Author Topic: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest  (Read 16396 times)

Offline DeathStarDroid

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #30 on: April 17, 2011, 04:15:20 PM »
That was my original idea but I am looking for a few more pieces of trash to make something completely different with that platter.

Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #31 on: April 17, 2011, 04:17:15 PM »
Oh yea! I like the looks of that trash! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

AFE, that does sound like a lot for 3 days work! I know you can get part of it done and we will take what ever you have time for.

Pedro, I am glad to hear you are planning a diorama! I would love o see more dios here.

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #32 on: April 17, 2011, 06:34:05 PM »
I've got some final plans drawn up for the Imperial ready room including speeder bike storage, tons of weapons and gear storage, a mini lounge, and hologram comm table.

"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/

Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #33 on: April 19, 2011, 09:35:50 AM »
Sounds great AFE! Can't wait to see your pictures.


Here are my final WIP pics for my battle platform.
















Now she is ready for a flat black base coat.

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #34 on: April 19, 2011, 09:55:25 AM »
I got some cheap little LED poster lights I really want to add to my Ready Room dio. I know they're not trash or scraps, but everything else in the dio is. I fished out bottles and cardboard boxes from the recycling, using scrap metal sheeting, some staples, nails, blister packs, some old grommets, a broken magnet that looks like a hologram planet I found at work. I will upload a photo of my scraps soon.

I'm also going to add 3 photos, 1 of the dio completed with no props or figures, the second of the dio with props and figures in place, and the thirds with the lights added in for extra effect :)

"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/

Offline CloneSniper78

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #35 on: April 20, 2011, 09:44:47 AM »
LE, that little platform speeder is pretty awesome. Your creativity is amazing.

Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #36 on: April 20, 2011, 10:16:23 AM »
Thanks Tom! I really appreciate that. Coming up with the right parts takes most of the time up on these builds. Some times I have what I think is a good idea but don't have the right fodder to pull it off. Creating these odd vehicles from random junk is my favorite thing to do.

Here is a shot with a few of my favorite figures. I do this one or 2 times durring the build to figure out the height to make gun placements, computer consoles and just to see how many figure it will hold without looking like a clown car.






Here she is Flat Black.










Offline RogueLeader

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #37 on: April 20, 2011, 06:25:36 PM »
pretty cool ride, man.  It almost reminds me of the Mule from Serenity.

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #38 on: April 20, 2011, 11:38:51 PM »
I've compiled my trash and scraps and have gotten to work! I've created the base for my dio as well as engineered 4 functioning pieces. Helmet storage cubbies, a circular lounge seat built around a small reactor, a large sconce mounted on the bulkhead (wall), and a "working" hologram projector. I added cheap little LED lights to the sconce and the hologram projector for a test (they can be removed if this interferes with the rules as the lights aren't trash, but they do look amazing!).

There's barely anything in the imperial ready room yet but the photos I snapped quickly really stunned me.

A ready room is essentially a combination armory and storage room. It's where troopers gear up before they go on duty, prepare for a mission, get briefed and debriefed, stow their gear after a mission. In the ready room is equipment, weapons, armor, supplies, and other essential gear. This ready room (purely from my imagination) is one you might find on a heavy dropship (intended for travel to and from planetary missions), aboard a light Imperial cruiser or freighter, or on a supply ship. While Star Destroyers and other capital class ships have many ready rooms--some for pilots and some for other troops--lighter, smaller crafts may only have one or two such as this one I am building.

here's most of my scraps and trash (I added an old burned out mini halogen cabinet light, the spigot insert to an old olive oil bottle, and of course the lights:


DSC_0777 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr

Here's a work in progress shot:


DSC_0786 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr

and here are some photos of the lighting test:


DSC_0778 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr


DSC_0780 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr


DSC_0784 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr

Really loving the way this is coming out! Can't wait to see what everyone else is cooking up!

"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/

Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #39 on: April 21, 2011, 04:00:29 AM »
AFE that is some great trash to work with! I love what you have done with it and yes lights are allowed to highlight what you have made. Everything in your dio does not have to be trash, just the majority of it. That is a fantastic Diorama you are creating and your pics are stunning! I can't wait to see more!

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #40 on: April 21, 2011, 07:18:41 AM »
Thanks spry! I've got a long way to go on it but I had a great moment last night when I turned out (the house) lights and powered on the LEDs. Pretty cool! I'm definitely a diorama guy for now. Love the fact that you guys can make those amazing vehicles. I'd buy two of those wookie skiffs Spry ;) Anyway I'm going to finish scratch building my weapons racks, armor racks, and Speeder bike storage brackets and then hit the whole thing with gunmetal textured spray paint. Then add some detail paint and rust and stains to make the room look more used and lived in. I like the idea that this room is on a dropship or small imperial cruiser that has seen countless tours of duty and received hardly any cosmetic maintenance work. If it works don't fix it ;)

"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #41 on: April 21, 2011, 01:04:16 PM »
Just finished all the building work. I added in a storage space for a collapsed E-WEB cannon, 2 medieval style armor racks, weapons racks, a "working" bacta tank with real bubbles and simulated blue tinged bacta (water and food coloring). There is an LED light mounted under the tank to give it a glowing look. There's a stormy in the tank who was rushed in from the battle field and submerged. They didn't even have time to remove his armor. I've got 2 speeder bikes mounted on the bulk head, and plenty of weapons storage space.


Here are a few more WIP pics:


DSC_0797 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr


DSC_0803 by babydinosaurrancher,

Bacta tank!


DSC_0802 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr

Gear rack!


DSC_0799 by babydinosaurrancher, on Flickr


"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/

Offline Clonehead

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #42 on: April 21, 2011, 06:13:42 PM »
Wow AFE, you are really running with this theme. All of the details are cool and I love the look of the leds. That bacta tank is looking like a winner.

Offline Luke Sprywalker

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #43 on: April 21, 2011, 06:30:18 PM »
AFE, this is great! There are some awesome ideas on display in your pics. Is that pieces of glue stick cut up to hold the various items on the back wall? Is the floor and wall some type of metal? I love all the scratch building you are doing, are those gift cards cut up for the helmet rack? Please let us in on some of these parts you are using, it is looking great!

Offline ActionFigEmpire

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Re: ISY's April Trash to Treasure Contest
« Reply #44 on: April 21, 2011, 08:09:52 PM »
So glad you guys are digging my fledgling dio as it transforms from a Jawa scrap heap to a proud Imperial installation! With all the support and compliments I almost forgot this was a competition! I'm just having such a blast doing this!

Ah Spry, a Jedi never reveals his tricks ;) alright I suppose i can let you in on some of the secrets. Good eye, Spry, yes those are cut up ends of sticks of hot glue. I like the industrial piping or rebar look they have. I imagine in a ship designed purely for work and battle there isn't a lot of cosmetic deco and tons of exposed pipes and and bare wires. The gold rings are some left over grommets i had from a previous armor project. I cut up a contact lens solution box (basically made from cardstock) for the helmet rack and lounge seating around the reactor core. The reactor core inside the lounge is made from the top of a small contact lens solution bottle, with a grommet on the nozel. The base of the seats is an empty plastic dip container from the super market. I cut some nice cloth coated wires off of an old mini halogen lamp (which made an awesome holoprojector table) and then popped two holes into the dip container, threaded the wires up through the dip container, and popped two more holes into the top of the contact lens solution bottle. The halogen lamp came with a plastic connector piece which I cut off and threaded the wires into the opposite, receiving, end of it and glued it down onto the deck for a nice "transformer/regulator box that carries the wires elsewhere in the ship).

The bacta tank was a lot of fun and I decided to add it on a whim. I started with a roughly cut lower half of a plastic bottle, but that leaked all over--I always try to rush the designs I'm most excited about. My girlfriend saw me mixing the food coloring in, trying to gauge the right dilution for the "bacta" and she had the perfect remedy for the leaky tank. An old plastic cinnamon container! Perfect size for an extra tank in a ready room away from the med-bay, or on a ship too small for a full med-bay. I used some of the cloth wrapping from the halogen lamp wires as the oxygen tubing. Glued that to an older Hasbro Han Solo breath mask and posed my trooper in a "submerged" position. I attached the breathing tube to the top of the cinnamon container which screws on nice and tightly. (no leaks!) and then added a mustard cap, an olive oil bottle cap, and some more of the cloth wire wrappings as wires. Added the "googly" eyes for rivets and glued a random metal bracket to the top. Voila! 10 minute Bacta tank! (anyone want one? I could do commissions on these!)

For the armor racks I simply glued two nails together in a "cross" and glued their points onto more lengths of hot glue sticks. Under my helmet rack I glued on a piece of corrugated cardboard that E-11 blasters and other blasters can easily slide into for a "ready rack". The gold rings (grommets) above the helmet rack fit the Sandtrooper backpacks nicely and look space-y enough to also look good aesthetically. More grommets--this time with one side cut out to give them a flat edge have been affixed to the bulkhead to hold Electropoles and other polearms. On the sides of the Helmet rack there are staple gun staples (left 3 thick) glued in 4 places to hold longer blasters such as the DLT-19s. Next to the electropoles I have a micro-rack with a "bumper" to prevent hanging/strapped blasters from shifting during space-flight. This rack is great for the Sandtrooper T-21 rifles with the sculpted on straps. And I used 2 more pieces of hot glue to secure the E-WEB.

The sconce up at the top of the bulkhead is fabricated from the bottom of a curved blister pack, a strip of sheet metal, and googly eyes for grommets. I popped holes into the blister pack plastic and pushed the LEDs through.

Just finished painting it all gun metal gray. Will have more pics soon!

The base itself is constructed from two sheets of thin aluminum reinforced with cardboard backings and "welded" together with hot glue. A very simple slightly off axis right angle design. So more like maybe a 75 degree angle or 85. I will gladly submit some pics of the back and bottoms of this thing if you guys want.


"The Empire has a legion of loyal soldiers that are in endless supply."
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."
"For the Empire!"
http://actionfigureempire.blogspot.com/