The best display is ikea's PAX, NOTHING comes
close in term of flexibility, price, & space. It's also the
ONLY display under $2000 that has a real 22" shelf depth (vs 17"
max for all the others). It let you display statues the way you
want (ie the avenger team stack), and the only display that will
fit the optimus prime statue. It also has dust resistant sliding
doors like the highend curios as oppose to besta open doors. Lastly
it comes with 93+" height option, which will allow 31"+ per shelf
height, that will fit most if not all CM and lsf statues as
well.
I am currently building one using custom non-glare 99% uv-resistent
acrylic panels designed for museum display, will post some
details/photo once done in a week or two.
Should have gone this route long time ago, instead of wasting
thousands of dollars buying those giant grandma's curio with little
depth that can barely fit anything but takes up sooo much
space.
Finally got around to take some photos, see the finished PAX. A few
notes:
1) In the comparison photo, see the pax DWARFS the $1300 Macy's
curio(which is a huge piece already, i use it as a dedicated lotr
display now), and this is the smaller PAX...
2) Note how with the extra shelf depth i am able to display the
riders facing front or to stack the conan/barbarian/leonidas, all
are giant pieces which would taken significantly more precious
shelf width in a regular 15" depth shelf. And it's the only shelf
that fits optimus perfectly.
3) See next post for a quick guide to build your own as I did the
research already, hopefully someone can benefit from it.
----------------
How to build your PAX (see previous post
for photos)
1)
Select the correct PAX base (link:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S79894902/#/S19894900
).
Use the drop down to select your width/height, you have 4 options:
59"x25"x79", 59"x25"x93", 78"x25"x79, 78"x25"x93". Do NOT select
other options, as the internal shelf will be inappropriate, if you
need even wider ones, buy 2x. And select your wood color.
2)
Select the shelf (link:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30215122/
)
You need at least 3 pack (for 6 shelves), select the correct
width/color. Dont use the glass shelves, they too risky.
3)
Select the lighting(optional): (link:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50163848/
)
The best lighting for statue display are evenly distributed soft
light in the 2000k to 5000k range, basically you shouldnt notice
it's on. The WORST kind are those uneven glaring halogen spotlights
used in most glass curios that destroy your statue aesthetic, they
are great for glass plates & swaroski not giant polystone
statues. Also LED is much preferred over the rest as it doesnt get
hot and long lasting, having an oven above your statue for years is
never a good thing.
That said, the ikea led strips linked are excellent, they are
designed for PAX and fits across the entire shelf perfectly for
even light distribution. Only downside is it's expensive at $35 per
shelf. If you do decide to use the ikea led, you also need the
wires that are not included, for 6x led strip, you need
-5x connector:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40119926/
-
1x powercord:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30121411/
4)
Order your custom display panels. (link:
http://www.professionalplastics.com/PLEXIGLASS-ACRYLICSHEET-EXTRUDED
)
Wait until you receive your PAX, then take out 1 of its non-clear
glass panel, measure the width/length/depth precisely. Then goto
any one of the websites to order 6x clear acrylic panel of the
exact same dimension (go with