1/72 Hoth Echo Base Hangar diorama

Wow, that was fast huh!? I just mailed that Tuesday afternoon! Thumbs up for USPS. btw, I forgot to mention, I had already shot the whole rack of Ties with a slightly dark gray but only one shot of it so it would slightly contrast the ISD color I used.
Say, that would be awesome if it's not a huge pain for you. I'd love to see those :thumbsup

INVAR said:

I just got your package in the mail this morning, so I already have your snail mail addy!

Let me know if these links are not working or if the download issue is a pain, and I'll grab a flash drive for you and dump BOTH Revisted movies (ANH & Empire) on them for you.

Click to expand...

- - - Updated - - -

but I'll try the download first and see if I can save you the trouble:thumbsup

Hey guys,

I'm looking at angles for the hangar walls, measuring and such...10 to 12 degrees "looks" about right, 15 too much I think. does anyone know? I'm sure it's somewhere but it's easier to ask, not that I'm lazy or anything but for this, opinions from you guys seem to matter more than hunting for days for fact which may or may NOT be out there to be found. Know what I mean? As far as the ceiling height goes, I'm just going to guestimate from images and gage from the height of the falcon.
Thanks :thumbsup

I found a good CGI image that was level and close to one of the "pylon" supports/wall, using a cheap unmarked angle gage I lined it up and then lay the gage on my chop saw base and adjusted to it and I got 11.5 degrees...close enough???

Found this image:



Link to where I got it: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=102451&page=17

Awesome! You sir are a steely eyed laser-cannon gunner! Can't thank you enough! That's exactly what I needed. Cool book, top of the page :thumbsup

JoeCS said:

Found this image:

View attachment 821299

Link to where I got it: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=102451&page=17

Click to expand...

well this is as far as I've gotten, but now with the awesome blue print from JoeCS, this will go along quicker. I won't be guessing at proportions from images. the floor will need to extend past the shelf opening a few inches for sure, also...I'm thinking I need to do a slight cut-away of the front alcoves to give me a bit more in the back, and it will allow more feature of the interior of the front ones anyway. I will have to employ the idea of inserting backdrop pics of the "next room" in the rear of the alcoves to give it depth. Rolling right along. Thanks you guys for the assistance with this part of the project. it will definitely turn out better than had I winged it on my own! thumbsup:thumbsup

also, from what I can tell from photos, the ceiling should be around 9 inches high, that's the blue tape on the angled strings. however, at that height, one would have to stoop over to see inside, so I think I'm going to take a liberty with it, 9 inches in the back and angle up to perhaps 11 in the front. but the 9 in the rear will make it easier to do the shaft in the ceiling above the falcon, and there in making the downward light from it easier to deal with :thumbsup as always, suggestions are always welcome

This is turning out awesome Ross , I’m doing a Hulk and turning green - with envy !

Looking at where you’re planning to build the alcove walls in pic #1 , are you making them permanently fixed ? Asking cause it’d be a shame to have so much of your detailed work hidden within them

Perhaps you’ll consider having the ‘ alcoves ‘ built so they’re removable at different times for viewing and photo shoots , or maybe have them semi - clear ( slightly frosted styrene/ thin acrylic ) so as to simulate ‘ ice walls ‘ at least along the sides , and you could still have the ‘ fronts ‘ of them an icy white- ala film sets ... just some suggestions mind


:cheersGed

Hey Ged, thanks brother!
I'm going to have them fixed, although the most forward will be partial cut away so you'll be able to see pretty much the entire inside of those. I'm not going to do much inside the alcoves anyway but have the ships sticking out and those wall cables running inside. though I will have an ambient light in the back of each one, I'm thinking that ought to do. .... I hope :thumbsup

gedmac66 said:

This is turning out awesome Ross , I’m doing a Hulk and turning green - with envy !

Looking at where you’re planning to build the alcove walls in pic #1 , are you making them permanently fixed ? Asking cause it’d be a shame to have so much of your detailed work hidden within them

Perhaps you’ll consider having the ‘ alcoves ‘ built so they’re removable at different times for viewing and photo shoots , or maybe have them semi - clear ( slightly frosted styrene/ thin acrylic ) so as to simulate ‘ ice walls ‘ at least along the sides , and you could still have the ‘ fronts ‘ of them an icy white- ala film sets ... just some suggestions mind


:cheersGed

Click to expand...

this is what I got done over the weekend. I decided to go 10 inch on the walls just in case I ran into a problem. All the alcove walls and ceilings have angle cuts of 11.5% to get a flush fit. I was going to cut the backs straight, but realized you CAN see in far enough that the back edges should be the same angle so when the phony pics of the "next room" are attached they'll look correct. I put sheet rock screws into the sides and attached kite string, then set the large walls to the proper angle, then taped the string to hold them. then I just started measuring and cut all the alcove pieces at once. Then I went back a glued them in to the walls only, not the floor. I found out that regular model glue doesn't exactly work on this white acrylic sheet, so I used the Laser bond to hold in place good enough to take the two assemblies back to the garage and used white gorilla glue to secure them. After that I used some white spatter paint on the seams to hide them. next will be to smear sheet rock mud on the face of the two large assembly walls, then take a bondo blade that has been slightly notched and drag it across the mud to create the cut lines as seen in the movie images. Then shoot the whole thing with some white. I still need to build a short corridor off the 4th Snow speeder alcove. I was going to use the sheet rock mud (joint compound) to simulate the few areas where there is either rock covered with ice, or perhaps it's just unfinished ice, but it occurred that I can use the fake rock wall stuff made for train sets, glue it on and just shoot it white with the rest of it, lighter and less likely to beak off. The shading will be tricky I'm sure, as well as the places where there will be simulated "high foot traffic" on the floor piece, but I'll figure that out I'm sure. The will be ambient lighting in each alcove, the small hallways and the draped cable and wall lights between the alcoves. man, this sure is a lot more work than I thought it would be, but hopefully will all be worth it in the finished product.

And again, I want to do a big shout out to JoeCS for those images of how the room is layed out, the blue print image in particular was most helpful! Thanks Joe:thumbsup

gt350pony66 said:

And again, I want to do a big shout out to JoeCS for those images of how the room is layed out, the blue print image in particular was most helpful! Thanks Joe:thumbsup

Click to expand...

You're welcome, even though I simply borrowed those images. Display is looking great so far! It's always exciting when things start taking form

yeah, but you found it. I've been looking and I didn't. And thanks so much, it is exciting even though the further I get into this, the more things I realize I need to do :wacko

JoeCS said:

You're welcome, even though I simply borrowed those images. Display is looking great so far! It's always exciting when things start taking form

Click to expand...

Ok, so I went to the hobby shop thinking I needed fake rock pieces, then I realized the rough areas toward the rear are concave...duh :wacko They didn't have plastic rock anyway, so I got a silicone mold of several different shapes of rocks like for railroad landscape. I'll mix up my own silicone mold stuff and pour that in, making a reverse mold. then stick that flat side down, build the mold walls around it, then pour the plastic in that. Cut the acrylic to the same outer shape, then insert the new concave piece and blend it in. There's always a way

a quick mock up to check proportions. I discovered that I cut one too many Speeder bays. for what I'm doing, to keep everything proper I'm going to have to fill in the last speeder alcove opening, and put the inner wall with the tunnel opening at number 3. easy fix though. I did get a silicone rock mold, to make a reverse mold for "innies" on the walls to the rear and behind the Falcon which lead into tunnels. This part of the project should be a lot of fun, though some of this will be tough to see, it'll be there as it should. I did hit a snag with the mold though...my hobby shop guy says, "be sure to spray release in the mold". I thought that was odd, but I did...and wrong-o! The silicone semi set up, so I cleaned it all out with brake parts spray, and it set a little better, but it inside where the detail is...still gooey. Thinking I didn't get the mold clean enough and release agent residue is jacking with the silicone setting up. I think for 9 bucks I'm just going to go get another one. it takes 4 hours for that stuff to set up and now I'm two days into it and have produced Nadda :facepalm

and yeah, there's a long L-O-N-G way to go yet on this. I intent to get as close as I can to that image of the 1/48 one in Japan. :thumbsup

Looks awesome, man! Can't wait to see it done!

Thanks brother! it's one of those projects that has it's tedious parts, but mostly a lot of fun because I have to scratch stuff up, and I'm looking forward to having it all done, but at the same time I'll be sad that it's done. but then hey...there's lots of stuff in the pipe for me

korben44 said:

Looks awesome, man! Can't wait to see it done!

Click to expand...

gt350pony66 said:

Thanks brother! it's one of those projects that has it's tedious parts, but mostly a lot of fun because I have to scratch stuff up, and I'm looking forward to having it all done, but at the same time I'll be sad that it's done. but then hey...there's lots of stuff in the pipe for me

Click to expand...

You're welcome! I think my next project is going to involve the PG Faclon, my 1/72 Boba Fett Slave 1, and some Cloud City landing pads...

I'm starting to get itchy about starting my PG for this diorama...just waiting on the ESB extra gear boxes. I actually could probably get going on it, but I'd hate to do that and then feel the need to stop till I get them, so I'll just wait, it'll be worth it, besides there's PLENTY of other stuff left to do with this project. Tony has always been awesome with special request, and fast about it. This time, it's taking a bit. But I know the guy is busy with a lot of stuff. I half thought Age of Plastic might do some, they did a nice entry corridor and some other stuff for this, that I did get for it. However, I've collaborated with Tony on a couple things before so I naturally asked him first. it'll be all good :thumbsup

korben44 said:

You're welcome! I think my next project is going to involve the PG Faclon, my 1/72 Boba Fett Slave 1, and some Cloud City landing pads...

Click to expand...