Thursday 8 July 2021

CONSTRUCTION SITE

 This week I was in the mood for construction, rather than painting, so decided to start work on the large piece I wanted to do for the challenge Jabba's throne room.


The first step was to draw out the plan on the base board, to the right scale for the models being used. Some measurements have had to be adjusted to allow bases through doorways and to make the wall construction easier, and other measurements have changed as I've built the pieces separately to make them fit together well.


Each section has been built with dense insulation foam and filler for texture, and I've used some blue foam in places where I needed thinner walls.


One of things I wanted to do was have removable walls to allow cinematic photos rather than just an aerial view when games were being played.


I would say I'm about half way through on the construction, and still have a few bits to work out, but happy with the progress so far, that's all for this post so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave 

26 comments:

  1. Brilliant work Dave, looking good! Thanks for sharing parts of your design/planning process for these builds. Makes me want to get my terrain bits box out after work; I really need to scratch build something!

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    1. Thank you Joe, I always have the good intentions of sharing how I do things, but quite often get so caught up in the build I forget to take pictures as I go ! LOL You may have noticed the steps stuck on the drawn up plan, showing exactly what I mean !
      Look forward to seeing what you create, will it be something generic, or army specific for one of the 3 in your household ?

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    2. I started on 2 pieces last year, one is a generic building and the other was going to be a Haemonculus diorama, but I've since been gifted a bunch of great terrain building materials so I'd like to expand the scope to use some of the new bits. I could also use a new decorative display board so maybe something that could go with that... we'll see what inspiration strikes when I open that storage box!

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    3. Look forward to seeing it all develop Joe, as there is some fantastic ideas in there

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  2. Great start to Jabba's throne room, Dave. Love all the little bits and pieces being added and you explain your thoughts/ideas. The removable walls sounds like a fantastic idea for those pics in 'cinemascope'!! :-)

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    1. Thank you Simon, I do find writing my thought process difficult, as it can be very erratic at times ! LOL Hoping this will truly be a centre piece build, and even outdo Ben's house I did last year, in fact that's where the idea for the removable walls came from

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  3. Looking good so far, removable walls sounds like a good idea.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you Roger, with Ben's house I just did the one wall and roof, with this one I'm going to need a lot more so I can get the right angle shot inside

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  4. Good start on this, Dave! :)

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    1. Thank you Tamsin, sometimes the hardest step is the first one, but I think this project will throw me a few curve balls along the way ! LOL

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  5. I'm drooling just with this. Looks amazing so far, I'd love to see the whole progress.

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    1. Thank you Suber, I'll try to remember to take more pictures as it progresses for you

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  6. Looking good so far, Dave! I like how you planned it out on the base, and your choice of materials. Looks like you've made some good progress and if it turns out anything like your other Star Wars stuff it'll be amazing!

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    1. Thank you Matt, having the plan on the base board definitely has it's advantages, as You can see areas that will need modifying as you build up from the ground, then making most of the raised sections as separate pieces allows you to slot them alltogether to see the overall picture, while having them as smaller pieces are more manageable for working on.

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  7. I couldn't be more excited about this project! I know we talked a bit about recreating Jabba's Palace in the past. There was a model released by Revell or one of the big model companies in the US that was basically a little Jabba's Palace diorama. I've thought about picking that up but the scale is really small so the models are really tiny and undetailed so I don't know how satisfying it would be to work on. In other words, I'm thrilled and will be enjoying this vicariously through your efforts :D

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    1. Thank you Jeff, I recall the model, it was Jabba's dias and a small amount of the surrounding throne room, I did look at buying the kit, but as you say the detail wasn't great on the figures. The main construction hasn't been too difficult, but the detail needed is what's going to take the time, as there are so many little incidental pieces I'm going to need to make, not looking forward to the spit that sits behind Jabba ! LOL

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  8. Mate! You never cease to amaze me with your ideas, but more importantly actually doing them! That's just incredible! Of course I have to ask about the Rancor pit... I'm sure you've got something planned for that as well 😀

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    1. Thank you Ivor, yes another descent further into madness ! LOL I have been looking at a Rancor pit as well, and prison cells, and robot torture chamber, but think I need to finish this one and the Lars farm bits before starting too much more ! LOL

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  9. That is going to be some sized building, the footprint looks huge!
    Well done getting from plans to construction, i've been planning mynext two building for ages and really should start !

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    1. Thank you Joe, the base is 550 mm x 360 mm so a fair sized footprint, it's why I went for this one over the cantina first as that one has a base of 1000 mm x 500 mm.
      Can be easy to overthink from plan to starting, I know I did on this for so long, look forward to seeing more of your excellent buildings.

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  10. Splendid looking start to the Palace! Smart idea to have a floating wall!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain, constructing in sections has allowed to look at the piece both individually and as a whole, so highlighting where it would be difficult to be able to take photo's, so I'm now making some sections removable not just the walls, so it's constantly evolving as I go ! LOL

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  11. John@justneedsvarnish12 July 2021 at 10:02

    Great to see this starting from scratch Dave! :-) Looks much more complicated once it's started to become a 3D shape!

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    1. Thank you John, it has had it's moments so far, where I find a detail from a stills shot that shows the plan was inaccurate and so needed to be adjusted, and some of the complex shapes have proved tricky, but should have the construction finished this week, then painting and a ton of details to do ! LOL

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  12. O I love where this is going so far Dave and seeing your planning for it makes it even cooler!

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    1. Thank you Dai, the planning was to help remind me how I did it for when I do the cantina ( not for a while) and also to help anyone else who might be thinking of trying dense insulation foam to build scenery

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