How to Display Your Finished Resin Figures
Painting a kit is the part everyone talks about. Where it goes afterwards gets almost no thought at all, which is odd, because that is where the figure spends the rest of its life. A kit you spent three weekends on ends up wedged behind a monitor at an angle nobody can see it from, gathering dust in the one spot in the room that gets afternoon sun.
This is not a decorating article. It is about five ways to put finished resin figures somewhere they can actually be seen, what each one costs you in space, money and cleaning, and which one suits the size of kit you are building. If you have not built anything yet, it is still worth reading before you buy shelving, because the display decision is easier to get right at the start than to fix later.
What you are actually displaying
Display advice written for wargaming miniatures does not transfer, and most of what you will find online is written for 28mm or 32mm figures. Those live in foam trays and army cases, forty to a drawer.
Our resin figure kits are display scale: 1/8, 1/10, 1/12, 75mm and chibis. A 1/8 kit is a substantial object. It needs real shelf depth, it has weight behind it, and if it has an outstretched arm or a cape it has an awkward footprint that a flat 20cm shelf will not forgive. A chibi, at the other end, disappears entirely on a deep shelf unless you lift it.
So the practical question is not "what looks nice" but "what fits the range of sizes I own, and will still fit in a year". Most collections drift larger over time.
Five ways to display finished figures
1. Floating shelves at varied heights
The default, and for good reason. Cheap, expandable, and they use wall space that was doing nothing. Staggering the heights rather than running a neat ladder of identical shelves is what separates a display from a storage rack, because it lets you give a centrepiece figure headroom and pack the smaller ones closer together.
Two things people get wrong. The first is depth: buy deeper than you think, because a 1/8 figure with a dynamic pose can want 25cm and a 15cm shelf will have it overhanging. The second is anchoring. Resin is heavier than it looks, and a shelf holding six large kits is carrying real load. Use proper wall anchors rated well above what you think you need.
The trade-off is dust. An open shelf is an open shelf, and you will be dusting every few weeks rather than every few months.
2. Shadow boxes and wall cubbies
A shadow box gives one figure its own frame, which does something no shelf does: it tells the eye where to look. Painting the back panel a flat neutral, usually black or a mid grey, makes the paintwork read much more clearly than it does against a white wall.
These work best as a solution for your three or four best pieces rather than for a whole collection, partly because of cost and partly because a wall of twenty identical boxes stops being a gallery and starts being a filing system. A glass or acrylic front cuts dusting down to almost nothing, which is worth a lot on a figure with fine detail you would rather not put a brush near.
The trade-off is wall space and inflexibility. Once a box is hung and a figure is set in it, rearranging means patching holes.
3. Tiered risers and acrylic stands
The fix for the back row vanishing. Risers turn one shelf into two or three usable depths, and they are the single cheapest improvement you can make to a display you already own. Clear acrylic disappears visually. Wood reads warmer and is better if the shelf itself is wood.
Sort by height rather than by series, with the tallest at the back, and put chibis and small kits on the front step where their scale reads as deliberate rather than as an afterthought. A strip of non slip mat or a small blob of reusable putty under each base stops the slow creep that happens every time you open a door nearby.
The trade-off is that risers add no protection at all. They are an organisation tool, not a shelter.
4. Tabletop vignettes
Building a small scene around a figure gives it context, and context is what makes people stop and look. This does not have to mean a full diorama. A textured mat, a piece of slate, a scrap of fabric in a colour that agrees with the paint scheme, and one prop is usually more effective than an elaborate build, because the figure stays the subject.
We do not sell scenery or terrain, so this is one you build or source yourself, which is exactly why it is the most personal option on the list. Keep the base of the scene heavier than it needs to be. Vignettes live on surfaces people put coffee cups on.
The trade-off is footprint. A vignette takes desk or sideboard space that a shelf does not, and it is the hardest option to move.
5. Lighted display cabinets
The full solution, and priced like it. A glazed cabinet with adjustable shelves and integrated LED strips gives you dust protection, controlled lighting and a real sense of occasion, and for a collection of large kits it is the option that makes the collection look like a collection rather than an accumulation.
Insist on LED. Halogen and incandescent bulbs put out enough heat in an enclosed case to be a genuine risk to resin over time, and heat is the thing that warps a figure. Light the shelves from the front edge rather than from directly above, because top lighting flattens a sculpt and throws the face into shadow, which is the opposite of what you want on a figure whose face someone spent an evening on.
The trade-off is bulk and cost, and glass that shows every fingerprint.
Comparing the five
| Method | Best for | Dust protection | Space needed | Cost | Effort to change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floating shelves | Growing mixed collections | None | Wall only | Low | Easy |
| Shadow boxes | Three or four favourites | High | Wall, generous | Medium | Hard |
| Tiered risers | Mixed sizes on one shelf | None | Minimal | Very low | Very easy |
| Tabletop vignettes | One figure with a story | Low | Surface space | Varies | Hard |
| Lighted cabinet | Large or high value kits | High | Floor space | High | Easy inside it |
Choosing between them
Start from the largest kit you own and the largest you expect to buy, and size the display for that rather than for the average. Every collector we talk to underestimates this. A large fantasy piece at 1/9 or bigger will not go on the shelf you bought for your chibis.
Then be honest about how much cleaning you will actually do. If the answer is "not much", the extra cost of enclosed display pays for itself in figures that still look good in three years. If you enjoy handling them and rearrange often, open shelves are the better fit and the dusting is the price.
Backgrounds matter more than most people expect. A matte solid colour behind a figure, in black, grey or white, does more for perceived paint quality than another lamp does. Patterned wallpaper competes with the figure and the figure loses.
One thing worth saying plainly: an unpainted kit is a legitimate thing to display. Grey resin under directional light shows a sculpt more honestly than a rushed paint job does, and plenty of people keep a shelf of primed or bare pieces alongside finished ones. Nothing about our finish levels obliges you to paint anything. They describe how much preparation we have already done, not how far along the figure has to be before it earns shelf space.
Setting it up
Measure the figures before you measure the wall. Height, and then the widest point including any outstretched limb, weapon or cape, because that second number is the one that decides spacing.
Lay the whole group out on a table first and arrange it there. It takes ten minutes and it is far easier than rehanging a shelf. Group by theme, by colour, or by height, but pick one and commit to it, because a display with two competing organising ideas reads as neither.
Leave gaps. Negative space is what makes individual pieces readable, and a crowded shelf makes every figure look smaller and cheaper than it is. It also gives you somewhere to put your fingers when you need to lift the one at the back.
Add lighting last, once the arrangement is settled, and check it from where you will actually stand rather than from directly in front. Glare on gloss varnish is only visible from certain angles, and the angle that matters is the one from the doorway.
Common mistakes
Direct sunlight. The one that does permanent damage. UV yellows resin and makes it brittle over time, and it fades pigments unevenly. A shelf on a south facing wall opposite a window is the worst place in the room, no matter how good the light looks.
Heat sources. Above a radiator, next to a games PC exhaust, on top of an AV cabinet. Heat is what actually deforms resin, and warping is not something you can repair out.
Overcrowding. Costs you visibility, and every time you reach past one figure to reach another you are one slip away from a repair job.
Under specified shelving. Flat pack shelves rated for paperbacks are not rated for a row of resin. Check the load rating, and if it does not state one, assume it is low.
Hot bulbs in enclosed cases. A cabinet traps heat, so the bulb choice matters much more there than it does on an open shelf.
Keeping it looking right
A soft wide brush, the kind sold for makeup or for camera lenses, handles routine dust better than a cloth, because it gets into recesses without dragging across raised detail. Do this every few weeks on open display and a few times a year in a cabinet.
Lift figures by the base, never by an arm, a weapon or a cape. Those are the parts that break, and they break at the joint you glued.
Rotate which pieces sit in the brightest position every few months if the room gets strong daylight. It spreads the exposure rather than concentrating it on one unlucky figure.
If something does come apart, it is usually fixable at home and worth trying before you write the piece off. We have written that up separately in the repair guide, and the longer term storage side is covered in the storage guide. If a kit arrives damaged, get in touch rather than improvising: for minor damage we will usually send replacement parts instead of asking for the whole kit back. Our refund policy has the detail, and you can reach us through the contact page.
FAQ
What is the best way to display small figures and chibis?
Lift them. A riser, a small plinth, or a shadow box of their own. On a flat shelf next to 1/8 pieces they read as clutter, and raised by five centimetres they read as deliberate.
How do I stop a shelf looking cluttered?
Fewer figures per shelf, and one organising principle rather than two. Sorting by height with gaps between pieces fixes most crowded shelves without buying anything.
Is sunlight really a problem, or is that overstated?
It is real, but it is slow. You will not see a change in a month. Over a few years of direct afternoon sun you will see yellowing on light resin and uneven fading on paint, and neither reverses.
What lighting works best?
LED, warm or neutral white, angled from the front rather than straight down. Front lighting keeps faces readable. Avoid anything that gets warm to the touch, especially inside a closed cabinet.
Do I need a sealed case to keep dust off?
No, but it changes how often you clean rather than whether you clean. Open shelves need a brush every few weeks. A glazed cabinet turns that into a few times a year.
Can I mix figures with books and other decor?
Yes, and it usually looks better than a wall of figures alone. Give each group its own zone rather than interleaving, and keep plants off the same shelf, since watering and resin do not mix.
What should I put behind a figure?
A matte solid colour. Black for light paint schemes, light grey or white for dark ones. Gloss and pattern both compete with the figure.
The short version
- Size your display for the largest kit you expect to own, not the average one.
- Risers are the cheapest meaningful upgrade to a display you already have.
- Enclosed display trades money and flexibility for a large reduction in cleaning.
- Direct sun and nearby heat are the only two things that cause permanent damage.
- LED only, lit from the front, especially inside a cabinet.
- Leave gaps. Negative space is free and it makes everything look better.
The thing I did not expect when we started shipping these is how many people send us photos of the shelf rather than the figure. Not a close up of the paintwork, the whole shelf, with the lamp and the books and the cat halfway out of frame. That is the actual finished product, I think. The kit is just the part we had a hand in.
— Nyx
