Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

Thanks, Brother. Coming from one of our resident Star Wars experts, that means a lot.

I think your new arrangement turned out great. The new Leia pose looks a bit more natural (as a sustained pose, anyway), and the extra characters, including the Jawas, add more depth and dynamism to the scene.

Thanks, Guv. It’s good to hear from the other SW expert. Appreciate it. I think she needs a bit more futzing, but it’s close.

Oh, look. I found a screen cap of Jabba's tail. He does have a cut on it:

Started working on some floor plans for my display. Using photos, measurements from the new Jabba, and floor plans that I found online, I started trying to make measurements as close as possible to the real thing. Not easy -- and I suck at math. Then I realized, I wasn't going to be able to display the entire throne room, anyway, so I made some adjustments based on space limitations, and trying to keep the focus more on Jabba and the Han in Carbonite display. I want to leave enough floor space so I can at least make a partial mock-up of the grate, the trap door, and leave room for any additional characters I might be able to scrounge. I'll probably end up putting figures in their that aren't supposed to be there -- like Mythos Obi Wan, and even my Dejah Thoris. I'm even thinking of picking up a few of the Hasbro 12" figures -- since it's not looking promising for Sideshow to revisit characters like Greedo, Hammerhead, the Gamorrean Guards, or even give us the Max Rebo band they teased all those years ago that never got made.

It all sounds so amazing.... and having cameos of figures that aren't neccessarily canon compliant is a really fun idea and a great way to personalize it. Love it!

I too am terrible at math, so such an undertaking seems very daunting, but no doubt worth it!

Looks like a good start. If you have a way of placing the whole thing in a corner, you could abbreviate the depth of the space (sideways) and put your Han in Carbonite environment at a right angle to the throne slab and stairs/platform.

GubernatorFan wrote:Looks like a good start. If you have a way of placing the whole thing in a corner, you could abbreviate the depth of the space (sideways) and put your Han in Carbonite environment at a right angle to the throne slab and stairs/platform.

I thought of that, but the entire thing is going to be inside a wood box (more or less), with a plexiglass front for viewing; I was kind of afraid, that it'd get lost if it was facing sideways, even after strategically placed lighting...

Is there a a way you can have part of the side of the box as glass as well?

skywalkersaga wrote:Is there a a way  you can have part of the side of the box as glass as well?

Not really. There’s going to be another, equally long, cabinet on top of this one. I’m going to need to reinforce the structures as it is to support the weight. Making things tall and lean is relatively easy, but elongated and stacked requires a different approach to keep the wood from warping, and sound side walls is important.

Can you have two (front and top) or three (front, top, and one side) sides of the box in transparent plexiglass or something?

GubernatorFan wrote:Can you have two (front and top) or three (front, top, and one side) sides of the box in transparent plexiglass or something?

If I wasn’t planning on lights, I could possibly get away with it, but I need the ceiling, sides, and back wall enclosed to hide the lighting scheme I’m trying to work out.

Plus, I’m planning to build another case to go on top of this one for either a Lord of the Rings display, or the remainder of my Star Wars figures — I need a considerable amount of support; Jabba and that new throne weigh roughly 35 pounds by themselves. The table I’m planning to build is Farmhouse/workbench style to support the size and length of two long cabinets 2’ tall, and 6 1/2 feet long. With the cost of this stuff, I’m not taking any chances.

Thanks for clarifying. I think I had sort of misunderstood the design of the set-up you were planning, and hadn't realized it was going to have a ceiling or anything above it. I'd pictured a table with the diorama on top of it...sort of like how you see a raised/relief map of a city on platform in the middle of a historical area.

That’s what my wife thought I was going to do, too. But I have too much issue with dust, so I decided on enclosing it. Then I thought, “Why not add strategically placed lights?” Then I thought, “Why not try to replicate different colors in the lighting scheme?” Then I thought, “How about different levels of brightness to emulate the different levels in the movies?” The only problem with that — I don’t really know a thing about lighting except plugging in a lamp and flipping a switch.... Oh, I’ve done basic electrical things, like changing an outlet, but nothing on a grand plan.

Could you not still do the table thing, but instead just cover the whole thing with glass? like it's in a museum? then you could still light it, but maybe from above, like have lights strategically shining down from the ceiling, or somewhere else angled toward it?

Idk....I, too, know nothing about this stuff, so perhaps what I'm suggesting is not logistically possible, but j just a thought. : )

Plexiglass and real glass (particularly that glass that breaks into tiny beads as opposed to the dangerous “shards of death”) is crazy expensive, particularly when cut to custom specs. The one sheet of acrylic I was going to get from the hardware store just to cover the front was over $113.00, and that’s cheap compared to some places I’ve seen where they want a few hundred bucks per sheet (double that to make the second cabinet). I have a lot of wood in my workshop, so that doesn’t cost me anything (not anymore anyway).

Ah, totally understandable!

Well, I played around with the blueprints some more. I was actually looking into the idea of turning the Han/Carbonite display sideways, as suggested. Then I found a good deal on the Max Rebo Band 1/6 statue by Gentle Giant. (Even though that was probably the silliest element of the entire Jabba sequence, it somehow felt wrong not having the band). Adding them put the entire plan to spin Han sideways out the window, as it would have made the depth of the piece 15" bigger than I wanted. As it is, I ended up going over on length 3.5" more than I would have liked -- even though I have the space to do it. And I sort of worked out where most of the lights would go -- kind of hard to read but I placed them roughly where I think they should go based on still photos from the movie.



Now I need to start working on 3-dimensional drawings to get the arch placements figured out, alcoves for the lights to be hidden in, etc.

I'm sure you'll make it work whatever you decide on. I haven't done more with this than get that Power of the Force cardboard palace environment. Hasbro is making a Han-in-Carbonite chamber environment. The Khetanna (Jabba's sail barge) for 3.75" figures is now available for preorder on Big Bad Toy Store (and presumably elsewhere), but for $1200. I am not sure I could justify the cost or the space, though it does look pretty good and could easily be made even better.

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm sure you'll make it work whatever you decide on. I haven't done more with this than get that Power of the Force cardboard palace environment. Hasbro is making a Han-in-Carbonite chamber environment. The Khetanna (Jabba's sail barge) for 3.75" figures is now available for preorder on Big Bad Toy Store (and presumably elsewhere), but for $1200. I am not sure I could justify the cost or the space, though it does look pretty good and could easily be made even better.

I saw that sail barge (sold out yesterday at BBTS, by the way!!!). While it is cool, can someone explain to me how a toy company like Hasbro, that isn’t known for “High-End Collectibles”, can justify charging $1200.00 for a kid’s toy? What parent in their right mind would buy that for their kids? I thought this Jabba set was over priced — SHEESH!!

Yeah, that’s nuts. I’m guessing this particular 3.75” Jabba’s Sail Barge is being aimed moreso at nostalgic adult collectors who want to recapture their memories of the original one from back in the day, OR at hipsterish folks who want something that emulates ‘vintage aesthetics’ that they can brag about to each other online ...

Those plans seem to be crystallising nicely mate. Looking forward to the build now

Paul

skywalkersaga wrote:Yeah, that’s nuts. I’m guessing this particular 3.75” Jabba’s Sail Barge is being aimed moreso at nostalgic adult collectors who want to recapture their memories of the original one from back in the day, OR at hipsterish folks who want something that emulates ‘vintage aesthetics’ that they can brag about to each other online ...

Probably more the latter than the former...

scalawag wrote:Those plans seem to be crystallising nicely mate.  Looking forward to the build now

Paul

Yeah, I just hope my skills can match my ambition. I have no where near the talent of folks like ReverendSpooky, Tarexmd, Ephiane, or shovelchop81. We’ll see...

Stryker2011 wrote:

Probably more the latter than the former...

lol, no doubt, but I was trying to be nice ... XP

It looks like a very nice piece (the Khetanna), but still toy-ish. I almost wonder if there are different versions -- high end with detailed weathering for those who crowd-funded the production and the toylike one that was up for preorder at Big Bad Toy Store. They worked out the exterior pretty well, and then made up an interior largely from their imagination (we didn't really see all that much of it in the film), complete with "cute" little touches here and there. The Jabba figure looks very nice and I hope they make it available separately. But ultimately, whatever demographic it is really aimed at, it looks like a very big and super expensive toy. If it didn't take up that much money and space, I would have jumped on it and given it a bit of a repaint. It could have even justified the amount of space it would take up by serving as a container for figures. But not at that price. And it would have helped if I had a dedicated mancave for this sort of stuff to go into. You are one of the lucky ones, my friend. And I'm happy you are doing even more with that space, working as you are on this diorama environment.

Putting figures inside of it as a container would have been brilliant, it's too bad they priced so many people out of it.

Are you old enough to remember when gas stations were giving away a Noah's Ark, and the animals? It was a promotional gimmick during the early 70s "gas shortage". First you got the Ark, then they gave you a pair of animals with each fill-up. I had some of those as a little kid -- the deck came off and you put your animals inside of it. I LOVED that thing when I was a whee tike.

My wife says I'm "spoiled" when it comes to the 3-room Man-Cave; hard work and a cool wife certainly helps in that regard.

Stryker2011 wrote:Are you old enough to remember when gas stations were giving away a Noah's Ark, and the animals? It was a promotional gimmick during the early 70s "gas shortage". First you got the Ark, then they gave you a pair of animals with each fill-up. I had some of those as a little kid -- the deck came off and you put your animals inside of it. I LOVED that thing when I was a whee tike.

My wife says I'm "spoiled" when it comes to the 3-room Man-Cave; hard work and a cool wife certainly helps in that regard.

No, I am just a little too young to remember that, and besides, my childhood was spent on the other side of the Iron Curtain, enjoying the benefits of Socialism, despotism, and non-consumerism. But it does sound like a really neat promotional ploy. And exactly the sort of stuff this vehicle would be great for. Perhaps if they marketed it as a container and pulled the price way down, they could have sold many more.

Your wife might have a point, but a good man should be "spoiled" in that way.

Well, for the last week or two (can't remember) I've been working on an in-scale mock-up of Jabba's Throne Room, made out of tag-board. This was a great way to work out the bugs, and get a feel for what exactly needed to be done. I made adjustments here and there, but tried as best as possible to get elements as close to actual scale as possible.

The biggest concerns for me scale-wise, was to make sure that the size of the arch over the throne, and the steps to either side of the throne were as close to the real thing as could be reasonably made based on photographs and floor plans, as I explained earlier. Not an easy task as most of the pictures feature cast/characters -- generally in the way. Even so, I still had to reduce the sizes of some things -- though I kept the height of the arch as close as possible. The stairs had to be reduced some, as did the width of the area where the design that goes around the archways is presented. In true scale, the arch graphic would be a width of 5", whereas I reduced it to 3.5". Anyway, building the mock-up was super-helpful, because it showed where my original floor plan had some design flaws, and by changing things up, I think I achieved a better design flow, and was able to add elements that weren't in my original plan (like the short arch with window next to the band).

Plus, I was able to turn Han in Carbonite sideways, like he is in the film -- though I reduced the space between him and the throne by a considerable amount. I have yet to work out the grate (in front of Jabba's throne) design -- it should be approximately 30" wide. Overall the floor space on this diorama works out to 89.75" wide and 33" deep (without the walls which will surround all but the front of the display -- and add an added 1/2" to width, and 1/4" to depth). Still need to figure out how I'm going to add lights to this monster display, and overall what materials I'm going to use for each element. Some of this diorama, due to length, will no doubt have to made out of wood just to support the roof (height of 24" maximum -- hence the reason the arches are incomplete in the center) -- where much of the lights and wiring are going to be hidden.

It’s looking incredible already!! :O