The Imperial Shipyards

Imperial Creative Engineering => Dioramas => Topic started by: lambonspit on January 27, 2010, 03:54:06 AM

Title: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on January 27, 2010, 03:54:06 AM
Hey everyone. We recently bought a new house and are moving into it after repairs and reno's are complete. I was fascinated by a fireplace we uncovered whilst sledgehammering into a flat wall. Design of the house means that the fireplace cannot be removed, so i decided to work with it!! After much planning and photoshopping ive designed a diorama of the emperor's landing in the death star hangarbay that will be in the fireplace. Thought it would be a cool touch in our future Star Wars room. Here's the pic but i need some help from all the fantastic customisers and dio makers on this site.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4308198963_29a23c91f8_b.jpg)

1. If anyone has decals of the death star walls, can you please let me know, as i would greatly appreciate having a computer copy so i can cover the fireplace interior with it.

2. Can anyone suggest a material that could pass as the hangarbay floor? Can't seem to think of a shiny black material without considering painting white foam core which wont have the same effect.

The house is still 9 months from completion but i want to get all materials and elements ready early so i can just install everything as soon as we move in. Also, just a hint, but im gonna do another dio on a much larger scale of the battle of Kashyyyk seen in Ep III!! Challenging for my first dio but im up for it. Collected most of the materials, just need to get everything into scale with the figures and vehicles.

Thanks guys!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Luke Sprywalker on January 27, 2010, 05:09:48 AM
Sounds like an awesome idea. For the decals go to niubniub's universe, he has a ton of decals you can download. The floor needs to be covered with mat tack. It is a shiny black adhesive roll of goodness. Good luck with this one.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on January 27, 2010, 06:45:09 AM
Quote from: Luke Sprywalker on January 27, 2010, 05:09:48 AM
Sounds like an awesome idea. For the decals go to niubniub's universe, he has a ton of decals you can download. The floor needs to be covered with mat tack. It is a shiny black adhesive roll of goodness. Good luck with this one.

Thanks mate. Downloaded all the decals!! Niubniub uses Mac Tac, i think the same thing your referring too. No idea where to get it from though here in Australia!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: hangarbay94 on February 04, 2010, 01:31:34 PM
Lampy, I LOL'd when I saw your idea, just becuase I can imagine what my wife would say if I told her that I was building a Hangarbay in the Fireplace...the words "over and "dead body" spring to mind, amongst other less subtle ones.

With regards to Mac Tac, I looked high and low for some and I had to buy a bloody great roll of the stuff, I've still got enough to turn the local by-pass into a Death Star. If you get really stuck I could send you a few meters by post, you'd need enough to allow you to make a couple of mistakes as it's like applying a massive screen protector (loads of air bubbles if you are not really careful.

Anyhow drop me a line of you get stuck!

Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Tamer on February 04, 2010, 06:23:55 PM
What an awesome idea and a great way to make use of something you can't take out! I know one thing, you have a golden wife if she didn't bat an eyelash when you unvieled that idea. I can't wait to see that Kashyyyk dio too. Awesome idea.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Phatty on February 04, 2010, 06:31:05 PM
Very cool!  That must have been some surprise!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Mandalore the skepsis on February 04, 2010, 08:26:42 PM
Quote from: Tamer on February 04, 2010, 06:23:55 PM
What an awesome idea and a great way to make use of something you can't take out! I know one thing, you have a golden wife if she didn't bat an eyelash when you unvieled that idea. I can't wait to see that Kashyyyk dio too. Awesome idea.

I agree, Im not sure if my wife would let me do it.

I was thinking glossy black ceramic tile for the flooring of the death star.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: hangarbay94 on February 05, 2010, 12:05:02 PM
Also you could try your local carpet supplier, they usually stock a large selection of Lino flooring, trhere are a couple of designs I know of that would suit your purpose.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Tamer on February 05, 2010, 01:06:31 PM
I know Darth Revenge did a killer black gloss floor with just thin wood and good paint too. I wonder where that Frenchman is now that I think about it.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: RedLeaderOne (00fire501) on February 06, 2010, 06:40:59 AM
Great idea mate, cant wait  to see you start it.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on February 08, 2010, 05:07:49 PM
Thanks everyone!! And hangarbay, thanks, i'll let you know if i'm having some trouble!!

Lucky im not married lol, im only 17!! I don't even think thats legal!! Only person i had to work on was my mum, who doesn't understand why we collect these little plastic men and animals. Too bad it was her who actually started buying us Star Wars. Meh, i think she'll be pretty pissed next visa statement though!!! Eventually she gave in and gave my brother and i 2 rooms for star wars, so we've demolished the wall in between and opened up the 2 rooms to make our SW and entertainment area.

Just for interest, heres the north part of the room where the majority of our Star Wars is going to go.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4341517815_05b44b3874_b.jpg)

The room goes a bit further back than what you can see. In the far left there is a door to the proposed balcony, and if i had included it, there should be another door just south of that which also leads to the balcony. Currently we're looking for cheap glass makers as i plan to have the kashyyyk dio in an aquarium style box, but completely seamless so the glass doesn't subtract from the dio. Also gonna put some glass over the fireplace dio so no dust or sticky fingers can get inside. Star Wars loving cousins under the age of ten are deadly!!!

Ok, heres the fireplace with the imperial shuttle in it for real. Its a tight fit but for our purposes it perfect. My brother wanted to do Felucia in the fireplace but i shut him down quickly enough. Just way too out of our league.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4342254952_81c2707cdd_b.jpg)

Anyways, i'll keep you guys posted with current photos of the room and the dio. But until the room and the rest of the house is completely finished, there's no way i can start installing foam core or various elements of the dio into the fireplace. Same goes with kashyyyk. Although i did find me some fantastic curtains that were hanging on that left window. They were stained a dark brown wood colour and are made out of balsa. Perfect for a kashyyyk hut roof if i don't say so myself!!

Thanks for all the help guys. Your ideas will be taken into consideration.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: hangarbay94 on February 09, 2010, 06:46:01 AM
Lamby....LOL, lucky that wasn't a load bearing wall!

I can picture it now....the house falls down and all that is left is the fireplace with the shuttle in it!!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Tamer on February 09, 2010, 07:06:02 AM
LOL. Well there is still one gal you gotta get past, but it sounds like you have a cool mom. My mother would have never let me have a room like that. It is great! Is this room also gonna be your bedroom or just a SW room?
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on February 09, 2010, 04:57:32 PM
Quote from: Tamer on February 09, 2010, 07:06:02 AM
LOL. Well there is still one gal you gotta get past, but it sounds like you have a cool mom. My mother would have never let me have a room like that. It is great! Is this room also gonna be your bedroom or just a SW room?

Just a star wars room, but i'll have a couch and my LCD/XBox 360 setup in here too. I just can't get enough MF2 at the moment. I'm obsessed!!
Oh, and hangarbay, if that ever happened, im sure my mum would get a sledgehammer and destroy that fireplace herself!!! Scary thought lol!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: darth neo on February 22, 2010, 05:59:59 AM
lol thet looks great ive got my kasshyk baase up and running but its rubbish it actually looks like saleuicamy or watever it is anyways great idea looks good and ive got a 10 yr old son deadly lmao!!!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: hemble on March 01, 2010, 02:36:37 AM
This is such a fantastic idea, I'll be watching this thread for sure.

Ron
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Mando Commando on March 22, 2010, 02:44:25 PM
Nice idea.  Have you thought about using a type of wood painted black?  For some reason I thought I've seen that wood somewhere.  As for the decals, I'm stumped!  Can't wait to see this turn out, and can't wait to see the Kashyyk!  Will it be made now, or once you move in?
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on April 13, 2010, 08:40:55 PM
Some serious change in plans has led us to change the location of the star wars room and the fire place hangerbay is now to be made redundant.Instead our Dad has realised the pontential to dig out a basement and house our star wars collection in there. So the reason i haven't been on the yards lately is because i have been toiling away at diging out this basement, with a bit of help from dad and my brother. The whole idea of the basement is better than what we were thinking before as i have much more room and can have even bigger dioramas. Here is a photo of the basement. There is still heaps to dig out, almost 12 cubic metres of compacted dirt!!! this photo was taken a while ago and much more dirt has been dug out. The plans for the basement are to have a large hoth diorama, kashyyyk diorama, death star hangarbay, wall with movie posters and shelving with figures and vehicles. Also, if you can see there are some small holes in the wall that are there for air ventilation. Those are going to be blocked up from behind and used as dioramas. I will try and post some more pics tonight, just to show you guys how it is coming along.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4519193925_f74d65728e_b.jpg)
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: TheCloneCommander on April 13, 2010, 09:33:00 PM
looks like you need a bigger shovel and Pick... lol look like you have a bit of shale and sand stone there that is not fun stuff to dig, i use to do under road boring and what should take a couple of hours could take all day to a couple of days to complete...

i would suggest hiring a dingo or a kanga for that amount of work with a ditchswitch attachment, Kangas are smaller and have seen them in action my father in-law has one they are great fun to use,

if only we lived in the same state i would come over and give you a hand....
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on April 13, 2010, 09:39:30 PM
LOL, thanks mate. The majority is actually finished now. Its taken about a month part time work, but we're almost done. I'll get some more photos of it up 2nite.

And that bluestone/sandstone that you see is actually the foundations of the house! I never knew that foundations for houses in the 1800's were made of stone!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Luke Sprywalker on April 14, 2010, 07:14:35 AM
I have been wondering where you were. Glad to see you have about dug your way out.
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: lambonspit on April 15, 2010, 08:13:09 AM
Ok everyone, i need some help with a diorama i will be placing in my star wars room (the thing full of dirt above lol!!), when its been dug out. The diorama is gonna be a large scale Hoth Battle. So heres the layout:

A Millenium Falcon will be placed inside a cave as seen in the movie.
Outside there will be some hoth turrets and some rebels engaging in the battle.
In the distance there will be a few AT-AT's (the new BAT-AT's) engaging in the battle, with my older Endor AT-AT's kneeling after being grappled and tied. This will mean i will have some snowspeeders flying over the battlefield. (also, when the AT-AT comes out, 1 will be completely gutted as i have done to my Turbo tank that has not yet been shown and will be displayed with figs inside)
Some AT-ST's will be engaging rebels closer to the hoth base.
Inside the hoth base will not feature prominently, and i was only thinking to show a tauntaun and maybe, luke, leia, han, C-3PO and R2 and some pilots.
Outside will also be a shield generator.

Ok, so looking at it it seems immensly difficult and complex and i am very daunted by the idea of even considering such a dio when i have no prior experience!! This was what i was thinking! What i'll do is make the cave out of paper mache into a circular type shape so that a millenium falcon (probably the saga version) will fit inside and the use some foam core to make the entrance look really linear and like metal. I will place some LED lights inside to light it up. The exterior snow area is what i am really stumped on!! I know the rebels need trenches and that the natural hoth environment was not just flat. So i was wondering how to get that 'Hothy' look?
Another issue is the shield generator!! No idea what to make it out of and how to keep it in scale without it being overwhelmingly large.

Ok guys, thats the q's for now. Any help would be appreciated lol!!!
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Mando Commando on April 15, 2010, 09:01:44 AM
Well, my best guess for the snow is use model snow.  Haven't tried it myself, but I've been wanting to.  Or, just lay the whole thing down with stirofoam.  That looks really good, but it tends to warp so it may not be flat, unless you find a place where you can buy it.  For the generator, I'm stumped as well.  If you don't need it there, you may just want it to be a cut out of the generator in the movie.  Maybe you can find a picture, blow it up to size, then cut it out.  But, it wouldn't be 3-D.  That's the best I got.  Hope I could be some help.   bbfet
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: Clonehead on April 23, 2010, 10:10:35 AM
For the generator, you might be able to find circular shaped foam slices at a hobby lobby that could be cut in half across the diameter  to double your material. You could make the shape that way. As far as the groundwork, i would use foam there as well, ripped or tore to shape to form hills and or valleys and trenches and then cover over the top of the foam with tissue and white glue/water mix. The model train diorama snow would work well on top of this applied with a mix of water and white glue but it would take alot. Around Christmas time, some stores sell this spray-on snow that is used to frost up windows. I wonder how well that stuff would work for this?
Title: Re: Lambonspit's dio
Post by: hangarbay94 on May 02, 2010, 01:53:52 PM
Dude, that's one hell of an obsession when you dig out a basement to build a Star Wars Diorama. I hope you took into account the property's foundations before digging the thing out....

I am very impressed with your determination...