Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

Stryker2011 wrote:I know… the sticker shock was enough to give me a stroke.

This is a common issue with items that are perceived as geared primarily for institutional collections -- same thing with scholarly books -- the assumption is that libraries would be willing and able to spend hefty sums on overpriced volumes. Of course institutions too, have budgets and don't always get everything they might want.

GubernatorFan wrote:Those are some scary prices, Mark. I can see why you haven't got one yet.

Second that. Holy cow. I had no idea about those gasses...

Thinking outside the box (haha!)... maybe there is a cabinet out there with a glass door the right size?
But 92 inches... I can see how that would be near impossible to find. -.-

Diana wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Those are some scary prices, Mark. I can see why you haven't got one yet.

Second that. Holy cow. I had no idea about those gasses...

Thinking outside the box (haha!)... maybe there is a cabinet out there with a glass door the right size?
But 92 inches... I can see how that would be near impossible to find. -.-

Sadly, a piece of glass that size would be far too heavy, and between that and the frame to hold it, would cause the “center of gravity” for the cabinet to be dangerously unstable in how it’s designed (it would tip the entire thing right over).

I did manage to find a company that had what I wanted at a price scary, but not as scary as above, and it arrived yesterday. I have to cut it, however as it is essentially the same size as a full sheet of plywood (8’x4’). Don’t know what I’ll do with the excess acrylic (maybe I can make a display box…)

Excellent idea -- make your measurements and cut off as large a spare piece as you can, so you have some wiggle room for a later project. Hopefully the piece is cut correctly as you received it and you don't have to do more than one or two cuts to get what you need for the palace diorama. Glad to hear you were able to find a solution, and fingers crossed it works well and easily.

Yeah, good luck with cutting it.... I would never have the guts to do that!

It’s not as bad as it sounds to cut really. The method the manufacturers of acrylic recommend is a hand held cutting tool, but honestly — having tried those — they are only useful on sheets that are relatively thin. I have a hundred-tooth saw blade for my cabinet saw that works great for this type of stuff.

Keep us posted. Your cabinet is a thing of wonder.

Tessek is in the house. Created by Cagoda over at the Freaks. I think he's pretty cool. For anyone who's curious, he's actually standing with one leg on the lowest step, and the other on the next step up, hence the reason he appears so much taller than the Tusken Raider). Both natural room light and the diorama lights:

Wow, he turned out AWESOME!

He is lovely! Well, as lovely as a Squidhead can be. Excellent investment. And not just because this was always one of my favorite alien characters from the film, and one of my favorite collectibles in "classic" scale.

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow, he turned out AWESOME!

Yes, he did. I’m really happy with him.

GubernatorFan wrote:He is lovely! Well, as lovely as a Squidhead can be. Excellent investment. And not just because this was always one of my favorite alien characters from the film, and one of my favorite collectibles in "classic" scale.

There are so many other characters that I could have gone with, like the skiff guards, but when I saw Cagoda offering this guy, I was really excited to have something that hadn’t been done in this scale by other customizers — much the same as Amanaman.

More progress (getting near the end -- sheesh! -- Finally). The viewing frame is done, the acrylic is cut to size, and here are more behind the scenes shots of "how I did it". I had looked into hinges for this monster, but they were too damn expensive, and so I decided to cheat and use picture hangers that museums use to hang large over-sized frames and paintings. Due to the gap left (about 5/16") from the way the "picture frame mounts" work, I had to cut spacers to screw down along the edges to hide that gap. As you can see in the final image thus far, I still haven't added the acrylic -- it needs to be polished and cleaned of scratches, etc. -- and the frame itself needs to be touched up. Thoughts and criticism always welcome, of course.

Your Jabba The Hutt Diorama is looking amazing as ever!

Looking at it without the brown facing -- and even after -- with "natural" light and the light features of the box not activated, I got the feeling that Jabba was viewing the executions at the Sarlacc Pit or opening the speeder races. In other words, well done. Even without the acrylic in place, it looks like a finished, professionally done piece.

Legendary I would say .

Wow, I can hardly offer any constructive criticism, since I'd certainly never have been able to design and construct something like this in a million years! Amazing work, and I'm so glad it's nearing the finish, finally...

More great progress Mark!

Still want to see a pic of you standing next to it.

Thanks, folks. All the kind words, and continued support over this period are most appreciated. As the Dan Hill song goes: “It’s a long road…” (but with a lot of frustration, swearing, and even a bit of blood loss at times).

Well, I’ve been thinking of adding some sort of “plaque” to the label the whole display. I was thinking something along the lines of “The Palace (or Throne Room) of the Mighty Jabba The Hutt”, any other suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I would say don't hurry with the plaque -- unless you design it so that it attaches to it with magnets. In a way it is perhaps unnecessary. But if it attaches with magnets you could always put it on, take it off, alter it, whatever. If you want something straight out of 3P0's mouth (putting things he says together), you could make it "The Main Audience Chamber of His Excellency the Mighty Jabba."

So the viewing frame is attached in that final picture, and you just need to put the acrylic in?

GubernatorFan wrote:I would say don't hurry with the plaque -- unless you design it so that it attaches to it with magnets. In a way it is perhaps unnecessary. But if it attaches with magnets you could always put it on, take it off, alter it, whatever. If you want something straight out of 3P0's mouth (putting things he says together), you could make it "The Main Audience Chamber of His Excellency the Mighty Jabba."

That’s actually a pretty good idea. I wonder if I should have 3PO’s name before it and the line in quotes…?

Xavion2004 wrote:So the viewing frame is attached in that final picture, and you just need to put the acrylic in?

Yep. Pretty much.

Glad you liked the idea. Let me check exactly what 3PO says first, lest I lead you astray.

I don’t know what impresses me more; the display itself or your tenacity and dedication to finishing it. Not many people have that kind of drive and determination in general.

If I had a plaque made, I’d want it to be interchangeable…like a name tag at an office on a door or a cube that you can slide in and out of it’s frame.  I’d have an “official one” like a museum piece, the C3P0 one you and GF are discussing, and then something smart ass like “No one Jabbas like the Hutt!”  

I really love that light, it looks so right. I now it's supposed to be in the dark palace interior, but what Gubernator said about the speeder or execution makes sense. The color of the frame looks so classy. Invite George Lucas etc. once you are done.

Awesome build and love all the characters (some I'm quite jealous of like the Quarren), I'd completely forgotten this massive undertaking was your build Stryker! Kudos dude!
I was watching this YT video and it made me think of this build and hoped it might be of some use at some point in time if you ever want to expand the dio in the future:

Thanks, Alex. Yeah, I would love to do more expansions, but sadly I just don’t have the room.

LOL, I just found out more about Jabba's palace than there was to know.