CONSTRUCTING A CASE LINER

The interior of our club case is 47" wide by 23" tall by 23 1/2" deep. The sides have hinges on both the top and bottom that take up about a 1/8" radius, so when constructing a liner you have to allow extra clearance for these areas. Here are the final dimensions I used:

Back	46 5/8" x 22 11/16"	1 piece
Sides	22 11/16" square	2 pieces
Bottom	45 11/16" x 22 5/8"	1 piece
Middle Riser	45 11/16" x 16 5/8"	3 pieces
Top Riser	45 11/16" x 9 1/8"	3 pieces

The liner board is 1/2" pink Foamular insulation board available at Home Depot. You will need two pieces if you wish to do risers as well as the liner. You can vary the dimensions of your risers to obtain any shelf width you need. Mine are for a 6" bottom shelf, a 7 1/2" middle shelf and 9 1/8" top shelf This arrangement is for large specimens in the back and small specimens in the front. When cutting your risers, it is best to layout your material where your factory edges are facing front. You should also layout where the pink side is facing the inside of the case, not the printed side which could show through your fabric.

To cut the Foarnular, first pull off the plastic. You can use a circular or jig saw, or if you have a little more patience, you can use a straight edge (a good straight board will do) and a razor knife. Cut by plunging the knife into the material over and over again. If you pull the knife across the Foamular, it can pick it and cause rough edges. If your Foamular is warped, try to layout your sides where the edges bend away from the inside of the case. This is the one major mistake I had in my project. You could also eliminate this problem of your sides leaning in at the top by cutting the height a little taller on the edge towards the front of the case so it wedges in at the front.

I used 4 yards of fabric and about 50 less straight pins than I should have. The fabric I selected was a light cream. The pink just shows through, resulting in a soft coral. Be sure your fabric doesn't have any lines in the weave (unless you wish to take the time to pin it square to your liner) and is thick enough not to let the foam show through. Just lay the fabric over the foam and cut with enough extra material to pin to the back of the foam. On the bottom and middle risers, you can save fabric by only covering the top part that shows. You can make any kind of risers you like to customize your case to the materials you want to display.

This is a very easy project that can be done with non-mechanized tools that you probably have around the house. The results add tremendously to the eye appeal of your case. Good Luck!