I'm sure most of you, like me, have gotten tired of constantly having to pick up JLU figures off the floor. Mattel's stands can't get the job done because of the soft plastic and tiny ankles that eventually bend. Some folks use metal doll stands, but at $1 each they are more than I wanted to spend, plus I don't like that the stand arms around the waist of the figures are visible. The doll stands do solve the problem well, though, so based on them I've come up with an inexpensive, clear alternative that works and I thought I'd share.





These figures were all a pain to keep standing before, but they haven't fallen over once since I made these stands over a month ago.

The tools I used are an exacto knife, a pair of cutting pliers, a ruler, and a Dremel with a small round end cutting bit.

Supplies included stands I already had that came with various JLU figures, some 1/8" clear Plastruct acrylic rods and some small clear rubber bands. I got these rubber bands at Walgreens for a couple bucks:


I got the clear rods at a model train hobby store. It was a pack of 10 originally $6, but I got them on sale for 50% off. Each rod was 18" long which I cut it into 3" segments; so one pack yields 60 rods. I used square rods, but they also make round. You can order them online from various sources.

Process is pretty simple. Measure 3" increments and mark them by scoring the rod with your exacto. Then use the pliers to cut the segments. You may want to use something else to cut if you are looking for a cleaner edge. Since you won't see it, though, I was fine with the pliers. Then, taking a bit that is slightly smaller than your clear rod, Dremel a centered hole about 1/4" from the edge of the stand. Once you are all the way through, wiggle the Dremel just a tiny bit too make the hole slightly larger. Try to put a rod in the hole while the plastic is still a little "melty" from Dremeling. You want this to be a tight fit. If you can't get it through, Dremel it just a little more. After the first couple it becomes pretty easy to eyeball the size of the hole. Repeat until all your stands are made. Put rubber bands around the waists of your figures, and insert the rod between the band and the figure. Voila. Once you get going you can make these pretty quickly.

You may want to glue the rod to the stand, but I haven't found it necessary with mine. I think the square rods help make a tight fit - square peg in a round hole and all.

Anyway, hope this helps someone.

Very innovative of you!

Awesome idea. Even with the closeup shot, the bands are barely visible. I think I'll give this a shot. Thanks for sharing!

Great idea. I wonder what else could be used in place of the original clear stands if you don't have any. Maybe poker chips?

Thanks!
I would think anything plastic that you could Dremel through should work, as long as the plastic isn't too soft. I made some more of these using some clear smalljoes.com vintage stands a friend gave me when he got out of collecting Star Wars figures. I like them because they have a small footprint so I can get more figures in a tighter space. The smalljoes look like to run between $0.14-$0.18 depending on the quantity you buy. Not sure how much shipping adds to that but I'm sure I'll find out once I run out of what I have on hand. I want one stand for every figure (except the over sized ones that stand fine on their own.) I've got almost all the JLU figures so that's a lot of stands!

Me likey!

Finished making my stands (I had enough smalljoe stands!) so thought I'd do a follow up with a few pics of my JLU display. Used round rods for the rest of the stands because they were $0.15 cheaper than the square ones where I got them today. Round rods worked out nicely too.

Great display, just shows how many figures we did get in the line, if only we could have made it to the final figures shown. Those pics could do with a Toyman, Vandal and Mongul.

really great display! I especially like how you've stacked the parademons on top of one another.
I'm sure you will love not having to pick yr figures off the floor any more.

What a great idea! Now I have something that may even hold my GL figures upright when I use the energy constructs from the movie figures with them! Thanks for sharing the idea, and for showing your terrific display!

Mongul would've been sweet, especially if we could've gotten a re-release of the Black Mercy.

I did something similar by hot-gluing an extra long golf tee upside down to the stand. The upside is no drilling. The downside is that I can only find the tees in white, not clear. I also used a little fishing line instead of polybands.

dave

Hey, whats a good place to get these clear rods for the stands? Micheals?

I've seen them at Hobby Town USA if you have one of those nearby. I would think that almost any hobby shop that deals in models, trains and r/c cars should have them.

I don't think we havea those in NJ but are these the same type clear rods:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90292.htm

I already have tons of clear star wars stands so if I can custom a few of them to be like this that we be awesome!