enamel compatible primer and paint with an enamel paint. Sand it before you prime and then sand lightly again and you can apply the paint according to the directions on the can. Oil-based if you can stand the smell. The key is to allow it a very long time to dry between coats. Apply thinly. Allow to dry for a few days, over a week if you can, do so again and repeat until it looks the way you like it. Allow the paint a couple of weeks to dry (longer if you can) and then seal it with polyurethane.

You'll never ever get paint sticking to your figures then. Dry paint doesn't remain tacky unless you paint over uncured paint which will seep through to the outer layer. Even if the outer layer feels dry, if you leave something on it, the wet paint sill start to seep through. You'll get the most amazingly durable tack proof shelves. I do a lot of hobby woodcraft. Hope that helps?

[Rex Mason]

That's a big help, AcidDragon. Thanks! Although it does seem like a lot of work. Hopefully the display will look awesome when I'm done with it.

But yeah, I've decided to go with gray walls with white trim and white shelves. I'm going with adjustable shelves so I can change things up from time to time and fit in giants like Arkham City Solomon Grundy.

Thanks again! I'll keep you posted on my progress...

[AcidDragon]

Cool man, make sure you snap some pics when you're done. Yeah like I said, keep the coats extremely thin and allow it to cure for a very long time and you shouldn't have any problems with tacky paint. Oh and don't by any means put a block heater or use a blow dryer to try to make it dry faster. Not saying that you'll do that but I frequent some woodcraft forums and a lot of people seem to make that mistake.

[Idiot Savant]

Those are great ideas. I also stained my shelves and they seem to be doing just fine in regards to sticking....

You could also buy some pre-made white laminated shelves with white, adjustable, slotted metal wall posts with the shelf supports...instead of all the painting and waiting - which is the worst part of putting your stuff up!

[Idiot Savant]

But I second the "take pictures when you're done" thought

[packerbacker180]

I'm still hoping to get at least my JSA collection of DCUC up on some shelves that were built into a wall already. The rest I'm hoping fit on a small book case. But that doesn't account for all the MLs or GI Joe 25ths I want to get back out, lol.

[Rex Mason]

Those are great ideas. I also stained my shelves and they seem to be doing just fine in regards to sticking....

You could also buy some pre-made white laminated shelves with white, adjustable, slotted metal wall posts with the shelf supports...instead of all the painting and waiting - which is the worst part of putting your stuff up!

I'm going to price out the pre-painted shelves. They were my original plan, but cost could be an issue, as I have to buy a whole lot of them. But yeah, I'm so impatient. I just want the shelves up and done (still haven't painted the wall they're going on yet...) so I can put out my toys. I'm really anxious to find out how many fit, and if I'm going to need more space than that...

[AcidDragon]

Hey Rex,

If you use Superman or Batman as the average size, you can fit approximately 100 figures on a 6' x 1' plank. 20 side by side and 5 front to back. Does that help?

Melamine is a great choice and at least here, it's not that much more expensive than standard lumber (if you factor in the stain, paint and sealer) and is a lot less susceptible to warping through moisture absorption. Another sturdy but affordable option (but will require paint) would be MDF board. For the shelves, you'll likely want to go with a hard wood so it would actually definitely work out cheaper with the melamine or MDF because hardwood is really expensive. Otherwise it's knotty pine which besides being full of knots (might be cool if it's the organic look you're going for) is super soft and dings/dents super easily.

[Idiot Savant]

To continue...I bought two 7' L x 1.5" H x 8" D oak boards from the lumber area at menards in the overflow/extras area. I then stained them to match as close as possible to the existing wood stain on the bar and the rest of the room.

I then added my other wood shelves I had from the last house. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.