Richd's official Diorama contest entry - The Battle of Hoth

[richd]

The Hoth battle has been one of my favourites since I saw the movie in the theatre at 7 years old. I remember the view of the AT-ATs through the Rebel’s macrobinoculars,the close view of feet, then panning back, thinking WOW!-What are those?-Cool! I have wanted to make this full sized diorama for a number of years but the sheer size of it has been prohibitive. This contest was a good excuse, not to mention I have an empty garage now.

It’s on an 8 foot by 8 foot base (2 pieces of plywood) sitting on 3 tables. I planned and laid out the “mountains” and base area first, using boxes and other items. I then covered everything in chicken wire, incorporating vintage and POTF2 toys in the Rebel base, making the trench, and providing a mold for the landscape features. I held it all down using an electric stapler. Next was LOTS of paper mache, adding texture to the landscape. I then painted the Rebel Base area (about 2 feet from the end) all in white and the rest all in black. Next, I added grey highlights and a “wash” to the mountains and plains. I found some plastic, squishy, paintable molding clay at Michael’s and I used this to fill in the spaces between the dried mache and the toys for the trench. Next, I used spray adhesive on the mountains to make the “snow” stick. I used 18 boxes of baking soda for snow. I then added the Rebel troopers and fine details to the Rebel Base and set out the walkers and crashed speeders where I wanted them. After that, I took white synthetic filling and spray painted it for smoke and explosion effects. I added blast marks in the snow and debris around blown-up things. Lastly, I hung the speeders flying over the base from wood positioned on my garage door supports overhead.

Highlights from back right, in a clockwise "spiral":
•   Stepped-on speeder, black smoke billowing out the back, speeder has bent right gun, Luke has jumped away just in time and is holding a grappling device; small “fire” effect where foot meets speeder. Dead Dak in the back.
•   Fallen AT-AT that Luke threw a grenade in, billowing smoke where its head used to be; debris from explosion. Behind it, Luke looks up from the snow to see his handiwork as an AT-ST walks by.
•   Rebel Trenches – smoke effects, blasted tower gun billows black smoke, exploding dish gun has “fire” effect, I added power supplies and wires; Major Derlin has macrobinoculars in his hand
•   Fallen AT-ST blown to bits.
•   Crashed speeder on mountainside, small fire effect
•   There’s a small “cave” in the mountain with the radar dish beside it. I would have loved to put a little Wampa in there but didn’t have one available.
•   One AT-AT has a speeder flying between its legs
•   Fallen AT-AT with “wire” around its legs
•   Center AT-AT has Veers talking with Snowtrooper

This was a great deal of fun! I wish I could leave it up forever but I can’t. I’m leaving the heartbreaking task of taking it down for a couple of weeks though. Choosing 3 pics for this was not easy! I will post more after the contest is over.

[clonecommander972]

wow. i'm going into shock looking at this. it's, it's....words cannot describe the awesome!
WE HAVE WINNER. Y/Y?

[Grand_Moff_Rob]

Absolutely spectacular scene, man!! If I only had the room 

[old man ben]

I am also an avid fan of anything Hoth.  This is truly a project done on a Star Wars scale...a fabulous job in my opinion!  I'd love to be able to visit your garage and see it in person.

[stormtripper]

wow that is soo crappy compared to mine...just joking, wow that is amazing, I would love to have that in my living room... very nice work

[Mit_Othy]

Man, that is amazing. That is a diorama of epic proportions.

[ambasah]

very well done sir! 

[sinkie]

I blame this diorama for a dream I had last night: Hasbro released a new AT-AT that came up to my hip! It was awesome and when I woke up I was so disappointed it wasn't real...yet! Good job inspiring me to dream big

[old man ben]

Special request...after the contest is over could you provide more photos of your diorama?  Particularly because it is so expansive, maybe you could show close-ups of several little areas so we can appreciate the details of what you have done?

[richd]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated!

I will post lots of pics after the contest is officially over. I took about 100 pics and video from every angle since I have to take this puppy down. I know the other contestants know what I mean when I say that pictures just don't do justice to what we've built.

Good things about building in the garage: no pets, small kids, or vacuum cleaners threatening to destroy one's work
Bad things: heart palpitations when the garage door was almost opened once, and having to scrape ice off windows and brush the car off in the mornings.

[napseeker]

I can't believe you'll have to take this down in only a few weeks... you do realize that once you get your hands on the eventual big AT-AT that you'll just rebuild it all again, right? 

Oh, and definitely post some hi-res photos!!!  This needs to be appreciated in all its detailed glory for sure!

[brianakarobin]

That is incredible!  I have a big space ready for permanent display fo SW stuff, and this gives me some great ideas... or maybe you can just send me this one and save me time!

[Chris Solo]

Very nice. Alot of money put into that! 

[richd]

I can't believe you'll have to take this down in only a few weeks... you do realize that once you get your hands on the eventual big AT-AT that you'll just rebuild it all again, right? 

Oh, and definitely post some hi-res photos!!!  This needs to be appreciated in all its detailed glory for sure!

My brother came over with a decent camera and took some more photos for me; I'll post them up once everything is decided. I took video as I built it which I might make into a youtube video.

[Mit_Othy]

That would be really cool to see richd.