(Part 2) Best products from r/AnimeFigures

For my quick-n-dirty photographs, I basically have three of these lights, withe results like this.

I have a more complex setup, involving four of these screwed into four of these, with a couple of these for pinspots and some other lights to go along with all of them. The problem is, I don't have a free table upon which to set them all up along with the light box...

Ahem.

As I was saying, the main feature of all of these lights (save for the pinspots) is that they've got adjustable intensity. In the case of your picture, that'd mean less intense overhead lighting, which would make the front lighting look stronger. One thing you might do is tape some kleenex or toilet paper to the overhead light... that'll diffuse it AND dim it so it won't appear so stark. edit: I just realized that's a cellphone... another option might be trying to display a white webpage.

Ditto with the front-lighting cellphone. The lantern is the most powerful thing in the room, but it's got a diffusing shade on it already!

Shadows aren't bad things... one of my favorite photos from r/animefigures recently was this one, which is nothing BUT light and shadow contrasting... but they can be distracting if not overly intentional.

Also if you can, raise your front lighting a bit. The human eye finds "horizontal" light to be weird since we don't usually see things illuminated that way.

Back in the 1930s, a man named Stanley McCandless wrote a book entitled A Method of Lighting the Stage, which went into depth on how he believed lighting for the theatre should be done. He came up with using two lights in front of the actor, offset 45 degrees in either direction from the centerline of the actor's nose, and elevated an equal amount. There would be a third light above the actor at a steep angle.

The resulting light plot looked like this,, wiht the stage result looking like this. This is something that the human eye takes to be "normal"... and, whether you were aware you were doing it or not, you've nearly replicated the McCandless Method, which is still the basic tool of lighting design for the stage. Put some soup cans or something under each front light, play around with the results! There's no rule saying you have to do it McCandless' way, either... it's just a great place to start from.

I really like what you're doing here already, by the way! I'm just... I'm just a guy who never got his master's degree in stage lighting design, and has a little bit of info to pass along that might help make things better, is all. Feel free to ignore me!

ps: I know it's a pain to do, but if you can figure out a way to not use the figma stands, that'd be a huge improvement! I do wish Good Smile would come up with some better idea for a stand...

Done, took about 3 hours. Was alot easier than I thought it was going to be, and I have alot of things i'm going to change if/when I do it over again. The 2 biggest issues are the dimmer in the bottom, it works great but next time i'm going to put it out of sight out of the case, it works for now and doesn't look too bad. Next, I wired the whole thing in series, like a zigzag, so you might notice that the top shelf is dimmer than the bottom shelf. Frankly, this is good enough for me, but next time i'm going to run one wire, acting as a sort of wire harness, the brightness difference is pretty noticeable, but still looks good, I regret not doing it this time but ehhhhhh. I don't know much about electrical so I wasn't even thinking about this when I was doing it, it's an easy fix for next time or when I re-do this one, live and learn. The bottom 2 shelves are essentially place holders, all of those figures will be moving out soon to make room for more scales, and I have the rest of the keions coming in a few days. For a first time 3 Hour DIY, I think it's pretty good but it definitely has it's issues, what do you think?

I've only been collecting for about 8 months or so, I frequent buyfag threads and post updates on my MFC, this is my first time posting myself here.

I was going for budget and simplicity (in reality the wiring harness is easier and provides power more efficiently, whoops), I cut out half of my soldering with the corner connectors. Parts I used:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075RYSHQQ

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QTCBZ4I

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WCMRXL

This is my collection one year in the making. Finally got my own place and set up some displays. Wanted to light it up and decided to create my own DIY solution. Designed, Measured, Cut, Soldered, and Attached it all over two weekends. Took about 20 hours total. See further below for WIP pictures. The color light pictures really don't do them justice. My phone camera sucks. They look much better in real life.

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Close up's of each Display and Shelf, see the full album by clicking "Display" at the top for descriptions.

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Shelf| Display 1| Display 2
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Top| Miku Scales | Odds and Ends 2
2nd| Miku Nendos | Date a Dog Days Live
3rd | Miku Mix | Round 1, Fight!
4th | Odds & Ends 1| Lonely Sinon
5th | To Battle! | Cheerful Japan
Bottom | Empty | Empty

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A nifty thing happens under blue light. A few of the figures have spots that glow. See here.

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Sadly I didn't take too many images while working on the lighting, but I do have a few. See the descriptions for more info.

Here is a shopping list if you want to try your hand:

• RGBW LED Strip Lights x 2 (1 per shelf)
  
• RGBW Extension Wire (10m is probably fine for 2 shelves even)
  
• T Junctions (9 per shelf, come in packs of 10) The connectors aren't needed but couldn't find a comparable price for just the junctions.
  
• RGBW Solderless Jumper Cables - For the adjustable shelves so you can move/remove them
  
  You'll also need a soldering iron and all the accoutrements, glue (I used Loctite),heat shrink wrap, blow dryer, tweezers, wire cutters, cardboard work space for protection. I sourced most of these from work and borrowed them for a while.
  
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  Future Plans
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  I plan on buying or making some acrylic/plexiglass risers so I can fit some more Nendo's per shelf without overcrowding it. This will let me move the Nendo Petite Vocaloids onto the back of the Miku Nendo shelf and free up room for my incoming Mebae Miku and Ca Calne on Miku Shelf 2.
  
  Then I can also raise up Stormtrooper and Vader and condense the Date A Live and Dog Days shelves as well.
  
  Once Saber Bride (zipped) comes in, I'll move her and Jack the Ripper to Sinons shelf so she isn't lonely anymore. Then when Purple heart comes in she can join Black heart's shelf.
  
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  Let me know what you think and if you have any questions about the figures, shelves, lighting, or anything really!
  
  Thanks for looking!

Would you be referring to this 5 shelf one? I don't but according to others who have bought it the smallest distance between any of the shelves is 14.75 inches and the largest gap is 16 inches so it would depend on how large your figure is. The shelves themselves are apparently 10x22 inches. If you're worried about weight I don't think that should be a problem. The shelves are listed as having a weight limit of 28 pounds per shelf.


And when it comes to buying anything from Amazon I will always tell people to MAKE SURE whatever you are buying is shipping from Amazon's warehouse. Just because it has prime shipping doesn't necessarily mean it is coming direct from Amazon. If it's not coming direct from Amazon and you require a return they will very likely tell you to deal with whoever the seller is before coming to them, and I guarantee you both will try to give you a runaround so they don't have to deal with it. If you get it direct from Amazon and are a prime member returns should be much easier to deal with or they may just even send you a new one free of charge. Although luckily I've never had any trouble with them. I've gotten 4 of the 4 shelved curios and all have arrived in good shape. As with anything being shipped great distances though there is always the possibility of shipping damage.

I have 13 different Eva figures from Revoltech/Kaiyodo and I love each one of them. I highly recommend Revoltech/Kaiyodo for decent price and really good quality.Each one looks exactly like the other in terms of quality. Even now if someone asked me which was which in my figures I couldn't tell you unless I was looking at the Stands. It's a good way to get a full set.


I'll link the movie versions as they are more updated and look better but any of the Evas look amazing in my opinion.


Eva Unit 01


Eva Unit 02

Eva Unit 00

If you have any more questions about these kind of Eva figures I'll gladly answer them if I can!


EDIT: Just realized Unit 01 is sold out for now. But there's at least 3 more versions of it by the same company on Amazon, just look for them.

here is what i used:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XJKOCBG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_5s0HAbREM7Z6Y the lights make sure its set to cool white if you are buying your selfnow the cable for the top most light is a bit short so u can always cut and solder a bit from the bottom light to the top one if you don't want the mess that i havealthough i did try to make it as neatly as possible.for securing the wires i just used clear 4inch zip ties and tucked them behind the frame inside.https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-8-Outlet-Conserve-Protector-F7C01008q/dp/B003P2UMNK/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1540851234&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=remote+controll+surge+protector got this surge protector it comes with 6 outlets which are controlled by a remote so you can turn on all the cases with 1 button

https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Tough-Double-Mounting-Inches/dp/B00OXVG9FW to secure the lights i used this double sided tape

and a bit of weather seal to keep the dust out on all 4 sides u can pick some up at home depot or fleet farm just make sure its 5/16th size

will be posting a big figure unboxing a bit later and how they all look inside the case.

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Edit: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40275846/ forgot to link the bottom shelf so here it is pretty sturdy for the price

https://www.amazon.it/Darkness-Statua-Statue-Kotegawa-Alter/dp/B010P4MP9O/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A17XACY4YJZVHI
It is from italian amazon, but the seller (Toy Zany) is from USA.
I checked last year feedbacks and they're ok (only 3 or 4 are 1/5 and they were about damaged items or delayed delivery), Alter is mentioned and likend too; in the description is stated that the item is 100% legit and there isn't any "chinese version" on watch.
What bothers me is the price: it would be pretty high for a bootleg, but since they offer free delivery and italian duties (23%) are already charged, 100 euros is pretty cheap considering this figure price fluctuate from 136 to 150 euros (without delivery but duties already charged) on trustworthy italian sites. Moreover, they have 5 figures in stock.
It would be my first time buying a figure from Amazon (or better, it would be my first time amazon purchase ever)

Edit: I posted the right link again... it was changed with this other one https://www.amazon.it/Darkness-Statua-Statue-Kotegawa-Alter/dp/B010P4MP9O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479921637&sr=8-2&keywords=yui+kotegawa
Well this other one (from Italy) is selled for the same price and has the same descrption, same name and everything... moreover is an online sportswear shop that sells little anime and comics merchandise... WTF?

You got a pretty nice deal on that. A couple months ago while I was in HK they were going for $600 there, which is just a tad less than the pre-sale price.

For others who might be interested in taking the same path: http://www.amazon.com/Kotobukiya-Online-Aincrad-Statue-Figure/dp/B00AQA0OJG

Edit: aww, looks like Amazon caught on, the amazing 25% discount is now over (still has a 12% though as of editing).

What camera do you use? And what type of leds? I used a regular iPhone camera and these were my leds. I’m no photographer but my best guess is the lights have a low frequency.

“Cheap 110V and 220V LED strips don't bother filtering the AC much before the feed it to the LEDs. The 50/60Hz AC causes the flicker. What you want is a constant-current DC driver for your LEDs. Then they will give steady light that will not show up as flicker on video. Perhaps you can find a friend with some electronics skill to re-wire the strips for you. It may be as simple as a filter capacitor across the LEDs”

This is one explanation I found online that might help you!

I don't know what country you are from but if you are in the US I've looked up different ways and these organizers can look nice if you are creative and add lighting to them from what some people have shown me

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CHCLN4B/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=A2QMH4UKDFN4Y&psc=1

There's also the Amazon shelf it's not at good as Detolf since it doesn't encase the figures but it's pretty cheap

https://www.amazon.com/Convenience-Concepts-5-Tier-Glass-Tower/dp/B01GVP6506/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=glass+display+case&qid=1556994898&s=gateway&sr=8-5

I have the same figure.

While it does come with some white tack, it sounds like yours is missing, but this still will do the trick: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CEMCXQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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But the museum wax @suddenly_ponies mentioned looks awesome as well and will probably stick better.

I'm looking to buy this Yukino figure: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYJYKO1/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A2FDSPNCWKN4A8&psc=1
The seller has good feedback and is fulfilled with amazon, but I just want to make sure before I go ahead and buy. Thanks in advance

Hmm if you only have 50 dollars then you can only get some prize figures. All the more quality figures going to cost you close to 100 before shipping. Or if you're lucky you can find people selling used figures here or mfc for cheap but that's a waiting game.

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Something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073T12PN6/?coliid=I1F5S2KLILM738&colid=FB0VN3KDHVAZ&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.amazon.com/Sega-Fate-stay-night-Premium/dp/B019TUGH62/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1536185544&sr=1-1&keywords=saber+alter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5L7QWW/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stppvp_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=d45777d6-4c64-4117-8332-1659db52e64f&pd_rd_wg=AC9L8&pf_rd_r=0XYZNQW5VX2Z95GCNA4D&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B01N5L7QWW&pd_rd_w=zMg4r&pf_rd_i=saber+alter&pd_rd_r=af5f21e0-d6ee-42a6-92be-acea8806cd4e&ie=UTF8&qid=1536185598&sr=2

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All fit in your budget but again don't be expecting like detail and quality of the 100+ scaled figures.

I'm definitely not in the "Detolfs are the only cabinets worth owning" camp--I also have an IKEA Malsjo and I recently got a double cabinet from Coaster Company that I like very much--but my Detolf has followed me to three different apartments (over the course of 5 years) and it's certainly been dependable. No stability issues, no structural concerns.

I'd probably avoid puck lights--they can create a spotlight effect that casts unappealing shadows on your figures. I use the Dioder lights from IKEA and they're fine. You could probably do better for cheaper if you were willing to get one of those spools of LEDs and a soldering tool, but the Dioders are definitely hassle-free.

Also, here are two options for dustproofing your case--both seem to work so it's really a matter of which you prefer the look of.

You're gonna find some good ones here and there, the better ones go around $80-ish sometimes, you could definitely find something around that price though! These are a bit more than $50, but if you wouldn't mind paying $20-ish out of your pocket, they'd be good buys. http://www.amazon.com/Kotobukiya-Genesis-Evangelion-Shikinami-Ani-Statue/dp/B00BIQZ1OA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1377151428&sr=8-3&keywords=evangelion+kotobukiya

http://www.amazon.com/Kotobukiya-Online-Aincrad-Statue-Figure/dp/B00AQA0OJG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377151445&sr=8-1&keywords=asuna+kotobukiya

I use these 6x14in glass risers. They're perfectly sized for the detolf and even the tallest still fit two 1/7ths without issue. Downside is that they're 3 different sizes, but it still looks good in my case. Amazon glass risers

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPGP4KA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share


there is only 12" between each shelf so if you have any figures taller they won't fit. that is the only real downside imo. I divided to go with this cause I liked it better than the deltof that people usually get.

This one from Amazon

I got one of these

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003P2UMNK/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apap_ZbrCU8xZSNZwc

I hit this switch instead of the ceiling might switch.