Ikea Army Display

[twopounder]

So, I had a need to stash some board games I was getting. A bit unrelated to 40k, but I'm now hosting a game night and figured I would need a bit of organized hobby storage. A bit of research led to the Ikea Kallax organizers and a sordid trip up to the monolithic new-age viking trading post.

 

I knew I was going to leave a couple of 24" storage areas, but I didn't have anything to fill them with immediately, having only a handful of board games.

 

This is where the 40k part comes in. I opted to pull my entire army out of the many carry cases it is in and spread it out across the top of the display. It looked okay, but the case was black (I wanted walnut by they were out). That absorbed all the light and made it nearly impossible to make out more than a swathe of shadowy figures.

 

A second trip got me some lighting that I put together. One set is to showcase the miniatures, the other is for more "after hours" mood lighting:

 

 

 

 

I'll get better pictures when the sun is not beaming directly into my apartment.

[Aqui]

Having used to work at IKEA, I felt compelled to post :lol: Firstly, the sides of the KALLAX unit as you have it now, are actually the top and bottom. It shouldn't be a problem due to the weight you have on the unit in the picture. Also, the shelves you haven't put in contribute to the overall strength and rigidity. Again, shouldn't be a problem, but just bear it in mind if you put anything heavy on it, or intend to move the unit.

 

Other than that, nice collection ^_^

[twopounder]

Having used to work at IKEA, I felt compelled to post Firstly, the sides of the KALLAX unit as you have it now, are actually the top and bottom. It shouldn't be a problem due to the weight you have on the unit in the picture. Also, the shelves you haven't put in contribute to the overall strength and rigidity. Again, shouldn't be a problem, but just bear it in mind if you put anything heavy on it, or intend to move the unit.

 

Other than that, nice collection

 

I'm well aware its on its side. That is by design, as you can only leave out the horizontal shelves, not the vertical without cutting. It was just easier to make 24" sections. Because of this, the vertical boards are now horizontal, adding stability (as they aren't relying on a couple of dowels to hold the shelf up).

 

Also, the holes on the horizontal shelves for this were not drilled properly and had a 1/8" gap. I tried beating the utter crap out of them with a hammer and the dowels would simply not go any further in. I had to bust out a drill and increase the depth of the holes for 6 shelves for it to fit together properly.

[NiftyVT]

I am also a fan of IKEA for army display but I went with the BESTA series.

 

The best thing about them is you can use a 1/3 width shelf so you can put smaller stuff behind some larger miniatures and they have the option for glass doors. The doors greatly reduce dust and the occasional goofball dog tail from laying waste to the cabinet! I added some IKEA LED lights to the inside of the door frame to light it up.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by NiftyVT

[Reyner]

That's a good idea, I have a red Kallax (it was dirt cheap in the bargain corner :P ) that I was thinking of making into a display unit - just need lights and glass fronts. 

[Lord Raven 19]

Just wondering, how much was the BESTA one?

[NiftyVT]

I have a pretty large set of cabinets. Judging from the IKEA website the total set up is probably around $550 or so. The extra shelves are only a couple bucks each. I have models in one section, books in 2 others, random display things in another and my surround sound receiver plus more books in another bay. Bottom 2 sections with solid doors is random storage.

 

 

Lights on door closed.

[Magos Takatus]

I am really envious of all the display space you have available. Nice work, they look really good.

[twopounder]

Just saw the replies to this thread. Holy crap I need to do that. I moved a while ago and unfortunately wasted $500 on two Milsbo cabinets. They only have 3 shelves and won't sell any additional shelves or mounting hardware, so there is a TON of wasted space.

 

I was wondering why they only sold them "by request" and I had to get them pulled from the back. Until I tried to find more shelves and realized they're used for "recreational substance growing" 

 

Overall they're nice, but without the ability to add extra shelves, I can barely fit any models on them.

[WAR]

thanks to my fiancée and ikea we settled in on the Brimnes cabinet for our office/ hobby room 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Looks nice - the open spaces room to grow, or for armies that are currently packed away?

 

I have (much less fancy) ikea shelves in my own cave for my minis.

 

 

My guard, however, are in the study behind actual glass doors (open in this picture) - if the shelving there isn't ikea (it came with the house, so I'm not sure) it is pretty darn similar.

 

Edited May 6 by Dr_Ruminahui

[WAR]

Fiancés half we finished adding last cabinet and now need just clean up a little