repurposing an Old Ikea Billy bookcase for my minis

[italwars]

Hello
Sorry if years ago i asked partially the same questions...but it was for a project that had been abandoned and now i'm ready to revamp it as i finally find somebody, an electrician, that would help me.
as title anticipates i'm looking for suggestions and tips for a display cabinet at a budget by converting an old Ikea Billy Bookcase providing it with glass shelves and doors plus lighting…please tell me your experience, if any, about:

- suggested distance between shelves in order to be able to
field 28mm wargame units, various periods, including
cavalry and also be able to reach them easily but, at the
same time, exploiting the maximum possible space.

- Light..i ll probably buy led stripes but where to place
them? .only on tob of the bookcase or under each shelf (but
the' ll be glass ones)..do i need to mask
them?..and,lastly, but very important, from wich position should the light
come..from behind, from the front, or midway?

Many thanks in adavance for your eventual suggestions and for your patience

[majorsmith]

You can buy glass cabinet doors to fit the Billy bookcases from ikea, I used usb chargeable magnetic lights in mine

[italwars]

 Many thanks MajorSmith it’s very similar to what I plan to do..Glass doors already bought
:-)
From what I can detect on your picture you sticked adhesive lights strips only to the wooden shelves and left without the glass ones ..the light seem sufficient ..I suppose it would have been difficult to stick them also on the glass shelves..by the way which is, more or less, the distance between the shelves dedicated to your 28mm minis? Maybe about 20cm?
Thanks again 

[rct75001]

A number of years ago I bought small warm white flouro tubes and put one in the top of each.  I have glass shelves.  Only problem is that when the shelves are full , not much light gets to the lower shelves.

I have seen and will be getting soon, thin LED strips (again in warm white) that I will put either inside the door on the wooden frame closet to hinges - or on the sides close to the door and run these the vertical length of the Billy.  I have seen them in rolls that can be cut to fit.

 

[majorsmith]

I haven’t stuck the lights on the glass , but I can’t see it as being a problem as the magnetic strip is very good on the ones I have, also the bigger the shelf the bigger the strip is needed, I’ve just got some more glass shelves, and one light dies a nice job on two shelves as below

[Gibby]

And you built this one upright!

[majorsmith]

Haha yes! Bloody photos!

[flatpack]

I too have gone for white billy bookcases.
I bought the glass doors.
I had to go back for more shelving.

My bit in this conversation covers how to load figures onto the shelves.
I use cheap metal baking trays.

The figures can be positioned on the tray, then slid onto the shelf.
You want the figures out, just remove the baking tray and offer to the table

Here are a couple of pictures showing 15mm ww2 western desert kit, loaded on a baking tray, and extra vehicles positioned in front of the tray.







Hope this helps.

[italwars]

I haven’t stuck the lights on the glass , but I can’t see it as being a problem as the magnetic strip is very good on the ones I have, also the bigger the shelf the bigger the strip is needed, I’ve just got some more glass shelves, and one light dies a nice job on two shelves as below

 Nice rendering...it seems that you just used a USB charged light..so no need of wires, holes, transformer
i don't know which is the scale of your minis ..but, in case they are 28mm, which is the distance between shelves?

thanks

[majorsmith]

Okay so these are all 28s, there’s a few 54s on the top shelf… in these pics two glass shelves , the top one has a space of 19cms above it, the next glass shelf down has a gap of 13cm and the bottom one 14cm, hope that helps

[italwars]

Thanks to everybody...all kind and dedicated suggestions
the fact that a stripe of led from the top  could, quite sufficiently, light up trough a pair of glass shelves it's a good news..i should only decide if a pair of wood shelves mixed with  glass ones would be sightly, cause that solution would be, for me,  certainly, also assle free.