Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

More micro-spotlights arrived today. Here they are mostly set up, but I could use some advice. I bought the same kind of spots that I had for the Carbonite wall, and the cool thing about them is they have different brightness levels. Messing around with them a bit -- so it would be helpful if someone could chime in and let me know which looks better. (I also hooked up a couple of the other sets of lights, but those I'm not too concerned about).

Here are all the spotlights at 100%:





And here's the same lights -- Carbonite wall at 100%, and the overheads going across the floor at 50%.




Which looks better???

Here's a shot of the above mess of wires. Believe it or not the black cylinders I'm using for directional lights (and to help create the round spots on the floor are empty toilet paper rolls wrapped in black masking tape -- a resource everyone has access to. I still need to make a box for the final (orange) spot light above Frozen Han, and tape the rolls to the ceiling, but I have to paint the interior of the ceiling before I start gathering up the wires and taping everything down to make it all tidy.

Very cool results. I think the 50% lights work better for the main hall. I hope the toilet paper rolls are in no danger of catching fire from the lights -- check if they get very hot.
I have a new idea about the Carbonite chamber lighting. Keep it as is, but add a second roof slot and light immediately next to the one illuminating the wall on Han's left (our right). This will extend the grid light/shadow pattern on that side, and even if you have a vertical divide in it, that would be fine (like what we see in the film).

That’s an interesting idea, Guv. I’ll give that some thought. I agree about the 50% thing, too, I just needed confirmation.

I really need to get painting on this thing — that’ll have a big impact on the lights.

I think the 50% looks good which micro spots are those mark? looks really good

Thanks, Delanie. These are the ones I got -- two sets with their own power supply and remotes, plus two additional lights:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DW6X9Z8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Definitely chiming in on the 50%...the 100% seems too stark.

Thanks for the vote, young Jedi. It seems to be the consensus, and I agree.

If the whole thing becomes too dark when painted, you can always switch them to 100% as needed. But the extra spot light and slot opening in the carbon chamber immediately next to the one further in would take care of the light/shadow issue there.

I would say 50% to at this stage, but it does all depend on how the final finish on the walls and floors affects the lighting.

It's looking bloody brilliant tough mate, good job.

Paul

Thanks, guys. Before I cut another grate slot, I think I’m going to start laying down a base coat on everything to be able to get a feeling how the light gets affected. I have some larger quantities of paint coming tomorrow, but I can at least paint the ceiling panels today. And I need to mount that last light for the orange spot on the carbonite.

Man, those lights just add so much mood to these shots, even incomplete. Agree with the consensus that 50% still gives you that defined spot light look, but is a bit less harsh.

Thanks, Rev. Appreciate your input, since your dios are beyond amazing so far. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with when the elevator shows up -- that's going to be sweet!!!

On a side note, looks like the majority of my paint won't be here until Thursday -- bummer; but I guess that gives me more time to work on getting the ceiling painted and the light fixtures mounted.

Stryker2011 wrote:Thanks, Rev. Appreciate your input, since your dios are beyond amazing so far. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with when the elevator shows up -- that's going to be sweet!!!

On a side note, looks like the majority of my paint won't be here until Thursday -- bummer; but I guess that gives me more time to work on getting the ceiling painted and the light fixtures mounted.

Ah, thank you man. I think this beast is gonna blow away anything I've done. It's coming together so beautifully, and the craftsmanship alone is beyond impressive. Mine are cobbled together with chewing gum and duct tape in comparison.

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas with that elevator dio (except I don't know the date of Christmas, just that it's soon and will be awesome). I have some really fun photo ideas already, and just can't wait to get in there and start playing around.

I'm sure you feel the same with finishing this Jabba dio! It's going to be a blast to get in there with figures, and get some photos.

ReverendSpooky wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Thanks, Rev. Appreciate your input, since your dios are beyond amazing so far. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with when the elevator shows up -- that's going to be sweet!!!

On a side note, looks like the majority of my paint won't be here until Thursday -- bummer; but I guess that gives me more time to work on getting the ceiling painted and the light fixtures mounted.

Ah, thank you man.  I think this beast is gonna blow away anything I've done.  It's coming together so beautifully, and the craftsmanship alone is beyond impressive.  Mine are cobbled together with chewing gum and duct tape in comparison.

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas with that elevator dio (except I don't know the date of Christmas, just that it's soon and will be awesome).  I have some really fun photo ideas already, and just can't wait to get in there and start playing around.

I'm sure you feel the same with finishing this Jabba dio!  It's going to be a blast to get in there with figures, and get some photos.

Yeah, I hear you. I’m excited to get characters in there. I’ve been thinking about little ways to have them interacting with each other, instead of all just standing around focusing on Jabba. I figured most of them would be focusing on their own conversations and what not, instead of how they mostly just stood in the background watching Jabba — like somehow a virtually immobile character is all that interesting.

Stryker2011 wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Thanks, Rev. Appreciate your input, since your dios are beyond amazing so far. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with when the elevator shows up -- that's going to be sweet!!!

On a side note, looks like the majority of my paint won't be here until Thursday -- bummer; but I guess that gives me more time to work on getting the ceiling painted and the light fixtures mounted.

Ah, thank you man.  I think this beast is gonna blow away anything I've done.  It's coming together so beautifully, and the craftsmanship alone is beyond impressive.  Mine are cobbled together with chewing gum and duct tape in comparison.

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas with that elevator dio (except I don't know the date of Christmas, just that it's soon and will be awesome).  I have some really fun photo ideas already, and just can't wait to get in there and start playing around.

I'm sure you feel the same with finishing this Jabba dio!  It's going to be a blast to get in there with figures, and get some photos.

Yeah, I hear you. I’m excited to get characters in there. I’ve been thinking about little ways to have them interacting with each other, instead of all just standing around focusing on Jabba. I figured most of them would be focusing on their own conversations and what not, instead of how they mostly just stood in the background watching Jabba — like somehow a virtually immobile character is all that interesting.

Totally agreed. I feel like there would be all sorts of intrigue happening in the background. Conniving and shady deals being made. Would be endless fun setting up.

Oh man Great looking diorama and indeed sorry to hear about your migraines.

Thank you, Wolf. Appreciate the kind words and support — looking forward to seeing more of your photo stories.

Spent the last several days painting this behemoth. I started with a practice piece to experiment with "weathering" and that was a dismal failure. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I also tried to experiment on some of the actual pieces, and those too were unsuccessful. So, unfortunately, some of these pieces have far more paint on them then I would have liked (all of which is done with a 1" wide brush). I knew my lack of paint skills would come back to bite me, and I'm starting to regret even starting this damn project.

The following shots were all taken with the garage door open and light coming in. When the door is closed and there is substantially less illumination a lot of the details tend to disappear. Not sure how they are going to look once everything is encased and the lights are very restricted. I had to mix the wall color five different times as I kept running out of paint, and of course, trying to get the same exact color time after time was virtually impossible, so many of the pieces don't even look like they belong in the same environment. I was also trying to match the color, as much as possible to the Sideshow Carbonite walls -- another seemingly impossible task for me. I have a sinking feeling that this entire thing is going to be an expensive waste of time and money...

I can only judge by the photos, but they actually look perfectly fine to me. I'm sure there's going to be some challenge matching the paint mix time and again (do try to remember how much you mixed and of what, obviously), but overall these seem to come together rather nicely. In fact, I rather like what you've shown. And the thing about paint is that, if in the end you're still dissatisfied, you could always paint them again. Given the texture/environment, extra coats of paint (if necessary) are not likely to end up causing a negative effect.
PS I'm focusing on the walls. You know more about the stairs than I do, but if they should match the walls (which may or may not be necessary), I assume you've just primed them so far.

I understand being a perfectionist about these things, but honestly from the pics they don’t look bad at all. Sometimes it does take several tries to get things right. Don’t give up, my friend! What you have so far is already looking good, and I think it’s going to turn out fine. <3

From what I can see the walls look great. I think I've only really sat down to watch the movie once but as I recall the room is sandstone and as a collector of rock samples I can assure you that even in the same vein of rock the colour varies so as long as there are no straight lines, unless there are supposed to be, you could for instance have a sand colour at one end and a brown mud at the other just fade one into the other.

Tbh when you have it blocked up and the lights on there will be shadows anyway.


if you are worried about the colour mix why not get some say 50cc syringes I think I've seen them in decorators shops so you can get the mix the same.

Thanks for the encouraging replies. I do indeed have issues with perfectionism, and a bit of OCD, so I'm not always the most objective judge when it comes to my own work. At this point, I don't think I'm going to mess with the walls anymore; other than getting the arch design on all of the arches. Not sure how to do those, as I don't want them to be too neat or even finished. I'm thinking I need to make a mask and then lightly dry brush them on.

As far as the steps, they do need to be lightened just a bit, but they weren't the same color as the walls -- they were more of a gray-brown color. Right now they're too brown -- almost purple.

Man that's looking so cool! This is the thread that draws me in even so I have no time in my life ATM, LOL

Thank you, Peaches. I hope you’ve had time to work on your Firefly figures.

Just received my Hasbro carbon chamber set (the one I linked above) for the 3.75" figures. It is quite well made but not screen accurate: it crops off the two slanted side wall surfaces. Speaking of which, I realized you have done the same although the Sideshow carbonite chamber wall environment centerpiece actually has the slant in the frame. I'm sure there's a good reason you went this way (too complicated?) but could that be an additional reason for the difficulty getting the light/shadow grating effect?

Too complicated is indeed the reason I didn’t do that with the wall — much more work than I was willing to do for an area that isn’t really supposed to be the main focus — yet is still taking up a great deal of attention.

That is understandable. I do wonder if simply placing two straight rectangular pieces at the appropriate angle (dictated by the Sideshow environment) would not do the job; and I suppose one could add a triangular piece to fill in the front from the side. I mean there is no need to integrate them into the actual construction design, if that was the difficult part.

To match the SS piece would require creating a wall that comes out further and a setback for the carbonite "alcove" to nestle in; the entire side wall would then have to extend to the back of the display, which would mean the arch with the curtain would have to be remade and narrowed even more. Moving that wall inward to create that alcove would also take up valuable floor space that I wouldn't be able to use for any additional figures I might be able to acquire in the future -- there are some customizers on the Freaks who are making some Jabba palace head and hand sculpts to be casted for anyone who wants them -- I've already put my name in for 2 different characters -- the clothes, body and accessories would be up to me to provide, but at least it's a start.