Model Forum / General / Models / January 2006

Try looking in your phone book for
a retail store fixture supplier

They have all sorts of odd size and
types of display units from acrylic
boxes to whole glass cabinets and shelves

Sometimes they even have used stuff cheap

There is a company " IMEX" that makes acryllic display boxes.  Clear sides
and top, black plastic base. Should keep project protected and free from
dust.  Hobby Lobby carries them.  They run about 8 bucks when HL runs the
half price sale.
HTH
BA

Buy an aquarium in Germany

I see that you've ruled out building one, but maybe that is your best shot
considering the transport and time constraints you're up against. You can
carry it flat and assemble it on site in Germany - so that's a plus. Just
try for something simple, you or the recipient of the MiG can always replace
it with a better cover later. I take it that this is a gift for the relative
of  your gal-pal that took you out to see the MiG?

I'm nobody's carpenter and my brother isn't much better.  He discovered one
night around 7pm that his daughter owed the science teacher at her school a
class project that she had volunteered her father into making - he needed to
build a bug box and it was due the very next morning!  He rushes down to
Lowes (home improvement store) and picks up half a sheet of remnant
plexiglass, a couple of lengths of lumber, some finish molding, nails and
the rest of the hardware one needs to fashion a bug box - which is more  or
less  a shadow box with a hinged plexiglass lid.  He gathers it all up and
races over to my house where I've got a miter saw and table saw fired up
taking care of  some home improvement work of  my own.

The trickiest part was cutting the plexiglass on the table saw - only
because we had never done it before and didn't know what to expect. It was a
simple straight cut and it  cut fine. Once he got passed that it was just a
matter of framing up a box - which you wouldn't need to do because you'll
use a flat base. Next he trimmed the edge of the plexiglass cover with
mitered strips of molding and nailed it all together. Given some more time
we could have gotten fancy with a bit of routing and bevelling here and
there, but he was in a bind and time  was running short.  He slapped on some
hinges, a catch and a carry handle and the job was done.  All and all, his
first attempt yielded professional looking results. It took about two hours,
but he was making it up as he went. With a little forethought and maybe a
basic design to go by, probably around one hour if he had to make a second
one. It turned out well enough that I  was encouraged enough to put my first
custom model display on the To-Do list for some time after I wrap up my
current home repair projects.  I'm going to build a large one with a frame
and a smaller one without a frame to test the bevel feature on my table saw.

As for your plight, if you have access to a store that carries plexiglass,
you can most likely get them to cut it down to size and possibly on size
into the five individual pieces you're going to need for a model display.
That might take a little wallet grease though.

Because you're not trying to join the plexiglass panels directly with a
slick bevel joint or something fancy, it's a straightforward matter of
covering the joints with the properly mitered strips of molding.   If you
have decent mitering skills and tools you should be OK.  Just pre-cut,
pre-drill and prefit all the pieces ahead of time for easier assembly once
you get to your destination.  If you don't have the skill or tools to build
your own, your other options should be fairly well known to you by now.

Best of luck with whichever path you  choose.

WmB