Sega Saturn store banner: a cheap frame for it?

[ifkz]

Sorry in advance for the long post, here we go.  I have always wanted to get into collecting some of the retail promotional material that game makers sent retailers back in the day:  Kiosks, standees, posters, things like that.  This week I added to my handful of items I own:  a large, vintage, store display for the Sega Saturn made around launch time for the system.  It uses the same image found in some of the early magazine ads for the system.  I am, of course, a fan of the Saturn.

Now that I have it in hand, and after some emails from the seller I have gathered an history for it:  It is a translite material, approximately 25" x 55" and, my guess is Sega's 1994 pinball division might have made these for retailers (only a guess, no part numbers on it).  It was hung in my hometown, at a major retailer, until a 'reset' of the area at the Dreamcast launch in 1999 (yes, I am being purposefully vague).  Sega's guys (like Nintendo's guys that are responsible for this stuff) never cared much to pick it up, and it was giving to an employee at trash day, who gave it to a friend, and now I have it.  It has gotten more fragile and I think it is ready for a frame of some sort.

Is there any kind of create-a-frame option on the web?  The local options of Hobby Lobby and Micheal's want into the three figures because it is so large.  Something as cheap as a cardboard backing, thin plastic on the front with a slide-on frames would be good enough.

Ideas?

[pdiggitydogg]

Make your own.
You can buy the supplies at either home depot or a craft store. A $15 mitre box for the cuts, sharp razor knife to score the plastic or glass cutter for glass. Some trim nails or wppd glue. Done. Would cost you maybe $50 if you had no tools at all.

You can also buy poster frame kits...that you also cut.

There are several online frame stores, but I don't believe the images they show are very accurate.

[Necromancer]

The 55" length is the problem.  Most home supply places don't carry glass anywhere near that big, and a sheet of acrylic or polycarbonate will run ~$100 (48x96).

[xelement5x]

Yeah, that is a huge banner.  Like necro said it seems like the plastic/glass will be the hard part to source cheaply.  Does is have grommets on it already?  It may just be easiest to hang.

[ifkz]

It has holes but nothing reinforcing them.  When it was taken down during the reset, no care was given and some of these holes have been ripped.

I went to the local Ikea and found nothing near the 55 inch size.  Some of the larger pictures were near the correct size, and I thought about trying to re-purpose one, but none of those had plastic or glass fronts (canvas stretched and stapled over a frame).  Right now I am letting it flatten under its own weight on the floor (I think pretty safe given the age of this plastic).

[pdiggitydogg]

Whoops. I didnt catch the size! Yeah, that's troublesome.
Try a hardware store for single pane glass for a storm door? It will be thicker, but possibly affordable. Also checkout McMaster Carr online to see what they may have for poly

[Necromancer]

If you just want something to keep off the dust bunnies, you could try a roll of cheap acetate.  It's thin and would probably bow if loose laid in the frame, but it should stay flat if stretched and stapled down.

[xelement5x]

Or, maybe come up with some way to display it as a cylinder wrapping around.  That could be kind of cool.

If I did my maths right it would be only be like 1.5 feet diameter cylinder that way, plus the 25" tall.

[Necromancer]

That's a pretty good idea. 

Glue it to a piece of sonotube (cylindrical cardboard forms), mount a pendant light inside the tube, and hang it from the ceiling like a kick ass chandelier.