Jabba,s palace/Rancor pit combo - lighting update.

[benjani_1976]

Recently decided to put to use the old laminate flooring stored in the shed,it's never going to click back together again but it makes a crackin' box. Due to clan Skirata,the RC's and Mandalorian collection growing too big for the shelf they're on it was time to make a Mando scene.
As descriptions suggest part of the Vhey'yaim is dug into the ground(polyboard),sculpted the polyboard to produce a mound (being raised aids drainage in the rain), an entrance,topped with thick pieces of green felt as a base layer before the artificial turf goes on top.  A large outdoor plastic flowerpot with plastic tray for the Vhey'yaim partly simulating the mud walls,will be given a detailed effect later......greenery (large nylon leaves) and branches with twine around the outside give the mud walls some protection from wet weather.
The barn roof is being created from bits of timber,so far that's as far as i've got.........oh an made a flickering campfire from some natural resources and a flickering flame tealight candle.

misplaced some of the early pics but they were just showing me knocking together the box

[benjani_1976]

more wip

[benjani_1976]

first mini dio/statuette i made,quite a while ago now.....

[Mando Assasin]

SWEET! Love this!

[Joerhyno]

Oh, this is an awesome start, if I can share a little with you from my conversations with Mrs. Traviss when I contacted her about a diorama that I wanted to buid of Kyrimorut back a couple years ago when there was a RC custom diorama contest...



Her:
"Kyrimorut – alas, I never drew a plan. The mental picture I have is like a hexagonal (or any other shape...) redoubt – a series of buildings connected by passages and tunnels, with an enclosed yard inside, and passages/ corridors branching off it. Because I have no firm plan other than a few rooms, you can do pretty well anything you like and not be wrong. I’ve linked to images of various fortifications on the UK’s south coast, which is where I come from, and the images I grew up with when it came to forts and stuff."

http://www.palmerstonfortssociety.org.uk/gallery/Members-Pics/1/

http://coalhousefort-gallery.com/Satellite-pictures-from-Google-Earth-

I should have said – on that second link I gave you, forts Widley, Purbrook, Southwick and Nelson are very good examples.  You wouldn’t go far wrong basing something on any of those.

 

Best

KT"


part of my reply:

From some of the descriptions it seems almost like it's a small building build into a mound/hill where the most of the inner buildings are underground... is this the case, or are they more buildings with earth and grass on top to disguise them from the air? Looking at that link with the forts, that seems to be somewhat like the latter, which is what I was planning. Again, thanks again, I'll be googling the heck out of those forts in the next couple of days

...and then hers:

"Definitely the latter – some buildings sunk into the ground, but others just disguised with earth and grass, which is very much like the forts, as you say. Not totally buried.

 

There was a time when I would have drawn a floor plan before I started, but I don’t tend to do that these days.

 

Best

KT"

[benjani_1976]

That's some very helpful info,thanks very much. I'm kinda limited on space (3'x2' box) so I'm looking at building the main structure where they all sit around the campfire,talking and eating etc and the barn.
I'm from the south end of the uk and have lived near several old roman ruins of settlements in my time and they've given some insight into what mando's settlements would be like.
Mud stone straw branches twigs etc,seen it all being put into practice watching time team on the discovery channel,and with your info this dio should turn out ok I reckon.

Thanks for taking an interest.  Ben.

[Luke Sprywalker]

Very cool! Looking great so far!

[benjani_1976]

thanks spry,kinda stuck waiting on a delivery so i've been following up on the above links and doing a bit of research.

My thoughts of Mandalorian culture and settlements could be comparable to iron/bronze age Britain,dwellings similar to the Vhey'yaim pictured earlier,nomadic and living off the land,weapons and armour of forged heavily worked metals. A hardened breed of hunters,warriors camped out in semi-subterrainian hilltop settlements,near forests to hunt and a fresh water supply.....sounds very mandalorian,minus the technology of course.

http://www.britainexpress.com/zen/albums/potd/600Bostadh-30062006.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4127/5003309495_fe1bec8b7e_z.jpg
http://www.framearch.co.uk/t5/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/t5_basettlement_crop.JPEG
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3280/2416820024_1418564218_z.jpg?zz=1
http://www.falmouthprimary.cornwall.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IMGP1935-Small.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uQGTm.jpg

some ideas from old age Britain

[r1bb1t]

Simply wonderful work you've done here. I would write more but I'm quite busy at the moment kicking myself for not checking this out earlier..... OW!

[Joerhyno]

Those pictures are awesome, I love that last one with all the little rooms, must have been the richer nomadic bronze age'd people. That one even looks to have a walk in closet for the master bedroom, lol. Just remember for the actual houses structures, they had grass growing on the roofs to help disguise them from the air. I still have my diorama I was planning set up but never got far on it, so maybe after I get my customizing room put back in place, I'll dig it out and get back to work on it.

[hemble]

I'm really enjoying watching how this project is going and look forward to seeing more soon.

Ron

[Phatty]

This is a very cool project, and I can't wait to see how you proceed with it!

[Tamer]

That was some great Traviss talk!

[Darth Optimus]

Kandosii, ner'vod!  Super awesome!

[benjani_1976]

Thanks guys for your interest,comments and compliments..........it's shaping up nicely now,all i'm waiting for now it some microfine astro turf to be delivered then I'll fly through the rest of it.
the main structure has been cut down half the previous height,fitted timbers and a vented thatched roof with camouflage,the cut off will now become a second hut.

I was going to do a deep forest backdrop,now I'm thinking instead of a winter landscape. soon gonna be Xmas heh :

(has the lightsaber turned up DO?)