There goes the last free wall in my room. I had it reserved it should I ever have an artwork I wanted to print in large scale. Now that I gave that up for more diecast storage space, this marks a new change in me and what has my dominant interest. To begin the story, with the rapidly assuring graduation to Kyosho minicars, the small tote I originally purchased to accommodate the side collection had reached its max capacity in no time. Evaluating what I could do about this, buying more totes did not seem to be a wise decision as that just took up more floor space. Rethinking the reason why I got into Kyoshos in the first place, it became clear what my next step should be. Display it. No sense in hiding the pretty stuff in black containers. Now comes to the materials. As nice as it would be to not have to worry about dust, I really did not want another shadowbox in my room. An acrylic sheet to cover all the surface area I'd need would not an economic choice. The major issue I have here is that my Kyosho collection will more than likely continue to grow, so what would I do once the max capacity is reached? I'd have to assemble a new display unit and spend even more money on parts. No thank you. But here's where the question popped up: "What if the shelves could continually be expanded without needing to reconstruct parts?" Through a forgotten thought process, K'Nex became a suitable choice. Now it comes to what structural pattern would be fitting.
Ideation structure 01. Uses two levels of vertical support. Rigid, but cluttered and restricted freedom of placement.
Ideation structure 02. Takes the same 2-level structure but each vertical beam is spaced further apart.
The diagonal beams are necessary to support weight load, but this reduces flexibility of how I can use the shelf.
Ideation structure 03. Addressing the previous issues, foreground beams removed. Triangular brace size reduced.
There is flexing, but this will be worked on. The spacing between vertical supports is perfect for Kyosho model bases.
Ideation structure 04. Went back to the shorter red rods instead of the grey rods. Added cross beams for back support.
The denser structure makes it rigid to overcome the flexing caused by heavier loads.
The spacing between posts creates comfortable spacing between boxed cases. I moved forward with this pattern.
WIP. Ran out of pieces. The beam running through the center of the platform was an improve for the lack of pieces. This will be changed.
Because I was missing too many white 8-way connectors to complete the entire thing using the desired pattern,
I had to swap out the cross-beam layout (white 8-way connector + 4 yellow rods) and simplify it to
a single grey rod. It will suffice. The connectors fastened by screws will remain untouched though.
Subbing out the white connectors meant the blue 7-way connectors were no longer necessary. They in fact now had
to be taken out to meet the required amount to complete the platforms (just like the 8-way connectors).
Just like the middle joints, the corners got subbed in with 1-way connectors. I avoided a connection like this because it lacked the same rigidity the original layout had, but it turns out when you join numerous amount in a single line (via red rods), nothing shifts laterally without effort.
Support braces have not changed. Ran out of 7-way connectors and subbed the rest with 5-ways. Here's a glimpse of what's been put up.
Will definitely try to keep the CM's there. Beads will be pushed out if I've no other choice. The other brands are fillers for the time being. There's no telling how much more I find, but if things are the way I think they are, the current capacity should last a while.
