SW TFA - Jakku Pursuit Diorama Build Journal (Bandai 006 Falcon)

Hi Guys, I was thinking about sharing my experiences with building my first ever scratchbuilt diorama. I have to tell you I never did anything like this before, so don't be too hard on me

It all started with me dropping my jaw during The Force Awakens, when Rey suddently drove the Falcon into the destroyer while looking for cover.


Very striking scene and it was so perfectly executed! I still consider this as one of the most visually exciting scenes of the movie, but I never tought about building it as a diorama (or building any dioramas at all) Then I have seen some very good takes on the same scene from fellow model builders. Then the Palm-sized Bandai Falcon came out and I had to get one. The last drop was finding my old PC motherboards at my parents place. I was staring at the texture of the sockets on them and got an idea which I couldn't get out of my head so I developed it further and further during the next days.
I dediced to give it a go, but -having many model build projects in parallel- I wanted to keep it low budget. Also promised myself not to go nuts about screen accuracy, rather than recreating the overall look-and-feel of the scene. Most of it is motion blur anyways

I asked around and quickly got more old PC motherboards from my friends. Removed the PCI and the RAM slots with a heat gun. Then I removed the THOUSANDS of pins from the bottom of the things so finally I ended up with a nice box of empty sockets.










Then I bought different wire channels in the nearby DIY store and - most importantly - a BUCKET.



I sawed the bucket in half. Divided the surface to equal stripes and started to superglue the parts on it. (the first shot is "brainstorming" only. No parts are actually glued yet, just messing around with the look)





I am planning to add more piping made of straws to make the inner surface look more busy. First I was afraid that they are too recognizable. But then I tested it and found out that a simple layer of base coat magically turns them into pipes - I decided to include them in the final design.







So this is where I stand now ( beer can for scale )



Can wait to have everything glued to give it a nice coat of paint finally.

WOW! That looks amazing! Can't wait to see more progress! Brilliant use of the materials.

What a wonderful use of the PC parts! This is going to be fun!

Great source for parts!

Looking forward to seeing how it progresses

Brilliant use of pc parts & drinking straws! Please keep us all updated.

Very cool! Are you going to be doing he desert base as well?

SB

This is gonna be great! I can't wait!

StevenBills said:

Very cool! Are you going to be doing he desert base as well?

SB

Click to expand...

I am not sure about it yet. To be honest, I did not consider it first when thinking about the project, then I realised that there is supposed to be plenty of sand on the bottom of that tube. I might just take artistic liberties and skip that, unless I find out a good way to solve it.

This is absolutely epic. Love it! I can't wait to see the completed diorama.

Great stuff for sure (I'm always using those pieces from PC and other computer innards). Still lots of details to do on that model for sure, eager to see your next update!

Hi All - first of all, I have not posted any updates ever since. I was busy on other projects. But every now and then, I returned to my first diorama and worked on it a bit.
First of all I got a First Order TIE from the X-Wing Miniatures Fantasy Flights Game. Not the correct scale (compared to the Falcon) but what the hell. Still smaller than the Bandai pocket edition and it came ready and pre-painted. I am satisfied with the level of detail it provides and it certainly will bring more tension to the scene.



This was the easiest part. Then I had to go back to scratchbuilding the inside of the star destroyer engine.
I close both end of the wire channel bits with styrene. This practically means 2 x 15 times gluing and rasping ...




Then I applied coffee stirrers to the top of each piece. I made a very basic mold to speed up things and make sure every stirrer sits at the same place:





Also constructed a wooden base for the tube/bucket and painted it black with acrylics, so the thing can "stand" now. It is fixed with screws that I have hidden beneath other components. It is rather sturdy.

Having all componenets ready (apart from piping) ths evening I finally put everything together with LOTS of Loctite. I could not resist to put in the ships temporarily, just for the sake of the shots.
I am going to prime it tomorrow.






(beer can for scale)

Love it - those coffee stirrers are a great idea.

Looking good and the stance of the MF is dead on! Jealous about those coffee stirrers(never saw those in Canada:cry).

oh that looks awesome!!!

Great junk-bashing skills too!

Followwwing [emoji897]


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That is so totally cool : )

I put on the primer today. Just as I hoped, "kitbasher magic" kicks in at last - all the surfaces of different materials finally become equal, the shine of plastic is gone. Details are appearing (and errors too)









Yeah, and before I forget: I talked about the woodden base, but I did not show it:



Nice to see things coming together after all these efforts put into an idea.
Now I will proceed with the piping and start the proper paint job in paralel.