OK, I will revive this post from over a year ago. I need desperately to build a glass display case for my 1:48 aircraft. The dust is killing my work. Does anyone have plans they have used to build one or know of an internet site with plans? I have priced them and they are overly expensive. I think it should not be hard to build. Any help from anyone?
I have a guy locally who builds them for me out of acrylic. He charges $20 for 14"x14"x6" cases, and for $20 it isn’t worth my time to try and make one… You might check around yor local area and see if there is anyone who makes plastic displays for stores (I found him in the Yellow Pages under “Plastics”) and see what they can whip up for you.
Yeah, I ordered a free catalogue from a case maker out of FSM and they were indeed beautiful cases, but I nearly fainted when I saw the prices. I would only go this route if it was for a wooden, planked-and-rigged sailing ship that I had lots of $ and time invested in. I wonder if you can get cases in kit form anywhere? With wood base and plexiglass or acrylic top? I have several car-sized styrene cases I got cheap from a belly-up hobby shop ($2 apiece, but $11-13 retail). No way around it, these cases make your model look cheesy. Still, dust is eating my builtups alive, to the point that I’m experimenting with opening and closing canopies. I’ve figured it’s pretty easy to make Squadron vac-form canopies slide with addition of two small pins for the track, but making scale clamshells, especially for something like a Thud, Phantom or F-5/T-38 is, so far, beyond my engineering ability. I’ve even resorted to dunking some models in water to remove dust and letting them air dry. Just make sure you haven’t used white glue and the decals are coated. I’ve yet to find a micro-vac that works at all. Dust is a universal problem for us. Time for some mass R&D by us serious modelers.
How are your carpenter skills? Do you have any wood working tools? When I was young and single, I had a case made to keep my finished models in. Doubt if I could afford it today. It is 6 ft. high, 4 ft. wide and 18 inches deep. It has wood framed, hinged glass doors, and adjustable glass shelves. It shouldn’t be too hard to make for a model builder. A sheet of 4x8 plywood of whatever thickness you want for the back, sides however wide you want for depth. Two strips on the back for adjustable shelf brackets, and 1x2’s to frame out the front. Some molding around the outside if you want to make it fancy. The doors would be the trickiest. Stain and seal, and waala, you have a cabinent. Oh yeah, a light inside to see the models.
You might check to see if there any business closing up where you might get a display case. I got two of them that way and they are great.
Richard
Try this for on the cheap but looks good:
Get a coffee table from a garage sale, or from your significant other when she’s not looking.
Go to a glass store and have them cut the five pieces of glass to the sizes needed to make your case.
Now get some silicone sealant from the hardware store, and some “outside corner” molding to finish the edges.
Silicone seal the glass panels together, and use more sealant to attach the molding to cover the exposed edges. Now your completed case can fit over your models, using the table as the base. More molding along the table edges will keep the glass from slipping off.
This is what I use to make ship display cases, lots of fun and don’t cost much! I’m sure you can modify the idea to work for aircraft.
Enjoy,
Bruce
you cauld try Ikea for some glass cabinets
ive got some for mine from there
Caveman’s got the best idea I’ve heard yet, but you gotta find DEEP cases for us 1/48 builders. A friend of mine built not one, but THREE floor-to-ceiling cases entirely from plexiglass sheet. They were something like 8’x4’x20", and he mostly worked in 1/72 aircraft and 1/700 ships. He got a lot of models in those cases, but they made the room considerably smaller. He just bought great big sheets of acrylic, had them cut to size at the store, and glued them all together with some strong stuff I can’t remember.