Topic: Laojax diorama accessories

[Laojax]

Let me start off by saying a HUGE debt is owed here to Owen of Owen's customs, whose site has been a big inspiration. The idea and design come from him:
http://www.owenscustoms.com/dumpster.html
   I'm getting the hang of uploading pics from my phone and have some time to kill on the way to work (I commute an hour each way by train) so I'll post one more finished project. I try to make a custom Xmas present for my son every year. In 2010 it was a tricked out xmas Thomas train,  and this time around he had discovered the OT so I made him  a scratchbuilt dumpster for droid parts and random bits:

The last pic was with flash, here's one in natural light:

And a shot of the other side, with a control panel (don't ask me what it controls, it's just there for greeble-liciousness!)

 
I embellished on Owen's design a bit (and cut a couple of corners in other ways...).  Styrene rod was used for the ladder instead of wire, which was a pain to cut on 45 degree angles for the joints, but gave a sturdier look to the rungs. The paint job is obviously meant to be reminiscent of  a sandcrawler, with lots of chipped paint. I used a technique many of you prolly know, where you sprinkle salt on the piece over the base metallic color and then spray your main color, and when you brush away the salt it gives a nice chipped effect, which I did a little too haphazardly. Control, I must learn control!
Looks pretty decent as part of a very unhygienic droid shop dio (yogurt cup oil drum also bit from Owen):

[Tamer]

My comments about all this cool stuff is on the front page. Just awesome.

[Laojax]

Thanks for the front page comments!  I'm just afraid that unless folks actually click through to the post they might get the impression that the dumpster was my original idea. Tamer, would you be willing to alter the comment on the front page to give Owen props for the idea? Sorry if I'm being uptight about this; I'm just very sensitive about things like plagiarism (I'm a high school English teacher, so I come by it honestly), even in an amateur hobby such as this, and want to give credit where it's due. 

[Laojax]

And while I'm giving credit to the community, I should note that I got the idea for the spray-painted cardboard box background for my droid shop diorama from Budget Jedi's great youtube videos...

[Luke Sprywalker]

Welcome to the yards Laojax! Owen does some fine work doesn't he? I love this set up you have created.

[Tamer]

I will go do that right now. I wish more people were as forthcoming with this type of information and gave credit where credit it due. Bravo Laojax.

[Laojax]

Thanks for adding a link to his site on the front page as well! So many gems on there, those scratchbuilt fortresses and all. That's what first got me to dabble a bit with sheet styrene, but there's no way I could tackle a project on that level.

So I guess I ought to post some other pics I've taken in the past few months.  The dioramas my kid and I set up always need to be deconstructed easily, since we don't have a lot of space (or permission ) to set things up permanently. Some of these don't look so professional, with raw styrofoam etc, but they were a lot of fun to make. (Taking pictures of them was secondary to actually playing!)
First an Outer Rim bar that caters to the Alliance:




The line of beings waiting to be let in by the bouncers:


Next some outdoor shots. We have a couple of boulders in the yard that make for interesting terrain at 1/18 scale. On a rather warm day shortly after Xmas we took these.





Wicket got left outside, endured the rest of the winter out there. We only found him a couple of weeks ago, but aside from being a bit dirty, he was no worse for wear!  

[Tamer]

You are taking ISY by storm. Love it. Back on the front page with my comments.

[botwt]

Very cool! Love the "Fight Night" poster for Kenobi and Vader....brilliant!!

[Wardog]

Those pics of the Stormies and the Rebels are awesome....looks very natural and nothing looks out of place scale wise.   Well done.

[Laojax]

Thanks gents! The posters were from various internet sources except for the "Abolish Slavery in the Outer Rim" one, which is an original (clearly lacking in design skills compared to the other one).
 

[Laojax]

While part of me feels strange posting these alongside diorama-makers who have truly mastered their craft and have made beautiful permanent installations, another part of me just wants to share some goofy vignettes that we've enjoyed setting up on weekends.  In some of these you'll see some modular walls I made by covering some cardboard boxes with an acrylic modeling compound that, when applied thickly, gives a stucco texture while remaining somewhat flexible. 
Anyway, thanks for having a look!

Ambush!



Pirate compound (we already know that Snootles is a wolf in sheep's clothing!):


Unlucky droid:


Used speeder shop:

The custom SOTE swoop is a WIP that I think I'll work on some more before I give it its own post. (After seeing that great custom swoop and fully-articulated rider a couple of weeks ago, I have to step up my game! )

[Tamer]

My comments are on the front page.

I love that first image. You make me want to come over to your house to play with your kids!

[ghostskull18]

Cool Customs! i really like the guy next to the swoop, whats the part list on him?

[Spookymufu]

My comments are on the front page.

I love that first image. You make me want to come over to your house to play with your kids!

LOL, I knew what you meant, but that just sounded bad hahahaha