An Old Project That Needed a Repair

[J.A.F.E.]

I built this display for a competition (won the blue ribbon too!) some years ago and it's been sitting around since. Literally sitting around and I decided to hang it. It's gotten a bit kicked around and the acrylic in the window got pushed in. I intentionally used a sift mounting system when it was built as I wanted it to push out rather than break since it would have to travel some to the venue and back. But now I didn't like the look of the acrylic pushed back so decided to fix it and figured since I would have it apart I'd bore anyone gullible enough to open the thread to tears.

The main part is built from MDF with some framework or support structures made from wood and a little Masonite faced foam core. It took about 60 hours over three weeks and about another 20 hours to round up the watches, Derringer, and other stuff. I don't know how much it weighs but it is heavy.

This is the project. It was supposed to look like a gamblers safe from the old west about 1860 or so that had the door blown open.



Close up of the acrylic pushed back.



The problem was the flexible points I used. The acrylic pushed in and couldn't return.



All fixed



The block is the mounting point for the hangars.



Details of some of the interior construction.





The tan/white blocks are Masonite faced foam core. A thin Masonite sheet about 0.080 on either side with about 1/2 of foam. The foam is denser than regular arts and crafts type foam core. It is quite rigid and very stable. The blocks support the interior - there's another photo showing that later.



I put some nails in to supplement the flex points to prevent this from happening. I really don't want to open this again unless it's to take it apart. This project took about 3 hours but the photos slowed it down a little. I had to push them by hand I couldn't fit the nail tool in and my nail gun sunk them too deep to be of use.



More to come in next post.

[J.A.F.E.]

The interior. The shell is made from Masonite faced foam core with an outer layer of regular foam core and an interior of suede matboard.



The canvas sack is a real money bag. Unfortunately it does not contain real gold coins. Or any coins. It's full of plastic poker chips about 7 boxes worth. The photo I bought online but aside from it being of the approximate period I know nothing else about it. The ledger was new and got a quick antiquing treatment. The Derringer is not a functional gun it was designed to shoot blanks.



The pocket watches I bought online in a lot and the rest was just gathered from wherever. The cards, accordian folder and papers were just tossed in for some authenticity. The shelf/drawer I made from some wood I had laying around. The gold nuggets are iron pyrite - fools gold. When the little crystals are chipped off and made into jewelry it's called Marcasite.



A really blurry pic of the three layer construction. I painted the edge black because.



The side and back of the shell. The linen tape is just to reinforce everything. The back has an extra layer of the Masonite faced foam core.





More in the next post.

[J.A.F.E.]

Shell in place showing the support pieces to hold it.



Detail of inner frame to hold shell.



1st layer of Masonite back panel. It holds the shell and protects the rear of the shell. I used brads to hold it in place. I used the frame driver to install the brads except around the blocks where it didn't open wide enough and I had to push them in by hand.









Second layer of Masonite. Mostly just filler and to protect the back. The awls are just to index the screw holes.



Foam core layer just to fill the back. You can see some battlescars in it and that's why all the Masonite.



I didn't have any new papaer for the dust cover so I reused the old one and sealed it with aluminum tape. The piece in the field patches a hole. If I can snag some new paper I'll replace this mess.



And the final repair.

[oldnslo]

Hoooooooooooooooly smokes!!! Now that is nice.

 

[J.A.F.E.]

Thanks OnS!

[bonneyman]

It shows alot of creativity and genuine workmanship, Steve! 

[DeadNutz]

That must of been a heck of a competition to go to that much time, effort, expense and work to win the blue ribbon. What I've seen of your work you do museum quality stuff. You've got great imagination along with the needed skills to pull it off.

[hickory n Steel]

That is very darn cool right there, thanks for sharing.

[fatfillup]

That is cool Steve, lot if time, effort and creativity plus attention to detail.

 One might say you have out of this world talent

[coolmercury]

Wow, a fine project if I have even seen one!!!

[goodfellow]

Great work Steve! Very well executed.

[J.A.F.E.]

Thanks guys I had the bag and that sort of inspired the rest.

In practice the coin bags are sewn together at the top but tying it up made it look more old west to me. A $20 gold piece weighs in at almost an ounce and 1000 of them would weigh about 60 pounds making the bag pretty heavy and hard to pick up and toss around like in the movies. So I did take liberties.

[DeadNutz]

I could of loaned you the gold pieces to fill the bag.

I showed the wife the frame driver and now she wants one.

[J.A.F.E.]

Heres some links from fancy to basic like mine.

https://www.amazon.com/Logan-Pro-Framing-F400-1-Fitting-Tool/dp/B0009ILFBG

https://www.unitedmfrs.com/Frame_Mate_p/f07200.htm

https://www.amazon.com/PICTURE-FRAME-PLIERS-PEACHTREE-WOODWORKING/dp/B00153LKU0/ref=rtpb_3?pd_rd_w=jfFlP&pf_rd_p=be844577-fee7-4bbc-8dda-083e56cc6f0d&pf_rd_r=53YEBKSY0EP66MVFMTTV&pd_rd_r=ecd8cd6d-9b76-42bf-aa90-cccbe03c8b1d&pd_rd_wg=aFhz4&pd_rd_i=B00153LKU0&psc=1

[DeadNutz]

Thanks for the links J.A.F.E.