Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

Thanks, Sky. Appreciate it.

Looks great to me! Although when I suggested 'drawing' with the PVA glue I meant natural curved mini dune like lines not straight ones LOL! Doesn't matter though as in this dio those could just be partially buried utility pipes for the palace's power lines, water pipes etc.. As for taking a firehose to your garage, don't feel bad, my house needs that!! Glad to hear you're on the mend.

Thanks. The lines in the sand are meant to be the wheels/tracks left by the dais as it moves back and forth. I think it'll be clear once you see the below pictures. I have all but one light running at the moment, and of course, the back BBQ pit area isn't present yet (but that entire image will be back lit -- how intense those lights are will determine how it affects everything else). I had to order another power supply to be able to light one of the overhead lights above the band, but this gives you some idea of what I was going for.

Oh right! That makes sense now, I thought you said you'd done them by mistake but I must have got that mixed up with GF's comment about a photo projector... Yeah, I'm confused about what I was thinking too now lol.

That’s ok. It might not have been your original intent, but it did work for my purposes.

That is looking SO amazing, Stryker!!

Thank you, Skywalker.

One more light to power up, paint the Rancor Pit grate, and then I’m in standby mode.

You probably already said, but do you have the shelf/cabinet already built where this is going to be displayed? or are you still working on that as well?

I haven’t even started the cabinet. I have to do everything in reverse, more or less. Before I can build the cabinet I need to know how big of a “shell” to make — and I won’t know how big that needs to be until the outer part of the diorama is done. The lights that will go behind the backdrop image requires not only a diffuser but a certain distance from the image (as much as 3-4”) to distribute the light evenly without leaving hot spots. I won’t know the exact distance until blackpool gets that done (hint hint ) and I get it printed. Once all the behind the scenes components are done I can make the measurements for the cabinet and start construction on that. Then I can build the table. The last thing, sort of, will be the glass door — though that will have to be factored in to the cabinet dimensions as it will require heavy duty hydraulic hinges to be able to lift the door up.

Just simply gorgeous, even in its somewhat incomplete state! I think it already evokes the desired finished look very well. Is the light you're waiting on the one for the camera right of Han or did you give up on that idea? As for the back lighting for the image within the arch -- are you concerned that it might generate too much heat and set the printed image on fire? If so, technically there are overhead lights (and grates?) over that area, so there may be some other was of getting light in there.
Also happy to hear you're feeling better, although your achievements have been suggesting that all along.

No. It’s not the heat that’s the issue. By Hot Spots I mean without a certain distance between the image plate and diffuser the round spots of each individual light would be apparent — much like the lights behind the crevice screens. In order for the image to look like a better lit room, the light needs to be equally distributed — as I said in order to achieve that a “box” needs to be created with strip lights and a diffuser— essentially a jimmy-rigged EL Panel but at a 1/4 the cost.

Stryker2011 wrote:No. It’s not the heat that’s the issue. By Hot Spots I mean without a certain distance between the image plate and diffuser the round spots of each individual light would be apparent — much like the lights behind the crevice screens. In order for the image to look like a better lit room, the light needs to be equally distributed — as I said in order to achieve that a “box” needs to be created with strip lights and a diffuser— essentially a jimmy-rigged EL Panel but at a 1/4 the cost.

I get what you say about the distribution of the light across the backdrop image (and it makes perfect sense). But the heat was a separate concern, which sounds like it does not really come into play.

GubernatorFan wrote:I get what you say about the distribution of the light across the backdrop image (and it makes perfect sense). But the heat was a separate concern, which sounds like it does not really come into play.

No, the LED strip lights don’t give off any heat at all.

Stryker2011 wrote:No, the LED strip lights don’t give off any heat at all.

Excellent, that does simplify matters quite a bit. I've never worked with them myself, so had no idea.

Stryker2011 wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:I get what you say about the distribution of the light across the backdrop image (and it makes perfect sense). But the heat was a separate concern, which sounds like it does not really come into play.

No, the LED strip lights don’t give off any heat at all.

Aha! I was going to suggest LED strip lighting but I see you're well ahead in the technical department . How about plexiglass/clear acrylic instead of glass? It would be a lot lighter and less likely to get broken, I have to think about that stuff shooting air rifles and pistols around my collection!

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:I get what you say about the distribution of the light across the backdrop image (and it makes perfect sense). But the heat was a separate concern, which sounds like it does not really come into play.

No, the LED strip lights don’t give off any heat at all.

Aha! I was going to suggest LED strip lighting but I see you're well ahead in the technical department . How about plexiglass/clear acrylic instead of glass? It would be a lot lighter and less likely to get broken, I have to think about that stuff shooting air rifles and pistols around my collection!

I’ve looked into both options. Here’s a weird bit of info that could be important to anyone who might want to do something like this: while glass is heavy, it’s generally better for collectibles — as both plexiglass and acrylic “leak” a gas over time — invisible to the naked eye — which will deteriorate your collectibles. However, there is “museum grade” plexiglass and acrylics that are specially treated so as not to do that. However, plexiglass and acrylic of this type is almost 3 x more expensive than glass — the size I need is roughly 8’ x 2’ — which if I went with acrylic/plexiglass would be around $3500. Museum grade glass would be around $1200.

The good news is I found a company here in the states that makes museum grade acrylic and I can get the size I want for around $400.00. Still steep, but better than thousands.

Your investment in this project is pretty staggering... but then again the results suggest it is worthwhile.

GubernatorFan wrote:Your investment in this project is pretty staggering... but then again the results suggest it is worthwhile.

Tell me about it. But considering how much these figures cost, and particularly Jabba himself, I’d like them to last at least as long as I’m alive.

I've not been by for a while and wow!!! this has really moved on.

The texture on the floor looks great and it all seems to be coming together great.

Awesome

Paul

Thanks, Paul. Much appreciated.

All the money will flow back to you in the first week after opening the JABBAONADIAS National Museum.

Didn't know about that gas leakage with plexiglass. In what way does it deteriorate the figures?
I still have a lot of plexiglass from when I worked in a plexiglass cutting/drilling/stamping workshop...
Hope it doesn't deteriorate me. :>

Ovy wrote:All the money will flow back to you in the first week after opening the JABBAONADIAS National Museum.

Didn't know about that gas leakage with plexiglass. In what way does it deteriorate the figures?
I still have a lot of plexiglass from when I worked in a plexiglass cutting/drilling/stamping workshop...
Hope it doesn't deteriorate me. :>

Thanks, Ovy. From what I read it turns stuff yellow as it starts the deterioration process — so it’s not just exposure to sunlight that causes that.

Mark this is absolutely stunning!!! Those first shots are gorgeous, the ambiance and atmosphere are perfect... I already see you spraying some artificial smoke to take shots!!!!

On my side, the first backdrop is ready for your appreciation in your mail box, the beast is nearly 47 inches long and 23 tall, in 300dpi the flatten image is 35Mo, the original work file with all separate layers is now 1.7Go

Here are some sneek previews for everyone (I didn't want to reveal a full view, that's for Mark first huh)





EDIT. btw about the LED light strips, they still need a bit of distance or you will get some light dots, a good option is to buy the ones already in a shell with a white acrylic cover that diffuses the light nicely

here is the aluminium/acrylic shell

That. Is. Awesome! I think I’m going to cry (manly) tears of joy. This is going to add a whole new level to this diorama beyond my wildest dreams.

Strange I never heard about the plexiglass gas issues in my material studies during product design, must be a recent discovery (as in the last 20 years lol), I'll have to research that! Those prices are nuts, more like bulletproof glass prices! Yeah I've got no idea how much that costs either...lol. Why do you call the backdrop the BBQ pit? Great looking work blackpool!

As far as the lights, yes, that’s a good option. I was going to use an acrylic sheet covered with a diffuser film, test the lights, and see how far away they need to be. I found a website where this person made backlit movie poster frames using strip lights and they looked amazing. They used reflective HVAC tape to line a 4” deep box, taped the lights in rows about 3” apart inside the box, and then just used a cheap store bought poster frame as the front. Painted the boxes and mounted them on the walls in their home-theatre. Really looked cool. I’ll look into those acrylic covered rails, though. Thanks for that.

shovelchop81 wrote:Strange I never heard about the plexiglass gas issues in my material studies during product design, must be a recent discovery (as in the last 20 years lol), I'll have to research that! Those prices are nuts, more like bulletproof glass prices! Yeah I've got no idea how much that costs either...lol. Why do you call the backdrop the BBQ pit? Great looking work blackpool!

It's an easier way to identify that back room. And that's actually what that weird thing is behind the throne -- a BBQ spit/pit.

As far as the gas leaking from acrylic/plexiglass -- I found it in a rather roundabout sort of way as I was looking for unusual-sized glass. I ended up finding a post from several years ago on a forum for guys who make a living making picture frames. Which led me to finding out about the cost of glass, etc. They were complaining, of course, that customers wanted to know why a "mom&pop" frame maker had to charge so much for glass, when the customer found they could go to a craft store and pay half the cost. Anyway, long story short (too late), that led me to researching "museum grade" glass, acrylic and plexiglass. Now, granted, maybe the places that make and sell Museum Grade were just trying to scare the crap out of people, but it was in their explanations as to why Museums (not just Art, but History) use a specific type of material when building their cases and frames -- and that is to preserve the artifacts, etc. from exposure to not just light, but air, and destructive chemicals.

Blackpool, that background image is looking gorgeous, even in this smaller-sized or incomplete (wasn't sure what you meant exactly) state!