Hi to all, Just wanted to get your opinions on this recent shadow box I have just completed, specially, appearance, size "eye view" and most important deceptive base/box......The box needs a few more things such as the side and back panels, and the back light. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Here is the link for the pictures..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11047925@N05/show/

Magia- Very nice work... this looks professional and I'm sure it will hold years of great performances. The only thing I could suggest is a tad bit of scenic work... Maybe som turnbuckles or graphics; however, this is only personal preference.

Good job and thanks for the pictures!

-Bryan

Not bad at all. Looks well constructed, should hold up for quite a while. Table looks great as well.

Looks great!

Bairefoot

Thanks for your response.... My biggest concern is the deceptive part of the illusion... I've been doing magic for so long...that sometimes is hard to view an illusion in the eyes of the audience....and determine what is deceptive and what is not....

Looking at it from a audience point of view it may be more believable if the side panels were removable instead of folding down. This is just my personal thoughts that I would do if it was mine

I was going to make an observation to the negative, but then I saw your other post referring to this as a surrounded "Shadow Box".

Looks good!

Cheers!

Dave, great observation but by having the folded down version increases the load, which would be impossible to hide if the doors were removable. Thanks for your post....

Oh ok, I just took another look at it and I see what your saying.

One thing I would of liked is to have the doors open automatically....i.e. some type of remote controlled....I also need the light to turn on and off by control....any thoughts?

Presumably your assistant can turn the lights on and off... and maybe even operate the doors?

That is an option but I would perfer to have full control...

The light control is the easy part-
https://www.gethandyswitch.com/ver4/index.asp
Sorry about the obnoxious infomercial host.
Doors opening automatically- Personally, I think it is a bad idea. It might make it seem too mechanical. Fall open, maybe.
Just m'thoughts
Gwyd

Gwyd, thanks for that link. This is just perfect.....I will definitely purchase this item....

What did you use for the texture on the box frame? Did you paint this or was it something store bought?

Chris, for the frame I used laminate which covered the birch plywood frame. You can special order different colors with different variations of designs from Home Depot. Hope this helps.

That's a well-built box! I have a suggestion however...Now the box continues all the way down to the table though it does look to be on small legs. To separate it more from the table, add some blocks (aluminum maybe) on the corners to separate it from the table visually.

As for the automatic doors, you could use a few small winches on top of the cabinet, but then again that just adds to the cost and there's more stuff to worry about. There is some purely mechanical options for a slow gracefull opening, but they're not obviously remote operated.

Thanks for your recommendations mvmagic. I will put them to the test and see the results.... Now for the mechanical door opener, I'm not familiar (not mechanically inclined) on how it would work or how to make it work. Any suggestions? Thanks again.

You could use strong spring hinges. With the proper strength, they will dampen the door opening (of course its just gravity at work but a door slowly opening does look magical and automatic) and wont close it (as that's what they generally are meant to do).

Of course this works for the opening. In addition to the winches I mentioned, you could have a sort of a lever system which works with linear actuators and that would open and close the doors but that could be cost prohibitive.

The hinges sound like a plan....I will do some search and find out were can I buy such hinges. Thanks again for your help and comments.