Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s very generous, Guv, but I don’t want you to go to that kind of trouble. It’s a massively tall order, and one of the biggest problems I’ve found is there really aren’t enough photos, particularly from the same angle to give any clear shot at doing it easily. I’ve even been looking at background art from one of the video games, where some of the stuff is probably not accurate, but at least it’s done without figures in the way. I also have to factor in that I’m not doing the complete steps, so I have to add the remainder in. Like I said... massively tall order. Thanks, though, I greatly appreciate it. I’ll probably end up painting it anyway, cause I doubt twelveinchfigures will make one solely to satisfy my needs, anyway. I think his goal was to do basically something similar to the Hasbro one.

It is not a massively tall order. In fact, I got started on it, in part to see how doable it would be. I scanned the folded-up diorama (a bit of a challenge for several reasons) in a couple of parts, put them together, and proceeded to cover up the seams (which were pretty obvious) by cloning other parts of the image over them. Here is a very rough mock-up, still in scale with the 3.75-inch figures -- which I have included for depth. I think that apart from the very unrealistic 2D arch, it works pretty decently. The only seam you see is the one where one of my printed sheets overlaps the other, which would not be an issue with the commercially printed poster.





If you like it, the next steps would be cloning the wall textures over the arch -- you have your own 3D arches, and they probably have a slightly different outline (besides, for some reason the different panels on the Hasbro diorama had slightly different colors on the respective segments of the arch) -- to extend the flat background surface which will be partly overlapped by your walls. Then we can manipulate colors, contrast, etc, as needed. And finally, it can be blown up to the correct scale. Then you can have it printed on matte paper and stick it at the back of your diorama until something better comes along.

Aww, I love it, GF! And it does sound like it could be helpful even for 1/6 scale. : )

I'm also super envious of your 3.75" Jabba and co.!  Whatever people might think, that scale is the first I collected and I will always prefer it as my go-to scale when it comes to the smaller, 'all-plastic' SW action figures. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Guv. I’m a little out of it at the moment, just got back from another surgery I’m a little out of it

I’ll get back to you

Stryker2011 wrote:Hi Guv. I’m a little out of it at the moment, just got back from another surgery I’m a little out of it. I’ll get back to you

No problem, I have too much work as it is. Get better soon!
Cheers!

Aw, hope you feel better, Stryker. <3

Hope you are feeling more yourself again soon Stryker2011. Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery.

Paul

Get well soon Stryker2011.

Thanks, everyone. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I'm about to upload a bunch of New Product info -- need to get my mind off the pain. Thanks again.

And boy did you deliver on the bunch of the new product announcements! There was a ton, and it included some really nice stuff. I hope you're feeling better already.

This is coming along nicely.

It was sad news about Peter Mayhew, a true gentle giant

CHEERS!

GubernatorFan wrote:And boy did you deliver on the bunch of the new product announcements! There was a ton, and it included some really nice stuff. I hope you're feeling better already.

Rogerbee wrote:
This is coming along nicely.

It was sad news about Peter Mayhew, a true gentle giant

CHEERS!

Thanks, guys. I haven’t been able to do any further work on this. “No driving, operating machinery or power tools, and no strenuous activity” until the Dr. clears me. Kidney stone surgery two years in a row! Absolutely sucks — I’m impatient to get back at it.

Ugh, so sorry! Hope you feel better and are 'cleared' soon. <3

skywalkersaga wrote:Ugh, so sorry! Hope you feel better and are 'cleared' soon. <3

Thanks, SWS. Me too.

Phenomenal work! Sorry I hadn't seen all this before, I had no idea you were doing all this custom work, wondered why everyone was still chatting about the SSC Jabba throne, I know it's a fantastic piece but the 6 pages got me curious!LOL. Man, sucks to hear you've just come out of painful surgery! And there I was moaning about my fillings! Some fantastic pics of Peter with Carrie there, love the last one RIP guys.

shovelchop81 wrote:Phenomenal work! Sorry I hadn't seen all this before, I had no idea you were doing all this custom work, wondered why everyone was still chatting about the SSC Jabba throne, I know it's a fantastic piece but the 6 pages got me curious!LOL. Man, sucks to hear you've just come out of painful surgery! And there I was moaning about my fillings! Some fantastic pics of Peter with Carrie there, love the last one RIP guys.

Pain is pain, Brother. It all sucks. Yeah, I probably should have started a different thread for my diorama build, but it’s too late now. Thanks for the compliment.

Stryker2011 wrote:

Eph wrote:OMG !!! You have the Rebo Band Creatures in 1:6 ? Love them

I wish they were precisely 1/6th scale (they're supposed to be), but they're actually closer to 1/7th scale -- a bit small, but it'll do.

Where did you find those? I've only ever seen the GG 1/6 busts, I had planned to make the band a few years ago, even bought some unusual base figures for them but never got around to it.

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:

Eph wrote:OMG !!! You have the Rebo Band Creatures in 1:6 ? Love them

I wish they were precisely 1/6th scale (they're supposed to be), but they're actually closer to 1/7th scale -- a bit small, but it'll do.

Where did you find those? I've only ever seen the GG 1/6 busts, I had planned to make the band a few years ago, even bought some unusual base figures for them but never got around to it.

It’s the “Gentle Giant Max Rebo Band”, I found on eBay. It was cheaper than I’ve seen it before (I think because the weird feather piece on the singer is missing).

Stryker2011 wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:

Eph wrote:OMG !!! You have the Rebo Band Creatures in 1:6 ? Love them

I wish they were precisely 1/6th scale (they're supposed to be), but they're actually closer to 1/7th scale -- a bit small, but it'll do.

Where did you find those? I've only ever seen the GG 1/6 busts, I had planned to make the band a few years ago, even bought some unusual base figures for them but never got around to it.

It’s the “Gentle Giant Max Rebo Band”, I found on eBay. It was cheaper than I’ve seen it before (I think because the weird feather piece on the singer is missing).

Nice score!

Sorry to hear about your surgery, hope you recover well and it doesn't reoccur.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Sorry to hear about your surgery, hope you recover well and it doesn't reoccur.

CHEERS!

Thanks, Roger... me too.

Still taking it relatively easy, but over the last couple of days my impatience has gotten the better of me, so I glued the pieces together for the final arch; I had them cut prior to surgery so it was relatively easy and didn't require any strenuous activity. Then I finished adding the texture to the stairs to the left of Jabba's throne, and added the texture to the Han arch and the wall & arch behind the band. I still need to fill in the gaps in the wallpaper and along the edges, but it's getting there.

Awesome mate, and great to see you feeling well enough to get into this again.

Paul

That is coming together really well.

CHEERS!

I think we're getting close to the "almost there... almost there" stage.

scalawag wrote:Awesome mate, and great to see you feeling well enough to get into this again.

Paul

Thanks. I’m getting there. Can’t stand around a lot, yet. I have a stent in place, and the more I move around, the more I have to go to the bathroom — it’s like pissing razor-blades! I’m hoping they take that damn thing out on Friday when I have my post-op.

Rogerbee wrote:That is coming together really well.

CHEERS!

Thanks, Roger. Glad to see you posting again — you must have finished your video-game. Have you been able to find a new place, yet?

GubernatorFan wrote:I think we're getting close to the "almost there... almost there" stage.

The bulk of the main diorama build itself is coming to an end, but still a long way to go, yet I’m afraid. The Rancor pit grating is going to be... problematic, to say the least. The main floor level is going to have real (crafting) sand on it — need to find some adhesive that can be spread evenly with a paint brush, but first I want to put down some contact paper in sort of a rippled, uneven form to give the effect of pliable “desert” floor. Then, of course, there’s painting everything up to look like an old desert castle, the arch designs (if I can make a mask and use spray paint for that, I will — but I don’t want it to be too uniform).

Then comes the side walls and ceiling — the wood I’m using for the walls is just under 1/4”, the floor and ceiling is only 3/16”. All of it will have to have struts on the hidden side to keep the wood flat, but the section behind the throne will have to be removable so I can either paint the BBQ pit area, or attach an image. The floor and ceiling will have “keys” (ie, tiny blocks) at the top (in the case of walls) and bottom inside corners of each separate structure, to keep them in place — as right now they are pretty easy to move around/knock down.

Once the dio itself is built and all wired up, then comes the building of the cabinet to enclose the entire thing — need to finish the dio in order to get the exact measurements. The cabinet is going to have removable panels on the sides and top so I can get to the lights in the event they burn out. The glass front is going to be the biggest problem — logistically — as it’s one sheet nearly 8’ x 2’ — heavy, to say the least. And I need to be able to open the front to get at the figures — I still haven’t quite figured out how it’ll open (flip up, flip down, slide to one side or the other, or both — how big do the hinges need to be, will heavy-duty pneumatic hinges be able to support the weight of a piece of glass that heavy...). Ughhh.

Then once that’s done, I have to build the table to support all that weight — again, it has to be done last to get the final measurements exact. The cabinet itself will be bolted down onto that table (due to the front glass door’s off-kilter weight when open), and their needs to be places to hide the power supplies for the lights, and the surge-protector. I want only one switch to turn all the lights on, but some lights require different power supplies with a dimmer switch.

So... all in all... still a long, LONG way to go.

Alright, I take back my words, but reserve the right to use them later. Like I've said before, "epic" might be appropriate for this project.
Hope you're feeling better already!

Happy to see you back at it, it surely means you feel a bit better, which is a great news!

Thanks a lot for the new pics, the texture is really perfect! If you need a photographic background I can work on it for you, I already made a couple of starwars backgrounds for a friend's shelves...

Feel free to ask anyway, I'd be happy to give a hand if possible!

GubernatorFan wrote:Alright, I take back my words, but reserve the right to use them later. Like I've said before, "epic" might be appropriate for this project.
Hope you're feeling better already!

Thanks. When I think about the whole thing... it starts to become overwhelming, so I’m just trying to take it one step at a time (while sort of keeping the big picture in mind) — quite the mental acrobats. Think ahead, don’t think ahead...

blackpool wrote:Happy to see you back at it, it surely means you feel a bit better, which is a great news!

Thanks a lot for the new pics, the texture is really perfect! If you need a photographic background I can work on it for you, I already made a couple of starwars backgrounds for a friend's shelves...

Feel free to ask anyway, I'd be happy to give a hand if possible!

Thanks, and I appreciate the offer. GubernatorFan had been talking about helping me, so if he hits a wall, I might take you up on that.

Instead of crafting sand, try tiling grout. Pick the colour you want, wet the surface, and apply liberally. Then spray water over the top. It has the right texture and has its own adhesive built in. If you are worried about it sticking, apply a diluted mixture of water and PVA glue on the surface first before applying the grout. Use a spray bottle not a paintbrush.

To apply the grout, get a tea strainer with a small weight (like a coin) in it. Hold it over the surface and tap it gently. The grout sprinkles out like a flour sifter and can be easily controlled.