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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Glass display cabinet


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Hey folks,

I'm looking for some feedback and/or direction.  The point being, I lack a decent display case. 

My goals are:  At least 24" DEEP to accommodate the big stuff. 36-48" WIDE for those big wings, and I'd say 72" or even a bit more HIGH.

I'd love to know what y'all did. I'll probably look for one or two now, and maybe more down the line. 

Ideas? 

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If you don't mind doing some design work, this stuff is very handy - and there are all kinds of off-the-shelf components to go with it. It comes in natural aluminum or black anodized. I help high school students design and build robots, and we use lots of it. It cuts very nicely with a carbide blade in a power miter saw.

https://8020.net/45-series?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIscnDiZ6n4wIVlLjACh34wQdTEAAYASAAEgIn9PD_BwE

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You got any woodworking experience, Ernie?  The biggest problem is the massive depth you need.  It's hard to find much deeper than 16 inches.

Another building option would be square aluminum tubing held together with brackets and rivets.  My bench was built that way.  Light, sturdy, and not too expensive.  I wouldn't be so bold as to claim it's perfectly square.  I riveted casters to the bottom, and I can model anywhere.

And what's your decor like?  Louis Lamour?  Andy Warhol?  Pine?  Oak?  Maple?  Big fan of natural pine myself.  Maple is heavy as hell.  Do you need glass or can you live with acrylic?

I live on another continent...  so my help is of very little value.  But you can probably build one from stuff found at Lowes.

 

Cheers!

 

Gaz

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We definitely have a western themed country look in our home. My wife is 100% in charge of that, and she’s a born and raised country girl. Our house isn’t big by US standards either, but is comfortable for the two of us and the occasional guests. 

Thanks for the ideas. I’ll look into it here. I know there’s plenty of people who have B-17s and such in cases, so I thought maybe there was something out there.  

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Clunk, I work in custom cabinetry for a living, your only option might be a special design.

Prepare for a $1,500 per running foot cost for this type of work.

Ryan

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Don't forget too you have potentially hidden space in walls, By recessing the cab into the wall it wont look as menacing!

I had an idea to turn a spare bedroom closet into a space to insert one such cabinet.

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Ernie,

I have been contemplating this question for over a year, my only conclusion is to build it myself. I looked at many types of displays, commercial and home, nothing is deep enough for even a B-25 in 1/32.

The problem becomes tempered glass shelving (if that's what you want), it becomes extremely expensive. I got quoted $400 per 28 x 42" single shelf. so 5 of them would cost me $2K, and that's not including anything else. 

The solution I came up with was to use existing cheap furniture from Ikea. You can get a tower cabinet with four 60" glass panels for $60. There is no way you can buy that glass alone for anywhere near that price. 

You build the front and sides of your cabinet in wood and use the glass panels, then maybe use parts of other furniture for the shelves. Custom is the best option I found.

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Another option is to use wood framed glass shelves with 1/4" glass, if you used a center stile or rail or even a checkerboard look that could keep cost down.

Or even go with solid ply shelves and then spotlight LED for lighting, not ideal, but if trying to cut corners.....

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You don’t really need expensive tempered glass for the shelves : the kits are bulky, but not that heavy, like, say, the books in a standard book-shelf. Maybe you can even use perspex (but static electricity will attract dust better than a magnet with pins) and of course, there is the option of solid wood for the shelves themselves ...

Hubert

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5 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

We definitely have a western themed country look in our home. My wife is 100% in charge of that, and she’s a born and raised country girl. Our house isn’t big by US standards either, but is comfortable for the two of us and the occasional guests. 

Thanks for the ideas. I’ll look into it here. I know there’s plenty of people who have B-17s and such in cases, so I thought maybe there was something out there.  

I understand the country motif, Ernie - my cousin has an old Victorian home decorated appropriately. Except for the study, which is done in early Roddenberry.

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I built mine, about the same size Ernie mentioned too.  Should have gone about 3" or 4" deeper though.  Big B-24 won't fit!   But it was a project that I planned and saved sheet glass from work for years.  I expected about to spend $1000, cost $2000+.  Glass was the shocker.  I got quotes for the doors, but what they forgot to mention (nor did I think about it) was the cost to transport and install.  That added another $200-$250.  I had no way to transport to huge sliding doors.

I did design it where it is tall enough to roll through a standard doorway so one day when either I move, or die, the family can donate it.

I built mine using Red Oak from Lowe's and cabinet grade ply from them as well.  I will say, it ventured me into another hobby, wood working.  It's currently filled with a mix of my build models and diecast cars.  Eventually I'll build more cases for the cars and get them out so I have more room for the airplanes.  

One thing I did do was design my shelves with a metal frame so I don't have to depend on the strength of the glass since each shelf is 42" wide by roughly 22" deep.  I'm using standard 3/16" glass.

Here's the bare woodwork after I stained and cleared it. The back openings were filled with Masonite board and then covered with two huge bathroom mirrors we took out during the remodel of our master bath and the kids bath upstairs.  Wife thought I had lost my mind when I showed my excitement upon discovering mirrors were exact same size.  She had no idea the trouble she was in for.

k3vFn9.jpg

Here's a 1/48 C-130 I taped up just to see if it would fit.  It did!

jl6zHE.jpg

If you look closely, you might be able to make out the metal frames I welded up using the standard 18" shelf brackets.

yU13nm.jpg

You can see some of my diecast cars I need to get out of there.

OK, you can't see the brackets. But they are an I---------I (H) shape,  to support the glass.

FYI, each shelf costs me about $110 (or more now, glass keeps going up, up and up in price) for glass, brackets and the metal tubing I weld together. I made a jig out of plywood to weld up everything. 

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2 hours ago, Bill_S said:

I understand the country motif, Ernie - my cousin has an old Victorian home decorated appropriately. Except for the study, which is done in early Roddenberry.

Something like this?

IMG_20190710_045447.thumb.jpg.be4eceea2c666ebf663a73d5828cdcf2.jpg

But in all seriousness...

Look into custom acrylic Ernie. Such as Aquarium businesses local to you, that manufacture custom fish tanks and the like. Acrylic is much lighter than glass, and they can do much thinner sheeting than usual for a 300 - 500 gallon tank, as it doesn't need to hold any water.

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I found these Guys in San Antonio after a quick search Ern. Not an endorsement in any way, but just to give you an idea.

IMG_20190710_050630.thumb.jpg.178a749bc193abc3194314930f8e5e0e.jpg

My Wife keeps an 80 gallon tropical Reef, she want to upgrade to double that size and have it built in if possible... I say it's not happening. We do a 30 gallon water change every two weeks, I can't imagine how to accomplish that with the tank embedded in an internal wall.

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