OK... So while I'm still relatively new to 1/6 scale figures I'm also a complete novice when it comes to model kits etc, but seeing as my DIY skills are seemingly pretty good these days and buoyed by recently fitting two new bathrooms I'd earned enough hobby points from the wife to look at kitting out my figure's shelf space on the IKEA Kallax bookshelf I have in my office.
Jazz's dioramas are incredible but I really don't have the space, or indeed budget, to display my figures in something like that. With that in mind I've looked at a few diorama MOC threads and there's some really nice stuff that people are doing to help bring their figures to life. So this was my go.
BikerScout has recently set up a new thread with his own Death Star Corridor and he's taking the scalpel and pencil approach to creating his apertures for the corridor... that was something I just didn't really fancy doing. I work as a graphic designer and I've had to mock up and do things by hand for 20 years and lozenge shapes just wasn't happening. So I asked a friend who works as a signage fitter and he pointed me in the direction of someone who would laser cut acrylic or various thicknesses quite close to where I live.
I set up three basic sides (the back and two side panels) and had them cut from dark grey acrylic (5mm) along with a black base sheet. I've just taped them together to show how they fit quickly
I was then going to cut all the panels that make up the Death Star's iconic interior from mounting board and simply paste it on. The one thing that didn't give me was the panels that the lighting sections were cut from. I had a quick look on eBay and found a company that cut from 2mm clear acrylic and I sent them the PDF artwork with the panels marked. These lighting lozenges were the same as the backing panels artwork so should line up. Everything came in two sheets which were bound on one side with masking tape and the cuts were really nicely done.
I've not glued anything yet but here's the first layer of panels dropped onto the backing panel for a quick check.
Here it is with the second layer of panels dropped on.
Hopefully I'll get a change to glue everything in place over the weekend and give a quick coat of primer. There are small Lego pieces which were originally moulded as gold ingots but are available in grey and are used as greeblies for vehicles etc. I think a little filler to remove the Lego logo from it should make it a nice little panel detail.
Here's a quick look with the bottom and sides quickly taped.
The nice thing is it fits perfectly into the Kallax shape as it's custom cut for it. I'll update the thread once I've glued and primed and I'll drop a couple of Stormies in for fit.
Jazz's dioramas are incredible but I really don't have the space, or indeed budget, to display my figures in something like that. With that in mind I've looked at a few diorama MOC threads and there's some really nice stuff that people are doing to help bring their figures to life. So this was my go.
BikerScout has recently set up a new thread with his own Death Star Corridor and he's taking the scalpel and pencil approach to creating his apertures for the corridor... that was something I just didn't really fancy doing. I work as a graphic designer and I've had to mock up and do things by hand for 20 years and lozenge shapes just wasn't happening. So I asked a friend who works as a signage fitter and he pointed me in the direction of someone who would laser cut acrylic or various thicknesses quite close to where I live.
I set up three basic sides (the back and two side panels) and had them cut from dark grey acrylic (5mm) along with a black base sheet. I've just taped them together to show how they fit quickly
I was then going to cut all the panels that make up the Death Star's iconic interior from mounting board and simply paste it on. The one thing that didn't give me was the panels that the lighting sections were cut from. I had a quick look on eBay and found a company that cut from 2mm clear acrylic and I sent them the PDF artwork with the panels marked. These lighting lozenges were the same as the backing panels artwork so should line up. Everything came in two sheets which were bound on one side with masking tape and the cuts were really nicely done.
I've not glued anything yet but here's the first layer of panels dropped onto the backing panel for a quick check.
Here it is with the second layer of panels dropped on.
Hopefully I'll get a change to glue everything in place over the weekend and give a quick coat of primer. There are small Lego pieces which were originally moulded as gold ingots but are available in grey and are used as greeblies for vehicles etc. I think a little filler to remove the Lego logo from it should make it a nice little panel detail.
Here's a quick look with the bottom and sides quickly taped.
The nice thing is it fits perfectly into the Kallax shape as it's custom cut for it. I'll update the thread once I've glued and primed and I'll drop a couple of Stormies in for fit.