How do you display your modular building collection?

[zobbified]

^ clean them every month? That is dedication. I never clean mine. Unless you have a glass enclosure they will just get dirty again.

Somehow stuff gets caked with a layer of dust more easily in the tropics; even if they are enclosed

[stevkir]

Somehow stuff gets caked with a layer of dust more easily in the tropics; even if they are enclosed

I would say it has something to do with your humidity. Though I live in a dessert and dust can get bad in the summer time. But all I really have to do is use one of those swifter dusters and cleans most of it away.

[rollermonkey]

I need to move my SOH to my dresser so I can have enough room for the rest of the modulars...

Although I do have four done now that I finished the other half of the pet shop, I guess I could take a picture.

;)

[badbob001]

My dream would be my modular sets arranged in a city block configuration and placed in a uv-blocked glass/plastic enclosure that can double as a coffee table. It would be interesting presenting life from inside a city block.

[supernaut]

I only have the PR and PC, but both along with my trains and vehicles are crammed on top of a dresser. Hopefully in the next few months I'll be moving in to a new house and at that point I plan on dedicating a room to my Lego city along with other hobbies.

[rollermonkey]

I have a few Star Wars UCS and the Creator Expert Space Shuttle sets around my desk, Architecture sets coming out of my ears, London Bridge and SOH plus system Star Wars all on display in the guest bedroom...

The modulars are just lucky that I was able to make room for them on that spare dresser.

:)

No idea what I'm going to do when next January rolls around, but I guess it will be decided once we know if it's a corner, straight or a double like PS.

[stevkir]

I am hoping for an inverted corner building for the next modular or at least another set like the PS with 2 16x32 base plates.

[VintageLegoEra]

great types of display. One thing bothers me is the dusts will cover this beautiful sets and will be hard to wipe it out. What i am doing now is putting each modular ( any Lego ) in a big black plastic bag till i make a nice covered display case....:)

The black plastic bag is big and easily to insert/take out any modular easily without breaking any part :)

good luck!

[Dharkan]

^ clean them every month? That is dedication. I never clean mine. Unless you have a glass enclosure they will just get dirty again.

Well humans get dirty every once in a while too, should we not bath then? :D

[Ritsz]

Dust build-up on sets / MOCs on display is one thing I really try to avoid. So modulars in our house get stored / displayed in an IKEA Billy bookcase with doors, alongside a select few other sets / MOCs. Granted, those Billy doors do cover up quite a bit right in the middle, but I'm OK with that, as long as I can keep (some of) the dust away from the LEGO.

As you can see on the picture below, I use a "regular" IKEA Billy bookcase for most modulars, and a short IKEA Billy for trains, etc. The Billy's depth is spot-on for a 32x32 baseplate and in terms of length, you can almost fit in three of them, albeit a tad squeezed.

The attached photo was taken a couple of months ago (as you can tell by the Autumn theme we had got going on then), so there have been a few changes and additions since then. We've now also attached doors to the 'short' IKEA Billy bookshelf, since dust was starting to become a bit of a problem for the Frigate - unfortunately, no see-through doors are available for this kind of Billy bookshelf, so we had to go for solid white ones.

Hi, I recently saw a picture with those IKEA billy bookcases, with glass doors, but they had much more glass instead of the ones you have. I thought back of your post when I saw this picture so I thought of sharing it. After that I took a look at the IKEA site and indeed they have those for sale. Here's the pic. And if your interested I'll give you the link to those IKEA doors.

[dignow]

We're lucky enough to have space for our whole city to sit out so ours are dispersed in the city.

Living in the sun and sand of Kuwait dust is a HUGE issue here. I've sealed the windows with industrial sealant, triple filtered the AC vent, and have recently decided that I'll keep the city under plastic unless Sydney and I are in there LEGOing. When we moved last month and had to disassemble the city I washed everything and it literally took almost two weeks - that's how filthy everything was. The image of our Expanded Grand Emporium below is actually one of the more "dust free" shots of the old layout.

[Rhotof35]

New to the site. I have mine displayed in my daughter's room. She wont be born until August of this year, so I'm using the space until then.

[talos]

I've sort of borrowed the dining table for the time being, I have my town arranged in a block layout, with an alley space in the center, its easy to reach over the buildings. On the other end, it turns into a City area, with a town square I moc'ed. When my modular townhouse is finished, I am going to add it in.

I've had it there for a couple months, and its just now showing a little dust. I have wiped a few areas, but it doesn't really show too much. I am a little more concerned with UV yellowing the bricks, the skylight above the table might be good light, but has a price!

[elleana]

But uh, where do you have your dinner then??

[provoaggie]

I have my Modular's on an Ikea shelf over our staircase and also threw the BTTF Delorean into the display.

[badbob001]

Sorry to bring this topic back but I'm now out of space for storing my buildings! When I don't have a place to put a build, I'm reluctant to build anything. And that is bad.

I've seen a lot of example of them being stored out in the open and that is a big no for me because of dust and uv.

If I had a lot of space, I would have a large transparent coffee table with all my modular insides in a city-block configuration. But practically, I would settle for a wide glass cabinet so I can put my modulars side-by-side. The problem is finding such a cabinet and one that is affordable. The IKEA DETOLF glass cabinet is inexpensive, but is vertical, meaning each building would be isolated. I wonder would it work if I put it sideways.

The following cabinet photo I found on the web looks almost ideal, but I have no idea where to get it:

There is a company in the UK that sells these open-bottom boxes to drop over each building. It's an interesting idea, but not that flexible. It's also expensive with each box selling for $53-$62. And it's only sold in the UK. They remind me of the display cases at the LEGO stores, but at a much smaller scale.

Or maybe I should be on the lookout for stores that are closing and are selling their furniture. Or be on the lookout for someone getting rid of a fish/snake tank. Or look for discarded windows and see if I can hinge them together into a box.

Anyone seen any creative enclosures at LEGO conventions?

[fhomess]

Mine are on the floor so my kids can play with them.

[TheLegoDr]

As much as I'd want to display mine behind some sort of protector, I wonder how would one get in there to play with it? Or tweak the interior details?

I like the look at mine from all angles for the most part. I like to take off the levels and look inside and imagine what I'd do with the space. So having mine on shelves currently works out okay. But behind glass, I don't think that'd work for our household. Plus, my daughter likes playing with them, so I try to get them down for her at times. She currently has all of my pirate ships out, so I have them off the shelves...

[talex]

Very nice to see these display ideas guys, very nice solutions. I wonder, what do you do regarding the dust? Do you rebuild the models in order to have it cleaned? Or what do you use?

[ItsaBRICKS]

My modulars are all on a shelf. Unfortunately, I have run out of room and need to find a new place to put the Parisian Restaurant when I get it!

[badbob001]

As much as I'd want to display mine behind some sort of protector, I wonder how would one get in there to play with it? Or tweak the interior details?

I like the look at mine from all angles for the most part. I like to take off the levels and look inside and imagine what I'd do with the space. So having mine on shelves currently works out okay. But behind glass, I don't think that'd work for our household. Plus, my daughter likes playing with them, so I try to get them down for her at times. She currently has all of my pirate ships out, so I have them off the shelves...

This is why a nice roomy cabinet is much better than a protective shield over each one. A cabinet also offers more room to modify the layout and add things over time. But I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a cabinet.

There is a place for storing and a place for playing, and not everything needs to be out for playing at the same time. If the floor becomes the default for both playing and storing, then my marriage will be in trouble. :)

[namioik]

Hi, I recently saw a picture with those IKEA billy bookcases, with glass doors, but they had much more glass instead of the ones you have. I thought back of your post when I saw this picture so I thought of sharing it. After that I took a look at the IKEA site and indeed they have those for sale. Here's the pic. And if your interested I'll give you the link to those IKEA doors.

If you can provide link to this display case, that would be lovely. I am in need of a glass display so I can protect my sets from dust..

[Rapseflaps]

Since last posting here, I've moved into a new home and my modulars came with me. They're displayed atop the book cases in the living room. There's currently eight of them and there's room for nine, so when 10246 arrives, one of them might have to make room (probably Market Street).

The modulars will likely move upstairs temporarily to make room for the Winter Village. They'll be back in their current spot early next year.

The eventual plan though, is to build a LEGO room in the attic, where I want to make a custom table to build a city layout on. Not much progress on the table, though. It'll take some planning and budgeting and I'll probably end up building it myself (which I suck at, so there's a challenge). The space is very limited, so I have to take into account the size of the layout I want to build (I want enough space to build a train loop, but those curves really do take up quite a bit of space), while at the same time being able to reach the far end of the table. Should be pretty cool when it's all done though.

[Jules35]

I use them on my shelves as bookends.

[PastVPresent]

I got the IKEA Hemnes (inexpensive but made of solid pine so pretty sturdy) and then used mirror clips to attach an acrylic sheet (plexiglass) to the front for protection (main goal was baby-proofing). The back is open and the mirror clips are removable so its still easy enough to get inside to make changes. See pic below: