LEGO Display Shelves - Share Yours

[Paul B Technic]

Over the past month I have been looking for some shelves to display my Lego Technic on, in the past I have used book shelves but these are a bit too small and I have outgrown them. I have looked around locally but have not found anything suitable; they were either too small or too expensive. Recently on eBay I found shelves that were perfect for what I wanted to do however they were located on the mainland and freight was too expensive, with this in mind I decided to design and build my own.

Wanting to make it as easy as possible I decided to build them using standard sized MDF. A trip to Bunnings and I confirmed the sizes of MDF they stocked and the price, for around $50 I would be able to build shelves that would be perfect for what I wanted to do. I sat down at home and drew up some rough plans. My plan was to make the shelves 900mm wide, 600mm high and 450mm deep (this was the measurements I was most concerned about as I wanted to be able to display my sets side by side instead of head on like I had on the narrowed shelfs I had before)

Saturday came and I made a trip to Bunnings, grabbing the required MDF, pine, some nails and screws plus a white sheet of paneltec board for the back, I was tossing up between this or a thinner sheet of MDF but felt the white would look better as the backing board.

Below is the rundown of what I used to build this, the total cost was $49.80

- 2 x 900x450x12mm MDF sheeting (Top and middle shelves)

- 1 x 900x600x12mm MDF sheeting (Cut in half to make the two sides)

- 2 x 1.8m lengths of pine (1 used to make shelf supports, the other used for the bottom and rear stays)

- 1 packet 8G - 35mm screws (About 20 used)

- 1 packet 25mm flat head nails (Used to nail on rear paneltec board)

- 1 x 8G – 75mm wood screw (Used to connect rear stay to bottom stay)

Below are some photos of the building process and the end result.

- NEW LINK: http://mizibunktechnic.blogspot.com.au/p/over-past-month-i-have-been-looking-for.html

Edited June 13, 2013 by Paul B

[Esurient]

Very nice and neat shelf you've got there

[TheLegoDr]

Very nice. And it's great that you were able to build that yourself. I'm LEGO building inclined, not wood. My only concern, when your technic collection grows are you going to build a matching shelf or somehow stack up on this one?

I currently have book shelves also, but they are built into our house (they were there when we bought it), and they seem to hold most things I need. I have Modulars displayed and the 32 x 32 baseplate still has room in front of it, so they are plenty deep for what I need.

[Hrw-Amen]

It is hard to find suitable shelves for this purpose and I have been looking myself. I think making your own is the answer if you can do that and have the skills. The only thing I would like is to have a glass front / door so that they can be closed and free from dust. You seem to have made some nice shelves, also you can make them whatever colour you like this way.

[cortman]

This topic caught my attention because I am in need of shelves to display my LEGO LOTR collection. I just assembled Helm's Deep last night and realized my current shelves (in a niche in the wall) aren't going to suffice, and besides they're already full of loose LEGO.

I like the idea of using the (looks like) 1x3s for shelf cleats.

[Paul B Technic]

Thanks everybody for the feedback, my plan is to build a second set when I need them. I have kept the plans and it only takes a couple of hours to throw them together.

[DrLegostar]

I built my own as well. This picture is from a while back, so what's on the shelves has changed, but for the most part this is how it looks.

[Dubbadgrim]

I have one very similar to this (from Officeworks) where I store my currently built sets. MOCs usually dont stay up long, on the other hand!

[Paul B Technic]

Now painted :)