Three-foot Death Star - practice section

[3DImpact]

Working with Sean on the 2x2 tiles for so long I have DEATH STAR permanently imprinted on my brain! That, combined with having watched Rob's epic thread on his amazing studio-scale three-foot model, I've been wanting to tackle a studio-scale three-foot Death Star for some time now. Plans are afoot for the whole smash but while design and engineering work on the domes is going on I've been itching to get a 'feel' for what the painting and detailing is going to be like. So I decided to just 3D print out a small, 20x20 cm section of the surface and have a go at it.

This was planned from the beginning to be just about practice and lessons-learned so that when it comes time to start painting 'the big one' hopefully the mistakes will all have been made already. Plus it gives me a sense of how to scale the amount of time it'll take to do it all. (Answer - literally years!). But it's coming out nicely enough that it'll end up being its own little display piece eventually.

I still need to drill in all the little holes for the light to shine through from the back. This test section was just printed in clear fiber but of course the actual domes are being blown from clear acrylic.

Anyway, it'll be quite some time yet until I can get a real start on 'the big one' but wheels are already in motion...

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

Dan

 

[joberg]

No words Dan, no words

 

[3Dsf]

My mental response to the photos as I scrolled down:

"Enh. Hm. Yeah, okay. Huh - crap! That's great!"

 

[Studio Kitbash]

Yeah, beautiful -- pinhole lighting from the back will make that an excellent bathroom night-light to haunt your child's dreams inspire your child's imagination for years to come...

Maybe get a motion sensor built in so that when someone walks in the bathroom, Ben Kenobi's voice says, "That's no moon..."

 

[3DImpact]

Yeah, beautiful -- pinhole lighting from the back will make that an excellent bathroom night-light to haunt your child's dreams inspire your child's imagination for years to come...

Maybe get a motion sensor built in so that when someone walks in the bathroom, Ben Kenobi's voice says, "That's no moon..."

Ha - love it!

So, my son Lucas (yes, named after George) already loves Star Wars and will watch most of the original (1977) movie straight through. I think it's C-3PO and R2D2 that he likes but he's also actually watching. He's 17.5 months old now and last month already knew to spontaneously, on his own, say "Uh oh" when the Dianoga grabs Luke in the trash compactor. So I know he's actually paying attention and following what's happening.

The kid never had a chance...

Dan

 

[t2sides]

Dan!
That is simply INCREDIBLE!!!!

If the test run looks that good, can’t imagine how good the actual model is going to be.

You have NAILED the texture effect along with all the different shades and panel lines. Truly looks as if it was cut out of the actual miniature!!

Nice work on planning this out - gonna be another stellar replica!!!