Star Wars themed diorama(s) - Input needed.

Hi guys, kind of newish here (the usual lurker story).
I've had this one idea for many years and it's time to execute it. I need some help figuring out what works best though. Sorry for the wall of text. This will also serve as a bit of a journal for me.

The story:
I want to tell a little story about Luke accidentally crashing into the Death Star. In essence it's a "what if" piece. There will be a fateful meeting after that. There is a punchline of sorts, but I don't want to spoil it just yet.

Execution Options:
This is where I need help. There are several routes to go and I'll lay them out:

1. My initial thoughts where to build a one scene diorama in around 1/72 scale that could tell most of the story. Basically an X-Wing protruding through the wall inside the dio, and a Luke and X figure interacting.
2. I have also toyed with the thought of doing a larger scale piece focusing on the interaction between Luke and X. How well do you think a one piece diorama could work having the 1/72 scale stuff in the background while having large scale figures in the "front"? Not sure forced perspective would really work here unless perhaps cording off the smaller scale stuff by way of a half opened blast door? My fear is the dio would be too elongated and not really work as a static piece.
3. I have also considered doing 3 seperate dioramas (because two doesn't really mesh with our concept of story progression) and having them framed in such a way that you recognise them as part of comic strip or story board. The 3 pieces would consist of:

• An X-wing in the foreground and a Death Star in the background. I am confident that I could mix scales here and it would read correct. Might even throw in a Star Destroyer (I got the small kits from BanDai ordered). This would then be a 3 layer composition though and probably wouldn't look as good as a 2 layer one as there wouldn't be much room for forced perspective to work. You also have to bear in mind that since it's a space environment there are no real points of reference to show scale other than relying on people knowing the Death Star is huge. Essentially you could get some nice pictures off and make it work, but I also want it to look good as a static piece on display. Probably no Star Destroyer.
• The 1/72 scale dio of the X-Wing protruding through the wall. Here is the thing - If I make it a three parter this dio will differ from the first proposal in that Luke won't be interacting with X yet. I am not sure I could comfortably set this up so I could switch from the 1-scene diorama version to part 2 of the 3-scene without making too many compromises. If I can manage that I could start with this and add the other 2 scenes if time allows.
• The close up interaction of the characters. This is the punchline and it would be nice to depict in larger scare than 1/72. I have been scouring ebay and the likes for an X-wing pilot Luke (wanted a 6" black series), but they are crazy hard to find at reasonable prices. I settled on some 3.75" figures. They'll work with the Hero X-Wing waiting for mods otherwise I also got a Jakks Pacific 18" Poe Dameron at a sale that I thought I could convert to Luke. It would need a lot of cutting and sculpting, but the main thing is that the flight suit top part looks (the orange bits) look pretty much like the snowspeeder flightsuit. It would make for an easier mod if I end up using 1/4 scale. Question is, how weird would it be if he was sporting his snowspeeder suit while not on Hoth?

Actually I would ideally like to make this into a short (really short) movie, but I don't really have the funds to splurge on Sideshow 6th scale figures to get the articulation needed for proper stop motion so it's most likely only going to be a static piece. Perhaps parts of it could be filmed and edited into a short at a later date, nothing wrong with being overly ambitious right?

Help:
All thoughts are welcome! My goal is to have all this done by mid September.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

I think finding a cool way to separate yet combine the scenes, that would be great. The natural wipes used to transition between scenes throughout Star Wars could be a source of inspiration... perhaps have the lines that separate the scenes within the composition follow the lines of action... if that makes sense! You could easily mix scales with that approach. It might feel a little like the mix of scales you see on the montage-style SW cinema posters... Now there's another place you could find inspiration on how to arrange it!

For the crashed X-Wing, I would suggest scratch building an X-Wing nose and cockpit to match the figure you decide to use.

I did not think of that (transition lines). That could be really interesting! I was thinking literally framing the 3 scenes in boxes like this:

I must mull on how your suggestion would work now.

As for the X-wing - you are definitely picturing it how I was thinking, I was just hoping to get away with a dio that does not take up too much living space - hence why I wanted to do that part in 1/72. The only reason I am considering doing more than 1 scene is that I haven't really found any good figures to work with and express the interaction I am thinking of in that scale. 3.75" is probably for the best, but having the nose and cockpit that scale means I could use my hero X-wing.... I've got 2. It could work, it's just going to be huge in that case.

To save some room (at least footprint), maybe you could have the space stuff happening at the top of the diorama, and then have the rest of the story told below that?

You sir are clever and thinking out of the box. Ba-dum-tish! I am really glad I posted this now.

Back to the drawing board ... literally and make some sketches or storyboards, please ... this kind of helps yourself and us visually in how to tackle the issues you might encounter ... George Lucas used cut out paper sets and figure maquettes ... you can do the same with your 3.75" scale figures to get the feel for what it is your trying to create

Chaim

Sym-Cha said:

Back to the drawing board ... literally and make some sketches or storyboards, please ... this kind of helps yourself and us visually in how to tackle the issues you might encounter ...

Click to expand...

Hehe, I came to the same conclusion... So here is where I am at after some doodling:


I haven't figured everything out yet, but I wanted to share this for now. This would indeed be easier to tell as short 30 sec movie, but the work involved would be (I already know how I'd do the trench run sequence hehe). Choosing the right part to make a static display of is much harder.

The last two frames (crashed x-wing + yet to be detailed lounge area interaction) would get the intended message across. Why he crashes is not really important. The 1st or 2nd frame (death star + x-wing) would make for a nice diorama in my opinion, but it doesn't really add much other than anchoring the where and alluding to the circumstances that lead to Luke flying there in the first place (the death star run mission). Now that I wrote that it does feel like it would have some value...

Well that's all for now.

Thanks for checking this out.

Question : Where about is Vader? Since in the original attack he's already chasing Luke and it would make for a far more exciting shot to whatever your punchline is going to be . . . ahem . . . and I suspect Luke crashed his X-wing in Grand Moff Tarkin's luxurious bathroom, where Tarkin was just about to relax in the tub, now that Vader has taken flight to tackle the rebel issue himself ... or am I mistaken, hm?

Chaim