# EA-6B Prowler Retirement Shadow Box



## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

I had a little spare time and a nice stack of 2" thick mohagony shorts just waiting to be used. For some reason I always like resawing boards, I guess it makes me feel like I am getting double the wood....ha.

Anyway, this one is fairly straight forward. My boss retires soon so wanted to get started on his gift. It's the tail of an EA-6B. I used newspaper to draw out my design and a adjustable protractor for the miter cuts. I just made the facing and shaped a little with the router. I boxed in 3" wide stock to get the depth I needed. I still need to rabbet out the back to hold the backing board.

I'm going to hold off on glueing up the top piece of the frame for now. I'd like to have something engraved or carved.

Anway, here's a pic of what an EA-6B looks like for real and my attempt to make a shadow box to resemble the vertical stab of the aircraft. I'll post more as I progress.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

ATTA BOY:thumbsup::thumbsup:. He'll enjoy this custom themed shadowbox.

Have a Blessed day in Jesus,
Tim


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## Warnock (Apr 4, 2011)

I hope you are trying to copy the vertical stabilizer and not the horizontal.

Looks fine at this point, keep the pix coming, always like seeing shadow boxes for our folks in the service.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

Warnock said:


> I hope you are trying to copy the vertical stabilizer and not the horizontal.
> 
> That's because I have a bad connecting link between my fingers and the mass between my ears...ha. Good catch, thanks....:no:


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## Warnock (Apr 4, 2011)

Al,

You mentioned you wanted to have something carved/engraved in the top piece - couple of thoughts

Name, Rank, Years of Service

Assignments, Medals, Bases. Tail number of a special aircraft? 

The list goes on, depends on how much room you have in the piece, what you want on there, method of putting the information there.

Just a couple of random thoughts.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

Warnock said:


> The list goes on, depends on how much room you have in the piece, what you want on there, method of putting the information there.
> .


 
I've even thought about cutting out the center of the top piece to hold a flag. Going with carved wings, name, dates, does give me more room inside the box. This one doesn't have a lot of space to work with like others I've done so going to have to drink a lot of cold ones to figure it how...ha. Thanks for your input, keep'm coming.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*A quick update*

Only had a few minutes to work on this one today but able to fit in a piece to make the rudder and turn the small round piece at the back of the stab. The flag will be displayed as the rudder. 

I'll keep the updates coming...


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*Updated Pics*

Here's an update, just need to mount the flag and medals to get this one wrapped up.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

That looks GREAT. Simple is best. Especially when it is very cogent to his career. Too many times people just try too hard to get the shadow boxes too large and to contain too many items.

George


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

So you will not be doing a traditional fold of the flag? Doesn't look like it will fill the area correctly if you do.

Its a beautiful piece. Nice work.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

Here's one of the first aircraft tails I did a few years ago....my skills have evolved a little since then. Anyway, I plan on installing the flag in the EA-6B shadow box like this older one.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*She is finished!!!!*

I am finally getting this one finished up. I'm still undecided on how to display the flag....keep as is with stars and bars showing or change to just stars only. 

I really enjoyed working on this one, I think mostly because the recipient is a true warrior and leader of Sailors....Legion of Merit, couple of Bronze Stars, 8 Air Medals, etc etc. This is the sole reason I make the things I do for people, just a little way to say thanks for their service to our country. Thanks for looking.


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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

My vote is to leave the flag as is. A beautiful piece of work, I'm sure it will be displayed with pride by Capt. McInerney. :thumbsup:


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

I like the butt joints at angle compared to the miters in your older one


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## DarthVader (Oct 1, 2016)

Good Morning I was wondering if you by chance have any drawings or plan designs on how to make one of the Horizontal Stabs shadow box like the F-18? Because I work with the F-35 Lightning II and I would like to make one of these myself to put my patches and coins in. Thanks for your time. Greg


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*F-35 Vertical Tail*



DarthVader said:


> Good Morning I was wondering if you by chance have any drawings or plan designs on how to make one of the Horizontal Stabs shadow box like the F-18? Because I work with the F-35 Lightning II and I would like to make one of these myself to put my patches and coins in. Thanks for your time. Greg



Good morning to you and thank you for your interest. These may look harder to make than they really are. I basically make the facing frame just like a common cabinet frame and then make the depth with boards edge. If you are doing patches and coins only, you can probably get away with just making a 3/4" frame and route out the inside with a 1/2" rabbit bit for the glass to mount against from the inside. I used glazing points to hold the glass in place. For the backing I use 1/4" pressboard and you you can either make flush with a 1/4" rabbit or just mount flush.

Ironically, I just finished up this F-18 tail yesterday. Email me at [email protected] if you have any questions as it may be easier to talk through.


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