Robot 6
Saturday Shelf Porn
Welcome once again to Shelf Porn, where fans show off their collections of comics, graphic novels, toys and other items. Today’s Shelf Porn was submitted by Tim Barklay, who shows us his great collection and kick ass room from Australia. If you’d like to submit your own Shelf Porn, we could certainly use it — just send a write-ups and jpgs to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now here’s Tim.
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Hi, my name is Tim Barklay and I’m a High School Chaplain from Moree, NSW, Australia. I’ve been collecting comics for about 6 years and have been working on my Games room/library for about a year now. My collections aren’t huge or impressive, but I’m pretty stoked on the room, including the many self-built elements. as you will see, I really dig building things, and I’m a total nerd. onto the photos!
my games room/library is a converted garage, and would have been the perfect pool room if it weren’t for the two beams in the middle.
my library wall. my next project will be building uniform, modular bookshelves to cover the wall. note the start trek bean bag.
my comics unit. this was the first build for the room, and is basically an old bookcase and an old entertainment unit recycled. my single issue collection is dominated by x-men books – Uncanny, x-men, x-force, x-factor, etc.
title dividers. the agent X issue in the background was purchased purely for the cover – its explicitly implicit.
PVCs on top of my art drawers. front row are marvel superhero squad, then Homestar runner figurines and finally the simpsons.
soft toys, including the set of Star Wars pancakes. also note the lightsaber chopsticks, which are pretty well awesome.
mostly marvel trades. I scored the full set of Asterix comics at a garage sale for $20.
graphic novels. the bottom shelf contains a bunch of 2000ads, art books and games workshop books. some standouts that you may not have read are Street angel by Jim Rugg and Brian Mancura, terry Moore’s Echo, anything by michael Allen Nelson, groom lake, phonogram by Kerion Gillen, Jeff Parker’s underground, Bottomless Belly Button by Dash Shaw, daytripper by Moon and Ba and Jeff Smith’s RASL.
my Cubees from cubeecraft.com. I love these toys. they look great, you get the satisfaction of making them and they’re free.
I don’t have a huge action figure collection, because i mainly just by them when they’re on sale, which isn’t very often. the black and white sin city figures are the exception, just because they are ridiculously good looking.
some of my Games workshop miniatures. I don’t really play, except for the skirmish game Mordheim, but I dig the hobby. I’ve won some local awards, but don’t have the time to paint anything up to national competing standard.
I’m a huge Ramones fan and when I came across this Joey Ramone figure I had to have it.
various posters.
this is the artwork that’s on my corkboard – its a small version of a large, poster I did for my brother-in-Law’s wedding. it’s a portrait of the bride and groom. they say artists are their own worst critics, but I’m actually pretty proud of this piece.
as you’ll see over the rest of the photos, i like to make stuff. often I’ll see something cool in a shop or online and think “I could build that”. in this instance, it’s a TARDIS USB hub.
Hand painted Worf standup and Scratch built R2-D2 rubbish bin. the hardest part was getting his head a perfectly smooth dome. total build cost: $15.
portrait of Joey Ramone. i’d been wanting to play around with charcoals for a while, and Joey was quite a black and white person, both physically and in his personality, so it made sense. I got his neck wrong and tried to fix it, but to no avail.
scratch built NES controller coffee table. this was actually a pretty simple build. total build cost: $24
my latest build and I think my coolest – a digital pinball machine. the playfield monitor is 24″, with a 19″ backglass. the arcade buttons are wired to a kenboard encoder, and the whole thing is run by a computer running pinball emulation software called Visual Pinball and a front end called HyperPin.
Thanks for checking out my collection and please feel free to leave feedback and ask me any questions you may have.
45 Comments
Jeff
May 14, 2011 at 2:46 pm
I am really impressed, do you have specs for that nintendo coffee table anywhere?
maniacmatt
May 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Wow! Awesome room! I’d love to know how you built the table and R2, if you put up instructions anywhere. Those are fantastic!
demoncat
May 14, 2011 at 3:29 pm
love the coffee table and the other do it your self work you did to make your space your very own. plus the pinball machine is really neat
Matt
May 14, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Fantastic! It looks like a great place to relax and have a lot of fun. I like the comic book section and of course everything else.
Mysterious Stranger
May 14, 2011 at 6:16 pm
I really like the word balloon comic dividers. That’s a very creative and visually interesting idea that I’m surprised I haven’t seen before.
Ellison
May 14, 2011 at 9:07 pm
In the 14th picture, what’s the book on the right of Essex County?
Julian
May 14, 2011 at 11:21 pm
This is a truly glorious Sanctum Sanctorum. Is there an instructable for that Pintendo machine?
Aaltomuoto
May 14, 2011 at 11:23 pm
@Ellison: That’s the Jimmy Corrigan softcover
Ian Taylor
May 15, 2011 at 12:33 am
For those asking about how to build the NES coffee table: http://ultra-awesome.blogspot.com/2008/03/nes-coffee-table.html
Tim Barklay
May 15, 2011 at 1:38 am
Thanks guys!
@Jeff and Maniac Matt, the coffee table was super easy – the basic structure is a sheet of light-board bolted and braced onto 4 lengths of 4X4, with MDF skirting. the details were made from mdf and pine offcuts. made some stencils for the art and had the whole thing done in three days for about $25. the R2D2 was heaps trickier – the body is a bin with light cardboard decals and paint, the legs were made from pine, the head was paper mache and about 20 layers of watered down and sanded spackling compound. details were just bits and pieces I had lying around.
@Julian – http://www.instructables.com/id/Digital-Pinball-Machine/
@Ian Taylor – mine is no where near as advanced as that!
andrew c
May 15, 2011 at 2:41 am
Awesome collection and awesome layout !! well done sir!!
olokin
May 15, 2011 at 7:33 am
Very impressive collection.
I really like your comics singles unit, I may copy it. And R2 too!
captainamerica4
May 15, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Sir, that is my summer inspiration. I work at a high school as well and haven’t paid the organization of my collection much attention in awhile. So I think it is time to organize.
TonyJazz
May 16, 2011 at 10:47 am
Nice stuff (good show)…. Am I the only person who doesn’t know what ‘homestar’ is?
Mike Sherlock
May 16, 2011 at 12:15 pm
This room is truly spectacular, congratulations!
Marko
May 17, 2011 at 4:06 am
Being a structural engineer, I would strengthen the two tiny beams above, get rid of the two columns, sell 1/2 of the crap you have on ebay and purchase a nice pool table!
Acer
May 17, 2011 at 5:50 pm
I have a pretty HUGE Transformers and GI Joe collection (though for the Joe section, few vehicles for either side). Any reccommendations for shelf materials?
abe easy
May 18, 2011 at 4:35 am
Great stuff bro. Can i now see a picture of your girlfriend?
Tim Barklay
May 19, 2011 at 12:24 am
@abe, my wife actually approves of the room, to the point of contributing to the collection every once in a while.
Robert
May 21, 2011 at 10:00 am
It would have been cool if it had some DC stuff.
Jacob
May 21, 2011 at 10:10 am
My grade: A. If the Star Trek bean bag chair had been a giant Tribble: A+.
CRG
May 21, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Hey Daddy-O
I don’t want to go
Down to the basement…
Said
May 21, 2011 at 1:42 pm
That’s an amazing place! I might copy your coffe table and give it to my brother as a birthday present, if you don’t mind. It look amazing!!
Fred
May 21, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Nice room. I gotta say the thing that made think “Yeah this is some great stuff” was the Ramones stuff. Nothing brings a room together like Ramones paraphernalia.
jmralls2001
May 21, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I’m also impressed. I don’t know how you built the TARDIS or the R2-D2 trash can, but those are cool. Also, I didn’t know they made a statue (or action figure?) of Jessica Alba from Sin City. I thought the area with that comic book thing was cool. It’s that big wooden thing that looks like what they keep comic books in in comic book stores. I don’t know what they call that. You have some comic books tacked or taped, or whatever, to the wall above it. It’s the comics unit.
Joseph Tages
May 21, 2011 at 8:10 pm
WOW! That is some truly magnificent work! I can’t get over how cool that Artoo bin looks! Everything from the coffee tables to the pinball machines to the Worf standup could pass for factory made items. Your artwork is just as superb. Loving the poster displays as well! I’m going to try the bookcase trick for my comics collection one of these days. Brilliant stuff!
Jorge
May 21, 2011 at 10:02 pm
how did you do the shelves for the single issues?
Max
May 22, 2011 at 5:18 am
Sometimes you can have too much stuff. I’d say sell most of them, buy some nice furniture and one or two really amazing pieces
Tim Barklay
May 22, 2011 at 4:56 pm
@Jorge – It’s just a booshelf on it’s back. I adjusted the shelves, but that’s all.
@Max – too much stuff? I’m just getting started!
DirtyEarsBill
May 22, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Too much stuff? Compared to some of the other pics I’ve seen in other editions of shelf porn, this collection doesn’t seem so big.
Like everyone else said, the Nintendo coffee table is awesome. Also, I built two cubee craft figures last night after viewing this page. Do you use card stock for your cubees or regular paper? I used printer paper and was able to build them, but they aren’t very sturdy.
Hooper Triplett
May 22, 2011 at 8:12 pm
I am totally freaking out over the virtual pinball machine. LOVE the idea!
Matthew Lane
May 23, 2011 at 7:00 am
Yeah, thats just a smidge to geeky for me. I prefer my geekyness to be a bit more spartan, utiliatarian if you will.
Shawn B
May 23, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Sweet pinball machine. Great way to play all the great machines without turning your whole house into an arcade! Ever think about patenting that rig?
Tim Barklay
May 25, 2011 at 3:15 am
@DirtyEarsBill Yeah, I use light card.
@Shawn B – it’s not actually my original idea – a number of people have built them. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32
Michelle
May 26, 2011 at 9:57 pm
You are certainly an epic person. o.o
!
Could you make a tutorial or a post about the nintendo table? How did you do it?
PJ
May 31, 2011 at 8:41 am
The “pinball machine” is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Bravo!
Glenn
August 25, 2011 at 10:07 pm
That poster you made is awful. I’m sorry.
KIF
August 30, 2011 at 3:08 pm
One of those Ramones is X-Pac.
Grandfather_Time
August 30, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Awesome! I like seeing folks that have so many tpbs that their shelves are literally about to bow under the weight and break.
david
September 7, 2011 at 5:41 pm
can i pay you to make me an r2d2?
Natalie
September 27, 2011 at 2:57 pm
I’d almost met my soulmate before I landed my eyes on the System of a Down poster.
Rusty Shackleford
September 27, 2011 at 7:45 pm
You have cool possessions, but for the love of God please stop trying to draw.
S
September 30, 2011 at 7:03 am
I love the runaways. excellent comic.
India
November 11, 2011 at 11:54 am
marry me now that is the most awesome place ever! its like your own personal forbidden planet! i love it!
Ryan
March 13, 2012 at 11:04 pm
How exactly did you build the nes table?