Shelves for figures...

[AcidDragon]

That sounds like a pretty slick setup, Savant. Got any pics??

[Rex Mason]

I'd like to see those pics, as well. I think I'm actually going with that laminated-type pre-painted wood. Since I'm doing 6 inch shelves, I can have Lowe's cut them for me and get two shelves out of one board. The eight foot boards are only $15, so it won't be too much more than cheap lumber, and will save a whole lot of time. No one's had issues with that sort of thing sticking to figures, have they?

Should need about 9 boards in all, as I'm going to put 6 shelves across a 21 foot wall. Getting excited about moving forward on this thing. We should be painting the wall tomorrow night...

[AcidDragon]

Hey Rex, the melamine you chose is perfect and shouldn't stick to any of your figures at all. That sounds like a great deal. Going by those dimensions, you'll be able to fit an average of 81 DC figures per shelving unit based on a figure like Superman and Batman. That's 486 figures front to back and side to side. Should look awesome when you're done.

[Rex Mason]

I went and checked out the boards today. My only issue is that cutting the boards might chip up the white surface too much. I'm going to do a bit of research and see if anyone sells them in maybe a six or seven inch width...

[AcidDragon]

Hey Rex, there's actually a couple of solutions for laminate/melamine boards that are going to be rip cut. One is that you get them to over cut them and then re-cut the edges at half their thickness at the right size on each side which takes away the chipping which might not be something they're willing to do. Another solution (and really easy) is to get edge capping. It's a plastic material that you just snap install to the edge of your boards. Here's a link to a company that carries the U-Snap brand:
http://www.nepcosignsupply.com/store/pc ... egory=2042

They come in a large variety of colours and could really help your shelf pop if you make the right colour choices:
http://www.nepcosignsupply.com/store/pc ... egory=2042

Hope that gives you some ideas.

The thing is, even if you went with solution 1 or they cut it perfectly, you'll still be left with the rough crumbly looking edge and if you try to paint over that, it'll have a really rough texture. It's better that you take a strip of laminate and iron them on to conceal that but an edge cap would eliminate all of that work.

[Rex Mason]

Thanks for the tip! I'm still weighing my options, but those could end up looking really cool if I decide to go the melamine route. I may even look into glass or plexiglass shelves, depending on cost. Going to get a few estimates tomorrow...

[Avalon]

Sounds like that's going to look awesome when you're all done, Rex!

[Rex Mason]

Yeah, I'm really excited about it. Been wanting a room like this since I was a kid. One of the main reasons we chose this house to buy was that my office could be converted into a Batcave since the house has a huge walk-out basement. I'm actually planning on converting the door from the living room to the basement into a grandfather clock that opens. But I probably won't get around to that for a year or so.

I think I might splurge and go with glass. For 18 seven-foot by six inch glass shelves, it looks to be around $400. The wood shelves with all the bells and whistles and what not would be around half that, so I'm thinking the look of glass might just be worth the extra money.

Of course, then when I finally get around to building my Batmobile shelves, that'll cost a whole lot more, too...

[Idiot Savant]

Post pics as often as possible..wanna see how this turns out!

[AcidDragon]

That sounds slick, Rex. Do post before and after/progress pics if you find time!