So I ran across
these, which would streamline this project quite a bit, though there would be some drawbacks. The most noticeable one for a lot of people would be the frame edges along the side, which would impede a clear unobstructed view of the object inside at those corner angles.
For me, I wouldn't mind. There are other considerations I have that are paramount, and those frame edges would be essential to facilitating those other things.
One positive is that each $60 pack comes with two frames. Since mine is going into a corner, I was looking forward to needing only the front and one side to be clear. But even if I changed my mind and made it clear all around, 2 orders with four frames still comes to under $150 with tax. Then it's just a matter of crafting a simple top and base, which could be almost anything, but would most likely be thin MDF board.
For my project, budget is a consideration, but more so is being able to craft exactly what I need/want. As well as being able to do so with a limited set of tools. I wish I had a woodworking shop in the garage, but I'm stuck with hand saws and a miter box along with other basic tools.
* Ease of disassembly and compactness when it is disassembled is primary for me.
* Next to that, I want something that is going to be as secure and as airtight as I can make it to prevent tiny pests from working their way inside.
Those two things are almost incompatible requirements, but I think rare earth magnets, embedded along the inside edges, will provide a reasonably tight, secure connection that should keep the structure stable. Making it pest-proof after that will require some finesse with something like weather striping along the interior seams. I feel like that should well. if not entirely perfect.
Helping keep a structure that is made up of independent, single panels, upright and not falling in on itself (and hitting the object inside) will be the base and the top which will both have lips abutting those frame panels. That can be achieved with something as simple as using square wood dowels on thin sheets of MDF board.
That top and bottom frame edge could also provide a surface to implant some round dowels to act as keys for holes drilled into the base and top. That would obviously be even more secure than relying on lips, though it might make disassembly hairier.