Illuminated Shadowboxes for your Props

Delmustator

Sr Member
Most of my props are inside shadowboxes on my walls. It keeps them dust free and takes up no floor space. However, they have no internal lighting and seeing the props can sometimes be difficult depending on the background inside. Well I was roaming my local Michael's Arts and Crafts store and came across new Studio Decor LED illuminated shadowboxes.

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These sell for $110 each, are premium shadowboxes that open in the front (for those who, like me, play with their props).

I've already migrated some of my props into these displays. Here are a few snaps.

The glass reflects very well when taking pics. This is a lit room with lit display.
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Non-lit room and lit display.
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Normal daylight lit room with lit display.
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Sorry for the reflections in the glass. I will take some better pics later. But you get the point.

I took advantage of a "buy one, get one free" special and used a 25% off coupon to get the price down from $110 each to $45 each.

If anyone is interested, the UPC code for these is 8-8694628578-3. You may be able to order them online but I'm not sure about using the store coupons online.
 
That's pretty neat, but $110 seems like a ridiculously steep price for something that could be put together in a weekend at most.
 
That's pretty neat, but $110 seems like a ridiculously steep price for something that could be put together in a weekend at most.

I agree. I wasn't about to pay $110 each for them. That's why I took advantage of the sales. Michael's usually has all their shadowboxes 40% off. But the Buy 1 get 1 free was an even better deal and it's going on now. Add a printed 25% off coupon from the web on the overall purchase and the price was cut significantly to $44. These are really nice cases.

For custom projects, I usually build my own shadowboxes.
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I do like the LEDs they are using and they are plentiful on eBay. So it's easy to add them to custom shadowboxes.
 
Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to go to my local Michael's in the next day or two. Do you, buy chance, know if that is the only size they have available that is lit?
 
Those are nice. as are the guns you have in them. any chance you would tell me a little bit about your two deep sleep gun's?
And that sword case is awesome...
 
Delmustator that is just an awesome display ,I love the setup bro..... I have actually just finished one of my own, had to get that velvet cloth and make my own aluminum posts to stick out and hold my props, hopefully I can get a photo of it this coming weekend to show you, they are not fun to make, I should have went to Michael's...... I wish I would have known that, it would have saved me so much headache.....lol.....You got everything looking fantastic .....
 
is the glass uv coated? I've got a book I'd love to display but worried about fading due to light. Been poking around for a shadow box but haven't found one that says uv protected. Hope yours are.
 
Are these battery powered or plug-in? Also: if they're battery powered, any word on how long they'll last?

Thanks!

They run off a single 9-volt. Since they are not high output LEDs (they look like 3528 SMD LEDs), I would expect them to run a long time on a single battery. If you prefer to power them from an AC outlet, a 12 vdc power supply would be required. The wires have convenient plugs so just unplug the battery case and plug in the AC power.

Example PSU.
HitLights 24 Watt LED Power Supply Driver Transformer, 110 volt AC to 12 volt DC Output - Amazon.com

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to go to my local Michael's in the next day or two. Do you, buy chance, know if that is the only size they have available that is lit?

This is the only size I saw in the store.
 
Those are nice. as are the guns you have in them. any chance you would tell me a little bit about your two deep sleep gun's?
And that sword case is awesome...

Those are both Nicksdad kits. The black is the original MkI with a BlasterCore 3 installed and white muzzle LED. The silver is a MkII with BlasterCore 4 installed, custom side plates with energy level and discharge setting display LEDs. The MkII has a green Luxeon Rebel muzzle LED. Both have my own custom mixed sound fonts. Both are lith-ion powered with recharge ports.

The swords are Blood Katanas in a custom built case. The front is lexan sheet to keep fingers off the blades (they are razor sharpe). Here is another sword display I built a couple years ago.

This is the complete UC Samurai-Ninja 3000 sword set with the United Cutlery Samurai 3000 Katana, Samurai 3000 Tanto, and Samurai Ninja 3000.
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Both sword displays on the wall...
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Delmustator that is just an awesome display ,I love the setup bro..... I have actually just finished one of my own, had to get that velvet cloth and make my own aluminum posts to stick out and hold my props, hopefully I can get a photo of it this coming weekend to show you, they are not fun to make, I should have went to Michael's...... I wish I would have known that, it would have saved me so much headache.....lol.....You got everything looking fantastic .....

Thanks Man! I spend more time looking for the cloth background than it actually took to build the boxes. In the end, it's a trade off of time. Do you have the time to build a custom box or just buy one. I can build one in about 2 hours, any size. I have a trick to making those aluminum pegs as well. Post those pics when you can.
 
is the glass uv coated? I've got a book I'd love to display but worried about fading due to light. Been poking around for a shadow box but haven't found one that says uv protected. Hope yours are.

I wouldn't expect anything short of a museum type display to have UV protection. But it would be rather easy to either replace the glass with a pane that has UV protection or add a sheet of clear UV window film protection on the inside of the glass. I'm not very concerned about UV radiation in the room with these but I can see your point with preserving books, pictures, etc. I would actually be more concerned about the UV put off by florescent lighting. Those lamps put off a lot of UV and I have pictures that have been in my office that show significant degradation and they never see sunlight.
 
Yeah I build a little here and there, nothing as elegant as you are doing but I will PM you this weekend and get your email so I can send you some photos of what I got going on...hehehehehe..... love the way you got those guns laidout , very sweet indeed....Guy
 
Thanks for the background info on the guns. and the swords. your displays are fantastic. definitely got me rethinking my one Hugh shadow box setup..

And if I may ask one last question. the silver sandman gun. is that just polished aluminum or something else? looks cool.....
 
Thanks for the background info on the guns. and the swords. your displays are fantastic. definitely got me rethinking my one Hugh shadow box setup..

And if I may ask one last question. the silver sandman gun. is that just polished aluminum or something else? looks cool.....

One thing to consider if you do a large shadowbox, they can get rather heavy depending on the materials used. So proper mounting into the wall 2x4s is necessary. I use dry lightweight white pine for mine. Once everything is inside, they easily run between 10 to 30 lbs.

Here is another example of a box I built. This one weighed in at about 10 lbs.
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That is the virgin aluminum as the kit comes. My thought was to leave most of it like that and only paint the handles and specific other areas.
 
Hey, just wanted to say thanks for posting this. I just picked two up at my local Michael's. not sure what I'm gonna put in them yet, but for the price (buy 1 get 1 plus 25% off), I couldn't pass them up.

I'd be interested in seeing how you make the pegs you use as well if you feel like sharing.
 
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