 mucker wrote: |
| Did you just cut and glue clear plastic? I like what you've done becuase they're "seamless" and can be viewed from most angles...Please share more on how you built them. |
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The base is a premade shelf designed to be used with brackets you can buy individually. This one is 9.75X23.75 inches. The personel in the store will cut plexiglass to any size requested so I talked to the manager and told him what I wanted. Basically "cut it to fit this board." The acrylic is 1/8" thick so he adds .250 to all dimentions. I have him make it six inches high which results in a 5.250 high interior. He can cut it much more square with his cutter than I can with anything I've tried. I don't have access to the right tools for the job.
After this I use small pieces of blue tape and using the shelf as a jig I assemble the sides around the outside of the shelf, taping the pieces together on the outside and resting the acrylic on the table. I use a glue made by Duco in a green tube. Some kind of general purpose glue it claims to be. The stuff bonds the acrylic well and drys crystal clear. I run a bead along all seams inside the box being careful not to let the product run down and glue the panels to the shelf and let dry for about a half hour. If the cuts are not perfectly square the error will be on the top of the box you have built. This will be the bottom of the box when completed.
After this drys some I remove the box from the shelf/jig set it on the top panel, align the edges so the top is square and run another bead of glue around the inside seam. In an hour the box will be solid.
Once dry I flip the box over and slip it over the shelf to check fit and remove the tape. While in place I use a 1/16" drill and drill four holes through the front and back panels into the shelf about a half inch. Next I use a slightly larger drill and relieve the holes in the acrylic by redrilling just those holes. I use what they are calling furniture nails to hold the top on the base by placing in the holes. To me they are just thumb tacks painted white.
The last thing I do is remove the top, flip the shelf over and apply feet, be it felt or rubber nubs or whatever. So far I've had enough spare laying around I havent had to buy anything. The feet are optional, ofcourse.
The acrylic costs me $16.20 and tax and the board is $4.99. I had the feet and glue but tonight I had to buy a new tube. It's $2.29.
This yields a case that's 10X24. The wonderful thing about it is with the many sizes of shelf board available and the flexibility to have the acrylic cut to any size, there are many possible configurations and sizes possible. I'm going to make one just for one model, a 1/48 SR-71. Paint the base to look like a tarmac and TADA! Instant dio.
Hope this helps.