So I need a solution that’s as compact and unobtrusive as possible. I’m also a bit obsessive-compulsive, so there’s a specific way I want it to be organized. (I feel the need to explain that I’m definitely not OCD. I have friends and acquaintances with the actual mental disorder, and my heart goes out to them, because, like any mental condition, it’s very taxing on them and those around them. I don’t want to make light of their struggle by flippantly saying I’m “slightly OCD.” That D means something important. That out of the way…) Here’s how I want it organized. I’d like each* game’s figures on their own shelf / in their own drawer. The biggest problem with that, really, is that it makes the footprint (length and width specifically) of the unit pretty good-sized. For example, if I stuck all of the really tall figures – Giants/Trap Masters - in one deeper drawer, I could shrink the length and width considerably, and only be adding a little height. But I didn’t want to break up the game collections. So, cramming the largest footprint skylanders as close together as possible (and facing sideways), I found I can get away with a length of no more than 20 inches (apologies to our friends who use metric. I’m actually an engineer, and at work, metric is all I use. For some reason, though, “Standard” just feels right when I’m doing home projects/woodwork).
*I ought to explain my asterisk at this point. When I say “each” game, I don’t actually mean all six. Long story long, my kids and I started with SF, so we got the most-current repose of each character, then worked our way backwards to SG and SSA, since reposes ARE backwards compatible (at least, before SC). We have all 80 playable characters through the first 3 games, but don’t have many of the SSA or SG figures if they’ve got a repose in a newer game. I could go back and fill in all the older characters, but at this point, I really don’t have the interest to do so. So I made a grid of the original 32, and figured that, with Giants “only” introducing two new figures per element, I could put SSA and SG on the same shelf (see, there I go breaking my own rule already…don’t worry though, all the other games get their own shelf), and have 8 columns by element, and 6 rows of figures (the back row being the Giants, who, for length reasons, will be facing sideways, not forward), as well as the shared expansion levels to one side. Because 6 rows is definitely the most of any of the shelves, its width is the largest, at approximately 15 inches.
So that’s my footprint. 20” x 15”. Here’s where height becomes an issue. I measured the tallest figure from each of the 5 post-SSA games. Giants is close between Ninjini and Swarm, but Swarm’s raised stinger edges her ponytail out at 5 1/4” (sorry, metric friends. I’d keep that part in decimal form, rather than going fractions on you, but it’ll be uglier fractions in a minute). SF’s tallest figure, ironically, is Fire Kracken. Yup, his torch is just higher than Rattle Shake’s snake shooter, at 3 15/16”.
Trap Team went full-stupid with their sizes, not just height, but length and width as well. Standing them close enough to fit them inside 20” is no small task either, but Knight Light also wins the prize for tallest Skylander figure to date at 5 1/2”. SC dialed it back, and the tallest figure is Nightfall by the curve of her hook, at 3 5/8”. I haven’t measured the Imaginators figures. They’re still in a box, and will come out for the kids for Christmas. But I’m imagining its tallest figure will be around 5” (Golden Queen, maybe?). Either way, accounting for slight clearance, that’s still 30” in height. And 20” length by 15” width by 30” height is a big ol’ box!
But, here’s the part I’m excited about. Instead of drawers, I’ve decided I want to build enclosed shelves that cascade as they open (if you’ve seen a fishing tackle box, like that), so when the kids are playing, they can cascade the shelves out and grab whichever guys they want, then when they’re done (and haven’t left them in a pile on the floor infront of the tv!!!) it can be folded up and just look like an unobtrusive box of stacked shelves. Should be fun to figure out how to build! Here’s what I’ve figured so far. I’ll need cantilevered scissor hinges, like those on tackle boxes, BUT, I’ll also need to “pin” the middle shelf so that the top two and bottom two shelves counterbalance each other, so it doesn’t tip. What I haven’t decided is whether it would make more sense to do a true cantilevered scissor hinge array, or to make the hinge rods slotted so that all five shelves wouldn’t have to lift slightly to get them to separate.
If I chose the first option and was “pinning” the center shelf, for the bottom two shelves to be able to swing out from under the center one, it would either need to be suspended in air already (making it even higher than the original 30”), or it would need to raise up before the two lower shelves could swing forward. That means two different scissor hinge mechanisms. One to lift, one to separate. (
) If I designed it well enough, however, I could likely incorporate the lift motion (spring-assisted as well, probably) with the cascade actuation. If I chose the second option and slotted the hinge rods, it admittedly wouldn’t sit as tightly when closed, because it’d be more like drawers that have to slide against each other, BUT, as long as I eliminated most of the friction, it’d be a lot easier to do. Pulling on the bottom shelf would automatically slide the bottom two shelves forward and the top two backward. Its biggest drawback is that in order to access all of the figures, the bottom shelf would have to be pulled out really far. That means that the top shelf would move backwards pretty far also, which means it couldn’t sit up against a wall.
I’ll have to give it some thought. Still, it should be a fun project. I’ll keep you all apprised of my progress (you know, all three of you who actually had the patience to read this novel AND are interested enough in furniture crafting to care
).
darkspyro
net