Storage Solutions: doe
Posted by Huw,
Today my good friend Ralph, aka doe, with whom I cycled from London to Billund in 2018, shows us into his awesome glass-floored LEGO room:
One of the benefits of living in an old house are the very high ceilings. So in 2013 when moving into this flat on the third floor in Munich, my dreams of a LEGO room finally became reality.
I have been toying around the idea since my early childhood. The room is about 6m long and 2.5m wide (19.7ft x 8.2ft). I divided the room into two equal parts. When you come through the door the first half of the room is the kingdom of my girlfriend: a walk-in wardrobe. While I am a LEGO collector, she collects clothes. Sounds familiar?
A sliding door with a full size mirror separates the two rooms. Behind this secret door two steps will lead you into my 'LEGO Zimmer'
To store my continuously growing LEGO Star Wars collection, I have decided to raise the floor and put in a new glass floor. The showcase features almost every LEGO Star Wars set from the original trilogy aka. Episode IV - VI, plus some podracers and bits of Rogue One and Solo (the photo below is taken from the other direction).
The two metal display cabinets weight over 300kg and feature the Empire on the left and the Rebellion on the right. Any TIE version you can think of ever being produced (except for the larger UCS) is crammed into the left cabinet. On the right you can see the various versions of A-Wings, Jedi Starfighters, Snowspeeders, smaller Millennium Falcon versions and some other unsorted space related sets. I have also started to put up my UCS collection on the right wall.
The other wall features my first LEGO mosaic - a portrait of my lovely and very understanding and supporting girlfriend. A LEGO maxifig, some larger bricks and a Stormtrooper moved in as well.
The idea of this showcase is to be able to build a large landscape which will feature all the spaceships, vehicles, minifigs and buildings. My plan is to have 4 different areas:
- a desert for Tatooine, Jakku, Scarif
- a snowy landscape for Hoth, possibly going into Cloud City
- some green jungle/woodland for Dagobah, Yavin 4 and Endor
- and Space - the final frontier… the Death Star and spaceships flying
I might put in a running Imperial train from Solo. But that’s a plan for my future layout.
And yes: you can stand and walk on the glass. Tried and tested with up to four persons.
Some light details at night:
I have put 6 very narrow LED spots into the floor next to the wall in order to highlight the UCS sets on the wall.
This is how it looked before. Still under construction:
With limited space for more LEGO in the flat, I have turned my building efforts into the world of 2D. LEGO mosaics. While the cups from the PAB walls are too small to store all of my 1x1s, they are excellent for display and also to have them on my desk, when I am working on a new mosaic.
I must admit that I have run out of space for the rest of my collection as well as all my loose LEGO bricks and plates. My opened sets are all stored in big, transparent IKEA boxes. They are stored separately in zip-lock bags with their set number written onto the bag. The boxes are numbered and an Excel sheet helps me keep an overview on where I have stored which set. They now rest in my vault until my new LEGO room is ready to move in...
Awesome! Thanks, Ralph!
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42 comments on this article
Magnificent collection and exceedingly cool display!
Two questions.
1. Are the glasspanes individually removable in some way?
2. Cleaning?
Most outside-the-box-solution I've seen, well done!
Huw, you can cycle on water? Man, you must be the 21st century Jesus!:)
Very cool! Nice room and collection. Make sure to hang on to that lovely and understanding girlfriend of yours!
How did you mount the 10240 Red Five X-wing on the wall?
I just might need to copy that solution!
ooo awesome. I see a glimpse of my future ....
lmao, I would hate to walk into the room and my foot smashing through the glass and breaking the UCS Sandcrawler. Then paying for a gigantic hospital bill to remove all the lego and glass out my heel.
Cool idea though!
This is one of the best guest blogs I’ve seen so far! Great job! Fun read for a fun idea. :3
@flippflopp76 said:
"Very cool! Nice room and collection. Make sure to hang on to that lovely and understanding girlfriend of yours!
How did you mount the 10240 Red Five X-wing on the wall?
I just might need to copy that solution!"
Many thanks! I will do and you just made her smile :o)
Here's a link to the LDRAW file for my X-Wing wall solution:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eigndyvwlk2ey0g/20140315_doe_x-wing-wandaufhaengung.ldr?dl=0
You can see some photos and text on the German 1000steine forum:
https://www.1000steine.de/de/gemeinschaft/forum/?entry=1&id=305009id305009
Sunlight will harm your bricks. Get some thick curtains.
Great! I do love that floor! Incredible!
No wonder you only have room for a Brompton with all that LEGO in the way! :-D
@Lamarider said:
"Two questions.
1. Are the glasspanes individually removable in some way?
2. Cleaning?
Most outside-the-box-solution I've seen, well done!"
Thanks!
1. Yes the glasspanes (500x500x16mm) can simply be lifted with the right tool. It looks like a telephone receiver, as it has two suction cups on each end:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51reTIR6J1L._SY355_.jpg
2. Cleaning is a bit like cleaning your windows but on your knees. However the LEGO underneath stays dust free.
The size of the glasspanes also means that I am not able to fit the UCS Millennium Falcon through an opening. Something I have to work on for my updated version of the floor.
Wow what a collection, amazed you managed to collect so much over time given your constraints of limited space. Similar to a previous collector reviewed on brickset, I would hang all your spacecrafts, death stars etc. from your high ceiling and create a mosaic wall space background.
I also like your idea of a train from Solo as always had problems with displaying train sets permanently as take up so much space and this is a neat solution.
Using a floating floor would be a cool idea for the next Lego shop, and avoid the usual conflict of models displayed in glass fishtanks versus more shelf space for merchandise.
Please could you provide more details on how you did such a very large Lego mosaic of your girlfriend, as the Lego shop booth is around 1/9th the size?
@doe said:
"The size of the glasspanes also means that I am not able to fit the UCS Millennium Falcon through an opening. Something I have to work on for my updated version of the floor."
You could always build it in-situ!
@doe as a 501st member (stormtrooper to be exact) you instsntly got me wondering what armor you got there and what that standalone stormie helmet is.
Stunning @doe good too see your displays. Look forward to seeing you in person again one day mate !
@masterX244 said:
" @doe as a 501st member (stormtrooper to be exact) you instsntly got me wondering what armor you got there and what that standalone stormie helmet is."
I'd love to join the 501st but that would mean some tinkering with my armour first. Too many projects! This one is from Andrew Ainsworth. The helmet is the hero version.
@doe said:
" @masterX244 said:
" @doe as a 501st member (stormtrooper to be exact) you instsntly got me wondering what armor you got there and what that standalone stormie helmet is."
I'd love to join the 501st but that would mean some tinkering with my armour first. Too many projects! This one is from Andrew Ainsworth. The helmet is the hero version."
nest time go with RS if you got enough spare money. (there are useful topics over at whitearmor.net on sources, the getting started section yields various pointers). Got my armor from them (they also do commission builds if you got 2 left hands). TK-22443 over and out
@gsom7 said:
"Sunlight will harm your bricks. Get some thick curtains."
You're right. My lego room is far from being so classy and beautiful as this one. But the first thing I thought of when choosing the way I could store and display my collection was : no sun on my sets. It has been such a long and difficult process for me to manage the discolouration of my old grey castle, which had become quite yellowish on some parts, even if stored in a cardboard box for years. So dust, light, smoke and so on are the things I really want to avoid around. As much as I can.
Wow, that's dedication! Great work with your LEGO room :)
I like the maxifig by the window, how did you get it? I've always wanted one of them. I've seen them decorating toy sections at retail stores but never available for purchase.
Amazing floor and collection!
Congratulations!
Who will be next after this? Somehow is not OK to present a one of a kind museum into the "Storage Solutions" articles....
I think my heart will stop for a minute next time when going through Munich for the Neuschwanstein.
Now that's cool.
It is nice to be able to shape or environment according to your hobby. Also, glass floor is a great solution to the ever present dust problem.
Sunligth is the Lego Antichrist.
@chrisalddin said:
"Sunlight is the Lego Antichrist."
And Retr0bright is the LEGO messiah.
A solution of hydrogen peroxide, oxyaction, & water, with added (counterintuitively) sunlight makes LEGO like new.
Also, it kills coronaviruses.
I love the room
Its amazing!
Now iv gotta find how to display my sets ?
Wow. Really cool and ingenious.
All the future articles will struggle to do better!!!
@all Legovampires out there: Complete darkness kills your sets all the same. Storing them open in cardboard boxes, too. I guess it is something in the card board which decolors the bricks. And don't put the boxes on heated floors. Accumulated heat kills the bricks, too. Just buy it, build it, look at it for a couple of years and then get rid of it. :) The last part is the hardest, I know. ;)
This is awesome. doe has won LEGO storage and display.
Wow. Well done.
This is a spectacular display room! I think you've just won the hearts of everyone that reads this post.
How did you determine the size of the glass to withstand the weight of people walking on it? How high is the raised floor? Judging from the entry stairs, I'd guess about 50 cm.
@graymattr said:
"This is a spectacular display room! I think you've just won the hearts of everyone that reads this post.
How did you determine the size of the glass to withstand the weight of people walking on it? How high is the raised floor? Judging from the entry stairs, I'd guess about 50 cm. "
hahaha, thanks! That's very kind.
Regarding the size of the glass (16mm thick), I have asked a structural engineer. The glass itself is security glass, which is double layered with a foil in between. Just like the windscreen of a car. The floor is raised about 40cm.
@Huw said:
" @doe said:
"The size of the glasspanes also means that I am not able to fit the UCS Millennium Falcon through an opening. Something I have to work on for my updated version of the floor."
You could always build it in-situ!
"
Something like the "build-a-polybag-set-without-opening-the-bag" for pros.
Great article!
By far the most unique storage solution I've ever seen. God forbid anything heavy falls on those glass panes! You are definitely dedicated to Lego!
@Wrecknbuild said:
" @Huw said:
" @doe said:
"The size of the glasspanes also means that I am not able to fit the UCS Millennium Falcon through an opening. Something I have to work on for my updated version of the floor."
You could always build it in-situ!
"
Something like the "build-a-polybag-set-without-opening-the-bag" for pros.
Great article!"
Sorry. imagination just started to run wild... @doe laying at the floor building a set below...
Incredible.
@OzLego8389 said:
"lmao, I would hate to walk into the room and my foot smashing through the glass and breaking the UCS Sandcrawler. Then paying for a gigantic hospital bill to remove all the lego and glass out my heel.
Cool idea though!"
As doe said, the thickness of the glass has been calculated by a structural engineer. Also, no hospital bills here in Germany.
I really like the looks of your two metal display cabinets! Are these available
online or from a brick and mortar store or are they something that
were a one time deal?
This is amazing!
I have to ask because I definitely want to do that now: how is the floating floor floating? Are these steel beams? Wood? Magic and breadcrumbs?
@Marshallmario said:
"I really like the looks of your two metal display cabinets! Are these available
online or from a brick and mortar store or are they something that
were a one time deal?"
It's from an Hungarian manufacturer which have been available from Manufactum in Germany. I bought them in 2013 but unfortunately they are no longer available. You can see the old catalogue entry at:
http://www.produkte24.com/cy/manufactum-889/warenkatalog-nr-27-2014-2015-54192/seite-90.html
The fit a 32x32 baseplate perfectly. It's a shame that they are no longer available. At least here...
@Jena said:
"This is amazing!
I have to ask because I definitely want to do that now: how is the floating floor floating? Are these steel beams? Wood? Magic and breadcrumbs? "
hahaha, magic and breadcrumbs. With all the Star Wars it is more likely the Force!
No, as a carpenter, I have used wooden beams. They are approx. 8cm x 16cm which is quite thick. I might switch to steel beams for the next version to minimize their dimensions.