Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

Man that looks awesome!!! Th etexture is just perfect, this is gonna be epic once finished!

Thanks, fellas. Appreciate it.

I put the contact paper down on half the floor. Soon I can start “sanding”.

Stryker2011 wrote:Thanks, fellas. Appreciate it.

I put the contact paper down on half the floor. Soon I can start “sanding”.

I'm assuming you're using real sand on adhesive paper? To get variations, ripples, banks and dimples etc.. I use PVA glue mixed with sand or you can 'draw' with the glue then sprinkle the sand on top until it completely covers the glue then shake the excess off when it's dry. I've done this a lot for dio bases in the past.

I still have to use glue over the top of the contact paper — it’s only sticky on the underside — but I wanted to lay something down with imperfections to get kind of that disturbed sand floor look. The idea of running glue sounds promising, I’ll have to try that, too. I’m not using real sand, but sanded grout (suggested by shazzdan); it’s a really fine powder — like baby powder — so it should be more appropriate for 1/6 scale sand.

Sanded grout sounds like a very good idea. But -- and I haven't checked -- are you sure the floor needs to be sandy or merely dusty?

It wasn’t like desert floor sandy, but it was sandy — you could see the indents where the “wheels” of the throne left marks from moving forward and back.

Ok, good. I was sure you had checked it out. You've done an amazing amount of research for this, and it shows.

Thanks. My set design may not be perfect, but I’m still trying to add a certain amount of realism where I can. The research was a lot of work, but also kind of fun. It forces you to look at finer details you don’t always pay attention to, but you know are there — if you know what I mean. As a bonus, through all the thousands of pictures I scanned through, there’s always a ton of Carrie in her gold bikini — so it’s not all tedium.

Started adding the "sand" to the floor. I masked off all the areas where I don't need the sand to go -- it only needs to cover the areas that might be visible around the set pieces. I added "track" marks using Shovelchop's suggestion of drawing glue lines -- hope it works out. I tried the spray bottle technique after mixing a 50/50 ratio of water to glue -- but either I have a crappy spray bottle, or it's still too thick, as I couldn't get anything to come out -- so I had to paint the glue on the surface of the contact paper. Now I need to figure out a different technique to get the surface glue to stay on. Any ideas?

Well, I found a better spray bottle and spritzed over the top of the sand, and added a bit more grout where needed. I’ll find out tomorrow if it worked to adhere the “sand”.

Looking forward to seeing it. But be warned, that if they don't get disassembled first, my Anakin and Amidala might want to come to the beach in your Jabba display sand and they get around... now that they've already wondered into the neck modification tutorial...

A beach party. Interesting idea — maybe that’s why Leia was wearing a bikini, she was getting ready to do some sunbathing while drinking fruity cocktails.

There is actually a photo out there of Fisher and her double sunbathing in-between takes.

I remember reading an interview with Fisher how George had to keep on her about not tanning -- since prior to her appearance in the revealing outfit she was supposed to be in the black of space, fully clothed -- nowhere to get a tan. But she kept sneaking off to do it anyway.

That's the one! If you were "parked" with a ship near a planet near a star, and you happened to be near the windows, wouldn't you tan?

Yeah, I think most people would take advantage of a lot of downtime like that.

Careful with that powder as it can clot together and become like plaster rather than sand but it's all trial an error to get the look you want, its not like either option is expensive to experiment with, I get my sand from the street as I'm only a UK block away from the beach lol.

shovelchop81 wrote:Careful with that powder as it can clot together and become like plaster rather than sand but it's all trial an error to get the look you want, its not like either option is expensive to experiment with, I get my sand from the street as I'm only a UK block away from the beach lol.

That’s okay. I’d like it to still look like sand, but hard like plaster would be good. I don’t want loose sand all over the place (I’m sure the wife would agree with that).

Is it scary I can relate?

(There was literally no other possible response, lol.)

Yep, and that powedery grout is worse -- it's so fine, you sneeze and it goes all over the place. Everything in my garage is either covered with dust, sawdust, cobwebs, and now this stuff! Gah! I need to empty out the entire thing and bring in a fire truck to clean when I'm finally finished.


That being said, I pulled off the masking tape and masking from the "sand" floor panels. It turned out pretty good, I think. There's a couple spots where the underlying contact paper is starting to come through, but I'll just hit those spots up with a dab of paint, I think. (My apologies for my shadow being in the way a bit).





I started putting everything back together -- but there's a few more crevice screens and lights I want to get hooked up before I show anything else.

I'm not really surprised about the mess. The only other thing I could think of would be using kinetic sand, but that would only work for a considerably thicker application. Should I send Superhero Fire-Man to come help you clean up? Or would it be too much of a distraction for your lady wife?

On a more serious note, while I don't remember enough of the film look and/or your desired look to know how close you got to that, I think the floor surfaces turned out great. Especially if what we see is now pretty securely fixed. If those straight lines under the sand were not intentional, I think you could leave them as is, perhaps showing some difference in the flooring beneath (trap doors?) or the imprint of something having been rolled over the surface (an overhead projector?) . Anyway, I like what I see.

So much passion for detail, Fantastic ! And for me it´s good to know, if You work so Hard on this Dio, You must be in a good condition. Are You fine ?

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm not really surprised about the mess. The only other thing I could think of would be using kinetic sand, but that would only work for a considerably thicker application. Should I send Superhero Fire-Man to come help you clean up? Or would it be too much of a distraction for your lady wife?

On a more serious note, while I don't remember enough of the film look and/or your desired look to know how close you got to that, I think the floor surfaces turned out great. Especially if what we see is now pretty securely fixed. If those straight lines under the sand were not intentional, I think you could leave them as is, perhaps showing some difference in the flooring beneath (trap doors?) or the imprint of something having been rolled over the surface (an overhead projector?) . Anyway, I like what I see.

If that guy came over to help, my wife would probably run off with him. So... NO THANKS!!!

Ephiane wrote:So much passion for detail, Fantastic ! And for me it´s good to know, if You work so Hard on this Dio, You must be in a good condition. Are You fine ?

Thanks, Ephi. My shoulder is getting better all the time, and luckily I haven't had to have any further surgeries. I'm getting ready to go back to work next week (the company I worked for is hiring me back), but we'll see how long my health holds out; I guess that's why I really want to get this done -- before things go south again and I'm unable to finish it. Thanks for asking, I appreciate your concern.

Oh wow, good luck with finishing your project and with going back to your job! And I hope your shoulder continues to improve! : )

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.