What do you do with your painted miniatures?

[RogerB]

What do I do with my painted minis? Strip 'em of course.

[Shades]

This is a timely post. I came to the realization that, someday, I need to convert the storage of my lead mountain into a way to view the finished minis! I've been trying out several different ideas, which I'll share here, in case it's helpful to others, in the same way that I really liked NeatPete's cabinet, and I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

Almost all of the storage and display containers I acquired at The Container Store.

So here's my activity room with the lead mountain on the left and some display options on the right. The lead mountain already serves double-duty: 1) store unopened blisters and boxes of minis and store primed, ready-to-paint minis (lead mountain), and 2) store finished minis, ready to put on the table-top.




Lizardmen, ready to play.




Here's a similar solution: storing armies in their transport containers, ready-to-travel for gaming at the game-store or friends' houses.




Ignore the 80's-style paint-jobs on the Witch Elves -- I bought my Dark Elves second-hand. :-) Someday, I'll be trying some of those stripping techniques I've read about on WAMP.




This idea combines both worlds. Display an army, and keep it fairly easy to access. It's a minor hassle to access these figures, compared to keeping them in a drawer or container, so I expect to do this for semi-retired models (like 40K). The top container is intended for displaying American footballs, thus the grabbers on the sides (which would normally be top and bottom). The bottom container is normally intended for storing cereal boxes. Yes, I can say that there are hobbies more unusual than mine. ;-)




I have concerns about this display cabinet, now that recently read that the wood might contribute to lead-rot.




Acrylic containers are probably safer, cleaner-looking, and more space-efficient.




My new storage shelf that I posted elsewhere. Not the most space-efficient solution, but well-suited for that particular wall-space.











So that was the activity room. Here is my attempt to be presentable and discreet in the formal room: the shelf and the display cabinet.







These display cases are antiques and are very hard to fine. I inherited them from my grand-aunt. I rarely see these around.

[ScottRadom]

Cool room Shades!

Me, I sell 'em! I have a very few that I've kept. The ones I keep are for two reasons, either I don't think I'll get much for them on eBay or their kinda cool and I want them here. I've kept a Captain America mini I like as well as a robot and I have a couple I don't think'll get even ten bucks for.

[RogerB]

You have far too many painted minis for my liking, Shades. You need an unpainted:painted ratio of at least 5:1.

[Shades]

You have far too many painted minis for my liking, Shades. You need an unpainted:painted ratio of at least 5:1.

Ha, ha. Well, I didn't show you the full lead mountain, Roger. Here's only a sample....









And there are many more drawers of those than painted models.

Lurking in the cabinets...



I think I qualify for my 5-to-1 ratio.... :-)

[kdlynch]

hehe, better. :)

for unpainteds, i usually remove the clamshell blisters and repack into small zipbags with the blister backing/cards/whathaveyou... can maintain a higher density of lead that way. hehe.

[SteveB]

Was going to post a reply here but it suddenly seemed like it'd be a very long post and I ended up blogging it instead as it was about a slightly wider context. And, yes, I linked back here in the post ;)

http://spyglassasylum.blogspot.com/2...bby-drive.html

[Captain Sprout]

Nice blog post Steve, illustrates it takes all sorts to make the hobby. One of the things I like best about it is one size doesn't fit all. I think it would be a dull day if everyone liked the same thing. I prefer my collection, but I don't think its 'typical' its just hobby.

Shades its all orderly and some of it is painted. I think I just passed out wondering how those two things are achieved! Nice looking displays.

[Gi6ers]

I've got small display case for about 20 minis but apart from that they go to ebay or get given away.

[RogerB]

Ah, that's better, Shades. I think your mini-itis is coming along nicely.