DIY LEGO Collectable Minifigure Display with IKEA Ribba Frame

In the premier issue of Blocks magazine, in late 2014, they had an article "How To Make a Minifigure Display Frame".  Great article with pictures and instructions for making a large frame to hold 48 minifigures. I knew instantly I'd want to make one someday. However, 48 minifigures?!? I just couldn't wrap my brain around displaying 48 figures in one frame. I could pick 48 Star Wars characters to display or a mix of different themes, but these options just didn't appeal to me at that number. Not to mention that the IKEA RIBBA frame is 19 3/4 x 19 3/4" (50 x 50cm) and takes up a lot of wall space. Luckily IKEA makes a smaller RIBBA frame that is 9 x 9" (23 x 23 cm). 

In my first design layout I wanted to fit as many minifigures in the frame, without it looking too cluttered, and have the figures evenly displayed. This resulted in 3 rows of 5 figures. I popped in some of my Space minifigures and I felt like it turned out pretty good. 

At some point after any AFOL emerges from the Dark Ages*, they discover the LEGO Collectable Minifigure series of figures. (I'll save the obsession of the CMF for another post.) Each series contains a dazzling array of 16 collectable minifigures that you just want to display. Wait, what?!? 16 minifigures? But my display layout is for 15. :(

Needless to say my second design layout was for 16 minifigures. I stayed with the 3 row layout, but spaced the middle row to hold 6 figures instead of 5. Fitting 6 figures in the middle row brought the figures a little closer together. I used the same spacing for the top and bottom rows so that the minifigures are evenly spaced across each row with the extra space at the beginning and the end of each row. More pleasing to the eye, I think.

But what about the Disney Collectable Minifigure series? It has 18 minifigures! That was an easy fix. My third design layout has 3 rows of 6. It may seem a little tight, but the display still looks great. I had to use a longer support block for Ariel and Ursula though, due to the size of the figures.

Enough of me rambling, let's get down to the business of making a minifigure display frame. 

What you need:

• IKEA RIBBA 9x9" frame - You have two options black or white
• Mounting Board - I use white matte board that you can  find at any art supply store
• 16 Support Blocks - I use the Inverted Slope 45 2x2 - Part #3660
• Super Glue - I suggest the Gel Control kind
• Craft Knife/ Exacto Blade 
• Cutting Board - I use another thick piece of scrap matte board or thick single layer cardboard 
• Ruler - Preferably 12" or longer
• 45/90 Cutting Edge Triangle (Optional) - Very helpful when drawing guide lines
• Sharp Pencil
• Tacky Putty - Found at any art supply store. You could use tape, but you run the risk of tearing the matte board
• 60 or 80 Grit Sandpaper
• Damp cloth

You can get creative with your matte board and support block colors, but I use white so that the minifigures stand out. I did try black support blocks and they look great too.

Making the Display:

1. Carefully open up your RIBBA frame. Take the glass and use it as a template to draw your cut lines on your matte board. Cut out your mounting board. Set the mounting board and frame to the side.

2. Take the paper insert from the frame and place it face down on your work area. This is going to be used as the template for laying out the support blocks.

3. Using a sharp pencil make marks along the edges of the paper where your guidelines will be placed. (This is where the Blocks magazine article fell a little short, because they didn't give you any measurments to go by. I'm giving you measurements for a 16 minifigures frame.)

Start with the horizontal guides. This will set the row placements. Starting from the bottom left corner make the following marks up the left edge. Each number of millimeters (Metric system?**) starts from the previous mark.

Horizontal guides - 20mm, 12mm, 54mm, 12mm, 54mm, 12mm

4. Now draw your horizontal lines cross the paper using these marks. (This is where the 45/90 Cutting Edge Triangle comes in handy.)

5. For the vertical guidelines, we are going to do them in two parts. The top & bottom rows and then the middle row. For the top & bottom rows we are going to again start from the bottom left corner and make marks along the bottom edge. Each number of millimeters starts from the previous mark.

Vertical Guides - Top & Bottom row - 22m, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm

6. Now draw your top & bottom row vertical lines. I only draw the lines long enough to make the boxes for the top & bottom rows. This causes less confusion when dealing with the middle row. Once the guidelines are drawn, draw an X in the first box and then another X in every other box along the rows. This indicates which boxes to cut out.

7. For the middle row guidelines we need to rotate the template paper 180 degrees. With the template now upside down, again start from the bottom left corner and make marks along the bottom edge. Each number of millimeters starts from the previous mark.

Vertical Guides - Middle row - 39mm, 16mm, 18mm,16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm, 18mm, 16mm

8. Now draw your middle row vertical lines. I only draw the lines long enough to make the boxes for the middle row. This causes less confusion when dealing with the top & bottom row. Once the guidelines are drawn, draw an X in the first box and then another X in every other box along the row. This indicates which boxes to cut out.

9. Using your craft knife, cut out the boxes you have marked with an X. Using a ruler as a straight edge to cut along will give you nice clean cuts. 

10. Flip the template over and place a small amount of Tacky Putty at each corner of the template.

11. Afix the template to your mounting board and set it aside.

12. Take your sandpaper and rough up the flat vertical side of the support blocks. Sand enough so that the side of the brick doesn't have its shine anymore. By roughing up the side, we are giving the glue something to hold on to. After sanding the side of the brick your use a wet cloth to wipe away any dust. Do this for all 16 support blocks.

13. Take your mount board, with template attached, and place it in front of you. The row of boxes closest to the edge is the bottom. This is important to remember, so you don't glue your support boxes the wrong way.

14. Read the steps 15 and 16 carefully before doing them.

15. Take a support block and apply a small amount of super glue. You don't need a lot because the glue will spread along the face as you press it to the mount board.

16. Place the support block on the mount board, aligning the bottom of the block with the bottom of the cut out box, with the studs of the block pointing in the direction of the top of the template. 

17. Repeat steps 15 and 16 for the remaining support blocks.

18. Carefully loosen the tacky putty and lift up the edges of the template from the mount board. You should now be able to remove the template from the mount board. Sometimes if you add too much glue to the support blocks, it will run and you will need to separate the template from the glue around the support blocks. The template may tear some, so be careful so that you can reuse the template. 

19. Now place your minifigures on the support blocks and place the mount board in the frame and attach the frame back. You may need to adjust accessory placement so that they don't bump against the glass. I tend to remove some of the accessories, such as 2x2 tiles or tails to make things look nice, but that is up to you. We are talking LEGO here. ;)

20. Reassemble the RIBBA frame with the wooden spacer  against a the glass. Carefully lay your mount board inside the frame. At this point I usually hold the mont board in place and lift up the frame to see if everything looks right. If everything looks good, add the backing board and finish assembling the frame.

Tada! You now have a frame to proudly displaying a series of the Collectable Minifigures.  

Now it's time to get cracking on a few more so that you can display them together. (Didn't' I say something about the bigger frames taking up too much wall space? Oh well. :P )

*Dark Ages : That time in the life of an AFOL when they lose interest in LEGO and take up other interests, hopefully to regain their passion for LEGO at a later date.


** Metric System - I live in the USA and the metric system is usually referred to as a foreign language. However the metric system uses a much smaller measuring increment, the millimeter, which is the perfect scale to measure out the placement of the support pieces. Isn't 12mm x 16 mm a lot easier to deal with then 1/4" x 5/12"?