2010 BIG Project - the Death Star

[starwarsgeek]

OK, so I've decided that I'm going to tackle one "BIG" project every year, starting this year, in my "spare" time when I'm not working my job or working on commissions. Yeah, I know, it's probably a stretch, but I think it will be cool.

Anyway, for my first year, I've decided to create a 1:18 scale Death Star modular playset.

STEP 1: THE PLAN

In my home office/collection room I have some large shelves by IKEA that currently house my collection of crappy Hasbro 12" figures. I've decided to get rid of one shelf worth of those and put this Death Star playset in that space. The shelf is 74 3/4" wide and has a height of 20 1/4" available to the bottom of the shelf above. It's also 10" deep, although I probably won't go all the way back with it. I want to make it maybe 6" - 7" in depth so I can leave room "behind the scenes" for me to put the lighting controls :D

I'm currently still in the planning stages, drawing up different outlines and blueprints, deciding which rooms to include, and trying to figure out exactly how many sections I'm going to have. I think I've narrowed it down to six separate but connectible sections.

The big issue I have is that in the middle of the shelf, on the wall behind it, I have a Hasbro SW cardboard display that I don't want to cover completely.

I want to make it modular, for ease of transporting and/or moving it around. I want to have six sections:

Section 1: computer control room
Section 2: detention block
Section 3: random Death Star room
Section 4: hallway
Section 5: Emperor Palpatine's Throne Room
Section 6: trash compactor (double height)

Sections 1, 2, and 3 will stack on top of each other on the left hand side. Section 4 hallway will attach to the bottom section and connect the right hand side, which will have section 5 sitting on top of section 6. It will be easier to understand once I've finalized my plans and show a pic of the blueprint, lol.

Section 1, 2, 3 and 5 will be 6.5" tall and 23" wide. Section 4 will be 6.5" tall and 28 3/4" wide. Section 6 will be 13" tall and 23" wide. I'm still drawing up the plans, but as soon as I get a finalized idea on the appearance I'll post a picture. I'm not completely sold on the room selections just yet, I'm still tinkering with it... except for the longer hallway and the trash compactor section, everything else is still up in the air.

I'm going to use this thread as my "project journal" along with my blog to keep updates of my progress and WIP pics along the way. I hope you will enjoy seeing the updates and watching me build this massive diorama playset as much as I'll enjoy building it!

[Solrac333]

Wow! Good luck with that.

[starwarsgeek]

What, you don't think I can do it? LOL

[Tony]

Sounds like fun! Need lots of pics!

[Solrac333]

What, you don't think I can do it? LOL

Just make sure that the two-meter exhaust vent is covered up.

[Boggs6ft7]

how about instead of random death star room, you do part of the landing/cargo bay? with the final battle scene between Darth and Obi-Wan

[- Z -]

Jebus...... have fun with that!

[4StarCustoms]

Awesome!

Have you ever seen the Star Wars Cross-section books. Incredible artwork dissecting the vehicles of Star Wars. There's also an incredible cross-section breakdown of the Death Star. If it would be helpful, I could scan it for you.

[starwarsgeek]

Hmmm, I do have that book, but didn't think about that... I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

[hater06]

i'd head over to your local barnes and noble and check out the starwars the forced unleashed behind the scenes books... there is a ton of death star stuff in there... or you can just play the game. :)

good luck!

[INCOM]

Very ambitious project, Dave, I'll be watching this thread closely :)

I take it you'll be mixing up both DS a bit, seeing Palps' throne room in your list. The rest is all from DS1, so why not make a tractor beam control instead, or the chasm across which Luke & Leia swing? Just a thought, you know. ;)

And I don't know if you're familiar with him, but Muftak over at RS has made some really cool shelf displays, depicting all sorts of scenes. Check him out at the RS diorama section for ideas, if you haven't already.

And you don't need luck, just the Force, bud :cool:

[spawnsauce]

I believe in you man.:banana2:

[starwarsgeek]

how about instead of random death star room, you do part of the landing/cargo bay? with the final battle scene between Darth and Obi-Wan

I thought about adding that, but it doesn't seem fair to make the hangar area with a height of only 6.5"... so I'm going to hold off and wait for an opportunity to add a hangar bay later on, in a larger size that would seem more appropriate. I mean, why make a hangar bay if I can't hang any ships in it?


Have you ever seen the Star Wars Cross-section books. Incredible artwork dissecting the vehicles of Star Wars. There's also an incredible cross-section breakdown of the Death Star. If it would be helpful, I could scan it for you.

Hmmm, I don't know if I'm looking in the wrong book or just missed the part you're talking about, but I didn't really find anything useful in the cross sections of the Death Star that I saw. They were much too generic and didn't really show what was inside the Death Star, just looked like they were pointing out which sections were in which areas and such...


i'd head over to your local barnes and noble and check out the starwars the forced unleashed behind the scenes books... there is a ton of death star stuff in there... or you can just play the game. :)


I don't think I have that book... I'll have to look into it.

I do have several other books that I need to look through for more inspiration, and there's always a look through the interwebs for some pics and such....

[hater06]

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Star-Wars-The-Force-Unleashed/Haden-Blackman/e/9781416128090/?itm=1&USRI=star+wars+the+force+unleashed+art+of+the+game

ITS ON SALE!!!!

[starwarsgeek]

LOL, that's some sale! I think I'll pick it up since I don't have it. Thanks for the link!

[starwarsgeek]

OK, February 1st update:

Haven't done any work yet, lol!

Not really. I've got my plans/blueprints almost finalized. My scanner decided it didn't want to work anymore so I couldn't scan them in, but I'll try and take a photo with the digicam soon. I hope to have the shelf area cleared off of figures soon, this week/weekend at the latest. I'll snap a pic of "before" for that as well.

Then I'll start measuring/planing out how much material I'm going to need, foamcore mostly since that's what I'll be building the bulk of this beast from. I have some sheets that I grabbed for $1 each last time Micheal's had a sale, but I don't know if I have enough.

[enclinedesigns]

AHAHHA!!! I love:

Update:No work! HAHA.. I am looking forward to this.

[starwarsgeek]

LOL, yeah, I want to try and keep the thread updated even if I don't have a real update, this way people can start bitching and that might kick my ass into gear to get it done. :D

[BigHank]

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=72096

Here is some motivation for you!:eek:

Now git!:D

[INCOM]

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=72096

Here is some motivation for you!:eek:

Now git!:D

I expected to see something completely different when reading rack1, rack2, rack3, etc. in that guy's first post :yay2:

But yeah, that's some great reference material there. Looks insane!

[jcru]

When it starts to look like the incomplete Death Star from RotJ, could you take pictures?

[starwarsgeek]

Well, it's not really going to look like that because I'm not doing the outside of it, but the interior rooms. But don't worry about photos because I'll be snapping all kinds of WIP pics (and doing vids too when I can) during the entire construction.

[RodimusdawG]

When you say computer control room do you mean the room where they control the Death Star's Laser Beam? That would be awesome with LEDS and green plastic to represent the beam charging.