What's the best way to store minfigures?

[Zeya]

Okay I will store them in bags with confidence. When you put them in the bags do you just stick them in or do you try to remove the air too?

I remove as much air as possible, just to save on space, and I suppose that prevents a bit of motion inside each bag too. I can't speak to long term damage; I've only had this hobby for about a year.

[ziljin]

My husband and I have experienced this problem before with both new and old heads, it usually happens when the head gets too loose to adhere to the neck part, best way to remove helmets from heads is either find a strong connection neck part or try to remove the helmet at an angle by pushing the helmet to the side and pulling on it.

Using a tighter neck! that's a genius idea. So far the best I can do is take another head or round brick and just stick it into the head and slowly wiggle it out. eventually the brick/head comes out but by then its loose enough for me to use my fingers to wiggle it out. A bit annoying but at least now I know its not permanently stuck!

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Okay I will store them in bags with confidence. When you put them in the bags do you just stick them in or do you try to remove the air too? Interesting about the solid stud heads. How would I go about removing the ones that are stuck? Or its impossible without breaking the helmet? I guess I should remove all the solid stud heads then. Well at least for the closed helmets, hoods, and other hard to remove headgear.

EDIT: Playing around with some minfigures. It appears the helmets that are stuck on the heads is because the head is too loose to stick to the torso as you attempt to remove the helmet. At least that happened to of them.

I remove some air but keep some in. You have to be careful in order to keep a balance. Too much air in will be very space-innefficient, whereas almost no air inside will provide almost no cushion to protect the minifig. As when building things with Technic, you've got to be careful to have your minifigs nice and tight, but not too tight, or they might get damaged. You will see what I mean when you try to store them. No worries. It is very intuitive and you know if it's right.

I think that you risk breaking the helmet especially with old Classic Space figs that had no thick chinstrap. If I misplace a helmet, I try to remove it carefully while rotating it. The tips above seem very helpful though. I've never tried one of those before.

Edited August 21, 2011 by johnnyvgoode

[madoka]

Plastic cases are fine if you are talking tens or even hundreds of minifigs. Once you get to thousands or tens of thousands, I find that the best/most versatile is bags.

Also, you don't need to individually bag each figure. I've kept my collection in bags for years and never noticed the minifigs damaging each other in the bag.

Edited August 22, 2011 by madoka

[ziljin]

Plastic cases are fine if you are talking tens or even hundreds of minifigs. Once you get to thousands or tens of thousands, I find that the best/most versatile is bags.

Also, you don't need to individually bag each figure. I've kept my collection in bags for years and never noticed the minifigs damaging each other in the bag.

Right now the only bags I have in bulk are the bags the lego pieces come in from the sets. BUt I threw most of them out now because they took too much space. And not sealable like ziploc. I might have to use the ziploc sandwich bags once I run out of the mini ones.

[ced64k]

I found that by Legojeff and I'm currently doing the same :

Ikea Ribba extra deep frame 52x52 cm + 105 white brick 2x2 + glue :

Edited August 22, 2011 by ced64k

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I found that by Legojeff and I'm currently doing the same :

Ikea Ribba extra deep frame 52x52 cm + 105 white brick 2x2 + glue :

AA: Absolutely Awesome!!!!! Do you have any other frames like this? The nice thing about keeping figs together is how their colors combine so beautifully. Is it UV-proof?

[brickmack]

Right now I store all of them in a big tub, and the disassembled parts in a sorting container. I keep the weapons in a separate container. Eventually I plan to organize all of my assembled minifigs by theme using baseplates, but so far I don't have enough large ones to do it properly. Plus then I would have the issue of deciding whether or not to put together the disassembled minifigs to put them on the baseplates, which would make MOCing rather difficult.

[K-Nut]

I found that by Legojeff and I'm currently doing the same :

Ikea Ribba extra deep frame 52x52 cm + 105 white brick 2x2 + glue :

:wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: Beautiful! I'll never have that much space to store mine like that. By the way, you switched Aayla's and Ashoka's lightsaber's around.

Edited August 22, 2011 by K-nut

[Magnus the Great]

I just copy my answer from another thread.

For storing of my minifigs I use something similar to Ikea's Kassett Box. It is only 2 ¾" high but it should be enough for a minifig. My boxes are half an inch higher.

I found that by Legojeff and I'm currently doing the same :

Ikea Ribba extra deep frame 52x52 cm + 105 white brick 2x2 + glue :

That is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!

[redryder]

I found that by Legojeff and I'm currently doing the same :

ced64k, how did you glue the 2x2 white bricks in such straight lines? Any tips to share?

[Zeon]

ced64k, how did you glue the 2x2 white bricks in such straight lines? Any tips to share?

I guess they were assembled with a long line of larger bricks that he disassembled once the glue got hold.

[Weil]

... or just used a ruler and put it square with the edge of the frame?

[Follows Closely]

... or just used a ruler and put it square with the edge of the frame?

I would use my square.

[The Blue Brick]

I just put my minifigs in a giant bucket, and weapons in another. It's not the most organized, but it works for me.

[AndyC]

... or just used a ruler and put it square with the edge of the frame?

A LEGO built assembly would probably make it a lot easier to get the spacing between stands a whole lot easier though.

[SBrown]

I do have a question. What is the background made of in the kidea frame. I bought one today here in maryland, however, its not solid white. Is it a card stock, poster board, or something else? I must know that way when i try this, the background doesnt bend inwards from the weight of the minifigs, blocks, and glue when inside the frame.

[Edbrick]

Hi, coming from the vintage star wars world I must advise avoiding the use of ANY air tight container- ziplock bags, sandwich boxes etc- plastic gives off some pretty nasty fumes as it ages. If the fumes are trapped in with plastic it causes damage- yellowing to light coloured plastic, brittleness and in extreme heat it contributes to warping.

I store my minifigures in a cardboard box, loosely packed, not touching any plastic. They are in a room with good ventilation and not in direct sunlight.

If you wish to read up on the best types of storage check out the comic book world- they use special materials that don't react and do damage to their collections.

Ventilate your figures people!

[Brickadeer]

Hi, coming from the vintage star wars world I must advise avoiding the use of ANY air tight container- ziplock bags, sandwich boxes etc- plastic gives off some pretty nasty fumes as it ages. If the fumes are trapped in with plastic it causes damage- yellowing to light coloured plastic, brittleness and in extreme heat it contributes to warping.

I store my minifigures in a cardboard box, loosely packed, not touching any plastic. They are in a room with good ventilation and not in direct sunlight.

If you wish to read up on the best types of storage check out the comic book world- they use special materials that don't react and do damage to their collections.

Ventilate your figures people!

But if I remember correctly, the vintage figures (Kenner) smelled pretty strongly, while I have not yet realized a similar smell with the Lego figures or the bags.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Brickadeer

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Hi, coming from the vintage star wars world I must advise avoiding the use of ANY air tight container- ziplock bags, sandwich boxes etc- plastic gives off some pretty nasty fumes as it ages. If the fumes are trapped in with plastic it causes damage- yellowing to light coloured plastic, brittleness and in extreme heat it contributes to warping.

I store my minifigures in a cardboard box, loosely packed, not touching any plastic. They are in a room with good ventilation and not in direct sunlight.

If you wish to read up on the best types of storage check out the comic book world- they use special materials that don't react and do damage to their collections.

Ventilate your figures people!

What kind of plastic does this happen with? How long does it take? I haven't been able to observe this effect.

[fluffybunny]

I love the idea of a frame like posted before, as I don't have an ikea near buy and can't find that 52x52 cm frame on the US store, wouldn't a large shadow box do basically the same thing? I am needing some for another project, I will look when I go to get the shadow boxes and see if they would work.