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Hello Everyone!

I think everyone has asked themselves at one point or another, "how am I going to store/display all these models?" Storage and display needn't be mutually exclusive. Many people opt to toss their work into shoeboxes, cans, tupperware, etc., for ease or lack of a better option. This makes me cringe--all that hard work!

So, I set out to build the best display case I could without breaking the bank. People have any number of opinions on what the best display case is. However, Ikea's DETOLF is without question, the best value of any display on the market. Prove me wrong if you can. Prices vary by country, but let's say around $60 USD. (I live in Japan--everything is more expensive here). For that price you get: a heavy glass case (4 sides, glass), a metal frame, and 3 glass shelves. If you've owned ikea before, you'll know that their stuff is not constructed from the sturdiest of materials. However, as detolf is mostly glass and steel with only 2 flat wood pieces, the quality is somewhat higher than that associated with the brand. The deltof is great... but it's not ideal for our purposes for several reasons. First, it has only 3 shelves with 12 inches between and these are not adjustable. At this point most people would regrettably look for other options. Also, it doesn't come set up for lighting (well, not for efficient lighting). If lighting is to be included, cables can become an eyesore and need to be managed. Lastly, there are gaps around the front door, which could potentially result in dust getting in.

If I could compensate for these shortcomings, I was certain that this would the THE CASE for one and all. So, I tried my best and these are the results of that effort.

Materials you'll need:

-1x Ikea Detolf
-1x Ikea Dioder (4 strips)
-8x Glass shelves (cut to size, exact specs to be posted later) EDIT: 383mm x 286mm
-16x 5mm wire rope clips
-1x package of spiral tubing
-1x package of plastic cable ties
-1x package of weather stripping (adhesive foam backing)
-Blue tack
-Tiny wrench

First you need to assemble the detolf, get someone to help you. Pure comedy if you don't.

Adding shelves:

First, you need to attach your wire rope clips (seen here) to the metal frame. You can choose where you want the new shelves to be, based on what you are displaying.



I would be a good idea to measure and mark of where you want the clips to be. Getting the clips eactly level is a tedious process. 19cm intervals is roughly where I spaced mine.









Some tips: You will have to make adjustments, so don't tighten the nuts all the way yet. The glass will be resting on the nuts, so make sure when you do tighten them fully the tops of the hexagon nuts are level. Measurements are crucial for getting the new-cut shelves right. Not a time to practice guessing ranges. I measured with 3 different tape measures to be as accurate as possible. These clips grip very strongly, so have no fear of weight. Of course, you'll have to measure the dimensions yourself but I do recommend the following: safety glass, polished edges, 5-6mm thick (the stock shelves are 4mm, I think), otherwise the same length and width of the stock shelves to the mm. Go to a glazier and get 8 shelves cut to these specs. Again, be careful to get the sizes right. I can give you the exact L and W in mm that I used, if you want. This is no substatute for measuring it yourself, however. I ordered the glass from a different city and it fit perfectly to the mm.

Adding Lighting:

I wanted to to keep my lighting as unobtrusive as possible, which meant that I had to hide the lights and wires as much as possible. I decided to use the metal frame to conceal both. You could use the hole at the top of the deltof to mount a dome light, but that's inefficient as you'll be lucky to have any light reach the bottom half of the case. Also, you'll have wires sprouting from the top, or at the very least across the inside top. Alternatively, you could mount a dome light to every other glass shelf in the center but it blocks the light from the shelf above and it looks kind of ugly (or at least ruins the all glass effect). I took cable ties and attached a dioder LED strip (very bright, no heat, lasts 25000 hours, 4 pack) to alternating horizontal bars on the frame. I found this pattern gave the best light to all shelves. Another advantage is that they are held tight enough to remain in position, but they can be rotated to change the arc when it suits you to do so. As for the top strip, simple poster tack or blue tack can easily support the weight of an LED strip on the inside top. Later, this strip too will be concealed. Once you have the strips fastened, clip off the excess plastic from the tie.





This one is after some cable management took place.



Cable management:

I used two products for this job: spiral tube and plastic cable ties, seen below.



I choose translucent plastic so the grey metal would help the areas with tubing blend with the parts of the frame that did not. The lighting wires are white. A snazzy alternative would be to spray the frame black before assembly and use black tubing/ties.

Just run the wires along the frame, using the ties and tubing on the bars between the shelves.





Also, use the ties to bundle the wires you'll have at the bottom before tucking them between the bottom and the floor. Clean and neat.





Lastly, while it was not a huge concern for me, and I'll leave it for you to decide how you want to handle it, there is an issue of dust proofing the case. I don't want to go into installing fans for positive airflow or some similar scheme. It seems unlikely that you'll completely eliminate the issue of dust but you should be able to reduce the issue to like...once a year. I have an airbrush now so it'll take all of 2 minutes. I thought I would at least take some measure given the low cost and effort involved.

I used this stuff below.







You may find a better way. As I said, I was not terribly bothered by the idea of occasional dusting.

Here are some pictures of the finished cases.









I really hope this is the push you need to go and undertake a similar project of your own. Feel free to ask questions, I'm here to help.

Good Luck!

That's Awesome!! I heard about this from the posts you made in my topic and I was logging on every 2 hours to see if you had posted it. But now that I see it I had been blown away, It looks really great. Once I get enough money I'll surely use this.
Can you provide a picture of the armies displayed inside the case, Just so I can get a Idea of the lighting.

Great work, best of luck on future projects,

Maximus Prime

Thats just brilliant! Thanks for the tutorial its really clever and looks great . Going to try to add more shelves and dust protections

That looks fantastic. God I wish there was an Ikea near me.

Great tutorial! Very clean, nice looking display. Now show us your army that occupies it!

Nice work! The lack of any significant amount of shelving in those cases always turned me off them, but I never really put much thought into how to fix that problem. Did you consider using battery powered LEDs to eliminate any cords?

One thing I'd like to chime in on is that similar cases may be able to be found cheaper if you can find a store by the name of Jysk. They're nowhere near as easy to find as Ikea (not even sure if they've made it to the US yet), but they're pretty much a discount Ikea clone.

This is awesome. Would you mind converting this to an article?

Really great! Thanks for sharing!

This would make an excellent addition to the Articles section of the forum, too.

This is a great article; really good stuff.

I recently saw someone's posting of this display here on Dakka and thought it was a good impulse buy upon receipt of my tax return, but was concerned about the lighting and gaps. Now it looks like a more feasible purchase!

Thanks!

Great stuff! Been waiting for this since you mentioned posting in that other thread, as well. I wasn't expecting nearly this thorough of a mod, so I'm all the more impressed!

I've been planning on getting DETOLF shelving after the move since I found out it existed. I'd agree 100%, having some experience with IKEA quality, that it's the best value, if not the best shelf.

My biggest question is on the price point - how much did the materials for your modifications cost? Being in Japan and all, a hard number for the rest of us will probably be skewed, but how about relative to the shelf, itself? Unless floor space is a serious issue, I would want to know if modding one shelf would cost as much or more/less than simply buying a second one. Hardware is cheap enough, but I have no experience getting custom-cut glass and those little things add up over a build.

Hmmm... I may try this!

Very nice. Thinking about doing this for myself. What do you think about using acrylic shelves instead of glass? Also, why did you specify 8 shelves? Doesn't the case already come with 3 + floor? Or did you spec 8 for consistancy?

Hey guys, thanks for all the praise. I’m just happy to contribute something people are finding so helpful 

@ MaximusPrime—When I left home to seek my fortune abroad, I was forced to leave behind everything hobby related. All my models and supplies are in boxes in my home country. These shelves represent the last step in my plan to get my hobby up and running in Japan. Over the next several months I will be filling these cases with my space wolves, tau, and 8 oop confrontation metal armies. Unfortunately, at present, I have no models I can use to show you how the lighting works. However, I can wait until dark and fill the shelves with my assortment of Vallejo paint bottles—this should give you the insight you are looking for.

@ Navarro—Awesome, you won’t regret it!

@ Ouze—I hear you on that. In Japan, people have made a business by simply living next to an ikea and taking orders from people living in say, rural japan. Then they walk the order into the ikea and place it for delivery to their customers home. Maybe look into that?

@ BloodWulf—Oh, I will. Once I have models painted, I will take pride in putting them on display. I’m not a shabby painter but I has been awhile.

@ Hungryp—I couldn’t find any battery powered strip LEDs in person that matched what I wanted. I did see a couple online that looked like they could have done the job. Ikea had the LEDs used in this tutorial on sale, so that pretty much sealed the deal.

About Jysk: nice find. I looked VERY thoroughly online to find the ideal case, settling on the detolf. The Jysk Seja is a close second for 3 reasons: first, the seja is smaller than the detolf, being 37 x 35 x 156cm while the detolf is 43 x 37 x 163. Second, the seja is more expensive than the detolf, seja retails for $79.96 before tax, while the detolf is $59.99 before tax. Third, as far as I know Jysk is only operating in Canada. Not having seen the Jysk case in person, my knowledge is limited to these details. Still, seja is a good option for those not living near an ikea but close to a jysk. Don’t know if the tutorial could be applied to a seja as the frames may be different. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, it’s a better option than most other cases.

@ malfred, Mannahnin—unfortunately, when I tried to convert it to an article I had the odd error that my internet was offline (it wasn’t). Also, the wiki editor defaults to Japanese so I can’t read it. If its possible and not a burden, please feel free to turn this into an article with my gratitude.

@ MVBradt—thanks, man!

@ Gavin Thone—go for it! I really do feel this is a case everyone in this hobby can afford. In terms of value, this case is a winner.

@ Oadie—hard to say. Japan is the land of no cheap DIY. Materials like glass and wood are insanely expensive and very difficult to source. Also, without a thorough understanding of Japanese I couldn’t even execute an internet seach for a glazier with the efficiency I could in an English speaking country. As a result, took the first deal which was not necessarily the cheapest. In Canada, England, or the US, I’m fairly certain I could purchase the additional shelves for around 10 USD/each or cheaper. In Japan, I did seriously consider other options like the one which you mentioned. Glass is so expensive to get cut here I could have almost bought another detolf for the 3 shelves and tossed the rest. But that would have been so wasteful! And shipping… Also, weight could be an issue—as we agree on ikea quality, there is a concession they made in the quality of the glass shelves. They are 4mm and on the site they specify 6kg as the max load. The shelves I got cut are of much finer quality and at 5mm they seem much sturdier. The other materials were inexpensive—wire rope grips 59 cents, weather stripping/spiral tube/ties all totaled less than $8

@SlavetoDarkness—you owe it to your models, lol! It is scientifically proven that models stored in such a manner win more games.

@Ifurita—Acrylic shelves are certainly an option. I looked into it myself before buying the glass shelves. In terms of price acrylic was about about half the price of the glass shelves. The problem you may run into is that you will need to arrange the cuts on a large piece of acrylic rather than buying 4x small pieces to cut from. On a large sheet there will most likely be significant waste (you may reclaim some of the waste to make risers for character models ; ) ) If you can’t find a sheet big enough to get the cuts from (I needed 8 and couldn’t find a big enough piece) you’ll need to purchase another sheet and thus, increasing the expense. Also, acrylic tends to bend and warp to varying degrees based on load or possible temperature (?) I did handle some thicker pieces and the bending may be negligible. Ahhh…8 shelves…I did 2 cases at the same time. You’ll only need 4 per case.

Well it only needs one more thing: pics of miniatures in the case!

Fantastic. Pretty and Practical!

Nice article on something a bit different but still related to the hobby

Mrs Flashman would never tolerate a display cabinet that big, but maybe something smaller...

Thanks for the response. I figured it'd be hard to judge, but I thought there'd be no harm in asking. Guess I'll just source prices myself, if I ever get around to doing something like this. I would've had to anyway, to actually buy the stuff, so no real loss!

Nice work. Im going to pick up my Detolfs tomorrow. I may use some of these improvements. Im not sure Ill need the extra shelves, for a while anyways. The lighting and dust sealing may be done right off though.


For anyone considering having these shipped from Ikea...beware, they are heavy and the costs are huge. Ikea wanted almost $100 (US) to ship them to me. Since the closest Ikea to me is just over an hour away I decided to just drive and buy them in person.

bookmarked for my own use! this is awesome. Thanks!

Converted to an article. Thanks for this!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Customizing_a_Glass_Display_Case_by_AesSedai

haha pretty good job frend...

@ Malfred--you are most welcome! Thanks for converting it to an article

Ouze wrote:That looks fantastic. God I wish there was an Ikea near me.

Since I posted this, I got 5 PM's indicating Ikea has online shopping. I'm aware of that. That's not feasible.



That's one shelving unit. AesSedai's suggestion is maybe workable.

I just picked up the unit and the Dioder kit yesterday. Now to pick up the other accessories and find a source for the glass or acrylic ... though I'm tempted to visit TAP plastics for the acrylic.

How much did the extra glass shelves set you back? TAP Plastics, who does cut to fit acrylic can do 4 1/4" thick pieces at that L x W for $44.

Japan DIY product prices are no indication of how much custom cut glass is in America. It will be much cheaper in the U.S.

The price for the acrylic pieces sounds reasonable. I'm assuming they will polish the edges too, right? Otherwise they would look out of place. I would probably pay the 5-6 dollars more for glass, but that's just my taste. You could certainly pull of a nice looking case with acrylic instead.

ooooh I am sooo stoked. I'm going with a friend to Chicago in 2 weeks, and guess what is 6 miles from our destination but... an Ikea!

I'm so getting up on this.

Do you guys think acrylic is likely to warp over time, if anyone would have a definitive answer?

I think it's a question of model weight, distribution, and shelf thickness. Not definitive, but when I held a piece of acrylic I was considering buying...well, I was satisfied that it could do the job. I still bought glass though.

I'm going to fly to you.

Then I am going to have sex with your face.

AWESOME.

I may have missed it, but what was the total cost for you all in?

EDIT - 40 quid from IKEA UK. Really doesn't break the bank!

awesome job. I have two of these and was trying to find a way to add some more shelves. next time I am at the hardware store I will look for the clips you used. nice job.