Topic: Darth More's Dioramas: Felucia - Display Diorama (Test)

[Tamer]

Looks like fun to me.

I regret not getting the big Sep MTT when I saw it on clearance at TJ Maxx one time. Oh well, can't buy everything.

[JTrooper]

Just wanted to say these all look great.

[Starchaser]

Those grass mats really work well for a large spread. I hadn't thought about using one as the field for Naboo (d'oh!), that's a great idea.

[Tamer]

I just figured out I didn't get this on the front pages. Problem rectified. Sorry Philipp.

You show us all that this is a fun hobby. Its not about just getting the stuff, but having fun with it.

[Darth More]

Tamer: No worries boss! I had a lot of fun setting up this display. This hobby can be quite addictive, but I'm over that phase, also thanks to Di$ney and Hasbro having released so much stuff that does not appeal to me at all from 2014-2018. If the interest is there, we can talk about addiction of collecting stuff in a different thread.
The MTT is another bulky brick tat takes much space. But if you want one, just tell me and I'll look for one in the condition you want. I could bring it next year when I hopefully come to the U.S. again - actually wanted to do so this summer!
I'm looking forward to setting up my collecting room in about 5 years from now. I'll share it all with you guys on here. Can't wait to get out all the stuff and finally put it on display!


JTrooper: Hey man, thanks so much for your comment! Have you looked at some of my projects? Do you have a favorite one? So glad to see you back!


Starchaser: They really do! My father and I actually put those on styrofoam plates to display our circus from playmobil. My dad just really likes the circus theme from playmobil. Later we displayed some of his G scale model trains on them. And now I borrowed them to make this Naboo setup. I'm glad I could give you some inspiration! Still need to finish my display for the Naboo Flash Speeder which I got a similar grass mat for.

[Tamer]

Hey, I appreciate the offer, but I am so out of space I am cutting way way back. I have so got to get rid of some stuff.

I sure appreciate it though! I guess maybe if you found a good boxed one on super clearance somewhere in some of your travels.

[Darth More]

Alright, sounds good! I'll keep my eyes open, but know where you're going. One cannot collect all - unless you're Steve Sansweet! lol The price for the MTT has risen from around 40-60€ to 100€ and above within a couple years. Let's see if we're going to see other large Class III vehicles from Hasbro like the Razor Crest.

[FialaFernbrugg]

That is a very impressive Ep. 1 collection that you have there.
I like the battle scene you have created with all the Droid vehicles.
I hope one day we will see a custom droid carrier from you. That would be awesome.

[Darth More]

Thank you so much, Fiala! You won't believe it, but I started working on the Droid Carrier just yesterday. Now it's on me to finish it in one lifetime. But who says the first version has to be the last one, right? W.i.p. pictures follow soon.

[Darth More]

Felucia Containment
Picture Frame Display Diorama

It's finally here: My first attempt to recreate the botany of Felucia. The display stands I found on ebay recently inspired me to combine them with a picture frame.


I do not own this image. Source: StarWars.com


Felucia, known as Galush prior to the formation of the Galactic Republic, was a colorful, humid jungle planet located in the Felucia system of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. The headquarters of the Commerce Guild, its primary agricultural export was the valuable crop nysillin, which was largely farmed by the native Felucian tribes. Its important strategic location along the Perlemian Trade Route made it a major battleground throughout the Clone Wars.

    "I have spoken with the tribal leaders on Felucia. They use a very ancient dialect which is hard to understand."
    -- Obi-Wan Kenobi
Source: Wookieepedia


Work-in-progress:
So I decided to incorporate one of these action stands into my next diorama. My first Felucia test diorama was on my list for years now and a modified & repainted BARC Speeder is planned to follow as well. And coincidentally the arms of the displays I got recently fit some Class I vehicles perfectly.

I used this modelling material which air-dries for the ground and covered both the base of the stand the the frame leaving out both holes for the poseable arm.

Once the area was covered, I textured the clay with this lava stone, that I found on Gran Canaria.



Choice of artificial plants:
Even though I was already picky when I bought these plants online, I was extra picky when I finally had to choose the few that fit on this picture frame. I know they look nothing like the amazing Felucia diorama seen in Revenge of the Sith, but I aimed more for the depiction in The Force Unleashed and Battlefront II. The color scheme of the Felucian Warriors were a great inspiration for choosing these plastic & silicone aquarium plants.



You can see these artificial plants in more detail here. The modelling material takes about 12 hours to harden so I had enough time to place them on the diorama using tweezers and a sculpting tool:





Once I was happy with the botany, I left the stuff to dry.

Painting the ground:
When the clay had dried and hardened, I painted it with different acrylic paints. This time it was a wet-brush of different shades of brown and green. One disadvantage of this clay is that it retracts to a certain extent, so there's a small gap between the "ground" and the frame now. Need to add some more paint to the edges:

After the paint had dried I glued the plants back in position using wood glue and tried if the poseable display stand still fit on there. The height of one element towers over the plants' perfectly:

I don't have any more TFU figures here, but I plan to add Shaak Ti to duel Starkiller on a second arm - force jump air combat so to say:



Enter Aayla Secura & Details:
Every time I play Battlefront II Felucia is a must play - mowing through some clankers in the jungle of Felucia with Aayla Secura is always fun. That's why I display her with two lightsabers here as featured in the original BFII game:




Making of the Fungi:
Initially I planned on making the base of Sideshow's Premium Format Aayla Secura to begin with, but these display stands inspired me to make a display diorama for a BARC Speeder first.
Here's a picuture of the tool and paints I used for the sculpted plants and fungi, that are also seen in the movie(s). I used the same cheap clay for these as I did for shaping the ground:



You can find sculpting tools on ebay and Amazon using the forum's affiliate links to support it without any extra costs:

ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=sculpting+tools&_sacat=0

Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sculpting+tools






Couple extra details:
Today I went to my trusted gem dealer. It's been a while. Last time I was there is 15 years ago.
On my way to the workbench I re-discovered a pouch of Pyrite crystals. I thought these were perfect to cover the holes for the posable display arms. But a few moments later I was reminded by a Bornite that I got years ago. But I couldn't find it that quickly. So I decided to just get a couple more and paid 5€ for these here:

I think these look perfect in the colorful botany of Felucia and could either be ore found on the planet or an meteor from decades ago, uncovered by Felucia's acid rain.
If you're interested, you can read more on Bornite here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bornite








I do not own this image. Source: ModDB

Comment:
Nothing special, just a test shot and first attempt on this toxic planet...the vibrant colors are what I enjoy most on Felucia. This planet is so toxic and dangerous that you don't know if your next step is the last one. The next diorama is going to be bigger with more sculpted plants. If you want to see a truly impressive one, you can see one in this German forum that I found during my research
https://www.sfmforum.de/index.php/topic,571.0.html

Got any questions or suggestions for improvement? Please, let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading!

- Philipp

[Tamer]

Wow, this is fantastic!

First off I love the colors, this is exactly what I envision when I think of Felucia. I think you absolutely nailed the plant life. Just bravo.

Second, I think how you intermingled this for all of the different options with those display stands is great too. You can do all kinds of things with this and change it up every so often. So cool that stand supports the weight of the speeder bike too.

Needless to say, I am off to the front pages with this. Thanks for sharing it with us and explaining how you did it all.

[hemble]

Fantastic work on the dios mate and the colour are awesome.

Ron

[Starchaser]

Thanks for sharing your process. I really like the color scheme you came up with, I do agree it matches the Felucian figures really well - maybe it's a different part of the planet from the movie scenes? One question: how did you make the little flat brown disc fungus - I didn't see those in your artificial plant packs?

[Darth More]

@Tamer: Thank you for the kind words! Yes, I really tried to only use plants that could possibly be found on Felucia. Didn't want it to look like the ground of an ocean or an aquarium. And those display stands are awesome to work with and to incorporate into dioramas. The bases are very durable thanks to the square pattern underneath. And these kits in particular which come with screws are perfect even for heavier models because the joints can be adjusted. So even small vehicles like STAPs or the BARC Speeder are no problem to display. I currently work on three of them and cannot wait to share the finished repaints. I'm going to use the 327th Legion Trooper, that came with the Gelagrub, to sit on my first custom Speeder. Thanks for sharing it on all the channels. More displayed action coming soon.


@hemble: Thank you so much, mate! I'm always glad to read your opinion. I'm happy to have found some properly colored plants over the years. The Force Unleashed videogame was a huge inspiration to me. But I also seek to recreate the diorama by ILM seen in Revenge of the Sith. That's going to take some serious effort though and will probably realized in 4 years from now. Thanks for coming by and leaving your feedback!


@Starchaser: Thank you for asking! You always proof to have such a good eye for details! I actually sculpted these disc fungi with the same (cheap) clay that I used for the base. I paid 3.99€ for 2 pounds of clay at my local art supplies store.



There's this one sculpting tool which was included with the rather cheap set of sculpting tools I found on Amazon a while ago. Guess that's the next opportunity for an affiliate link here.
But you can also take some thin wires, bind them together and bend them a little. Or a thin needle will do as well. I was quite happy with the instant result. Sometimes I don't know what to use a particular tool for until I got a specific model in mind. So I looked at the tools that I got and thought of which one would lead me to the desired result.
Here's a picture of the tool and paints I used:


And to be honest, these two details were added at the end. I was actually going to make a 1/18 scale version of the base which came with Sideshow's Premium Format Aayla Secura first. But these display stands inspired me to make this picture frame diorama first. That's why I hardly left any space to display figures on the ground here. This one is to for displaying a BARC Speeder or two fighting characters from The Force Unleashed. More pictures will follow soon. So as mentioned, this one was a test and I don't want to mess up the small version of the premium format dio.
rebelscum.com has the best pictures of the base I could find online. So big shoutout to them. Sideshow only used two kinds of plants seen in Revenge of the Sith or the Battlefront game(s), which makes it rather easy for me to make this one. I'm only waiting for the black base, which I found on AliExpress days ago.

Here's the link to rebelscum's review on the 1/4 scale statue, that I'm going to make in 1/18 scale:
http://rebelscum.com/Aayla_Secura_Premium_Format_Figure_Sideshow_Collectibles.asp

I figure these wooden bases can be quite costly, here's an offer for about $4 each with a diameter of about 3 inches:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/8-19cm-Diameter-Real-Solid-Wood-Carving-Vase-Base-Stone-Buddha-Incense-Flowerpot-Wood-Carving-Teapot/1005002376777982.html

A base for Darth Malgus on Korriban will be fun as well!

Thank you for your comment! Yes, that's a solid point you make here. There are so many different plants on Earth as well. Star Wars has always been heavily inspired by all the different landscapes of this planet, so different botany on Felucia sounds plausible. I'm glad you can see this being part of Felucia's jungle.

[Darth More]

@Starchaser: I now added a couple pictures of the making process above. The next time I sculpt these fungi, I'll thin the paints with a drop of water, so that even the smallest pores are covered. I'm also going to use a dark brown as base coat. Sometimes the smallest living things are also the most lethal/poisonous. That's why the idea was that nothing else grows around these brown fungi. I could well see them excrete some poison. I painted them with a wet-brush and didn't see myself using a bright orange to be the correct color for these. Sometimes mixing colors makes all the magic happen.