TIME TO LET THE DEVIL OUT !

 As the saying goes "the devil is in the detail" it's time on this project to let him out and get into the detail.

First I've been working on Jabba's throne area, more importantly the area behind. This turns out to be a cooking area with a rotisserie table and a prep bench behind with some ingredients on it, last time you will have seen the bench in, now I've got all the little details in, and the ornate legs in the front. I wanted to get this finished first so I could get a decent picture before the table went  in and I couldn't get a clear photograph.

Next in was the rotisserie table, had to make a lot of this in sections and then assemble before painting. I used some orange acetate underneath the mesh in the top of the table to give the impression of heat coming up through. The second photograph shows the alcove over the area.

This last shot of this area, shows what it looks like with some figures in place, and with the reference picture to show what I was aiming for.

The next section I've been working on is the alcove where Han is displayed. Now some of you may be thinking, didn't Dave say he was playing in a time period set before Rogue One, why would Han be there, well this was a gift from Michael Awdry, and there was no way I wasn't going to include it. So it could be another smuggler trapped in Carbonite that's on display.

The grill underneath was achieved with mesh and coloured acetate which worked well, and at a later date if I want to I could add some LED's to light it up. I've also started weathering the walls with some Agrax Eartshade to start the staining process.

And to give a sense of what it looks like with models in it, I let the band out to play.

That's all for now, still got a ton of detail to work on. So until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

PROGRESS

 I've been continuing on with Jabba's Palace, and making some good headway, all the basic construction has been done, and a good 80 % of the walls are now painted to the basic standard. The four alcoves still have a lot of work to do before painting, as every arch at the front requires detail  within the arch.

As you can see from the above pictures how all the bits fit together and how much is currently painted to the basic standard.

I have started on the detailing as well, as you can see in the picture of  the dais above and can see it retracted and extended, I am still trying to find an effective way of making the frog bowl, and hoping to find a solution to that soon, with the ability to place the hookah on top as well.

Got the two trophy heads done and fitted to the wall either side of the alcove for Han, need to find a solution for the base plate in this area  but got a couple of ideas.

The above shots show how you can get access to the end section, and the view from the two removable panels.

Also started painting the markings on the arches, this was done with a wash, to give the faded and patchy look you see in the movie.

The last three shots show the stair wells was pleased with how these turned out.

That's all for this post, hopefully next time I will be close to completion of this piece, so until next time stay safe and have fun.

Cheers Dave

FORM OR FUNCTION ?

 One of the biggest things when making scenery, is the delicate balance between how easy it is to play over, against how accurate it is to the source material. If we were making dioramas it would be a lot easier as it would be all about the accurate depiction, but as the throne room is for gaming over it needed to have areas that are easily accessible and no falling over model syndrome. With the steps I've gone for aesthetics rather than getting models on them, as it would increase the step size by a multiple of 5 !

Above you can see all the basic structures have now been built, and placed in their eventual final positions, having built all the sections as separate pieces, it's allowed me to work out what pieces need to stay separate for ease of photo's in the future.

As you can see above, these are all the pieces that will be stuck down to the base board, the large stairs corridor and edge of a room are already stuck down and I painted the sections separately for ease and being able to get the brush in on some small tricky areas. The throne isn't stuck down yet as I still have some work to do on there.

Above you can see the piston structure that I'm using to have the dais able to move forward for when watching a poor victim of the Rancor.

Now some of you were enquiring about the process, so I actually remembered to take photo's of all the different stages. Above you can see the basic board construction, this was all glued in place with PVA glue, and then left overnight to dry fully. I used a Stanley knife to cut out the sections, and sandpaper to finish off the edges. 

Next I added a skim of wall filler over the whole structure, to add a nice texture, you may need to do this in several stages, as you run out of places to hold the piece, that isn't already covered in filler ! LOL

Once all the filler was dry, I gave it all a base coat of GW Zamesi Desert, and then left to dry.

Next I gave a wetbrush coat of GW Ushabti Bone, a wetbrush coat is similar to a drybrush, but you don't wipe the brush on a cloth, so holds a lot more paint. If you've never tried this before, have a scrap piece   to practice on, until you learn how the paint will flow.

Lastly I gave an all over drybrush of GW White Scar, in shadow areas you can leave this coat off, especially if it's a small piece.

Lastly the above pictures show how you can easily get in to photograph these areas once in place.

Last time you may have seen Jeff and myself talking about an old model kit, while I was looking for some reference pictures I happened to find these pictures of the kit, as you can see this kit went a lot more on the function side than I have.

That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave

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 

ONE MANS RUBBISH IS ANOTHER MANS SCENERY

 Must admit I have no clear plan on what I want to achieve over the Season of Scenery challenge, so will just go with the flow and see what happens.

When we moved into our house, we had an over abundance of smoke alarms, which the building work would constantly set off, so took them all down, and once the building work was finished on the main house, put a more reasonable number back up, which left a lot of spares ! While looking at one it reminded me of the big disk in the sand at the Lars Homestead on Tatooine, which sparked an idea of why not make one.

The first thing I did was separate the two halves and remove the internal workings, looking at the vented section, I thought it would looking more like the reference picture by turning it upside down, this then ment the white top disk was now too wide to fit on, so I marked the new diameter onto the white piece and cut off the excess using a Dremel cutting wheel. I then cut some bluefoam to make the surrounding area, shaped and textured it. It's now got the basics done, but needs finishing and detailing.

While I've been working on that I've also been building the underground entrance as well, this was made with insulation foam, and then textured with wall filler. I find the trick with this foam is to think of it like soft wood, so you can cut it with a saw, also a sharp blade, and you can sand it very easily. For this piece I built it in 5 sections, the dome, the bottom ring and the 3 arches, once they were all shaped, I stuck it all together and then textured. I've made it hollow for two reasons, can put figures inside it, and I'm thinking of putting these into production, so being hollowed out means I can keep the price  down, now I know you can get similar in MDF and 3D print, but the difference here is the texture as the other two mediums leave that to the individual.

That's all for this post, hopefully will have these and other projects finished soon, and if anyone hasn't signed up for the Season of Scenery challenge yet, can sign up in the comments below, as there is still plenty of time as You've got until the 31 st of August 2021 to show your entries.

So until next time stay safe and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave