The Professor's Dioramas updated 3.8.06

[The Professor]

Hello!

I'm new to these forums but decided to join upon invitation by CHEWIE and my growing dissapointment with another site's Diorama section. 

Anyway, I have been a Star Wars custom diorama maker practically all my life.  Even when I was as young as three, I saw the possibility of using packaging styrofoam as playsets for my action figures.  Needless to say, my talent has grown and matured, and I've been churning out decent dioramas since Episode I came out. 

My method is quite dissimilar to most people's.  I don't make dioramas for display.  Rather, I design them like playsets that can be deconstructed into pieces.  In other words, I approach each diorama as if it were a real movie set.  That way, there is some logic between the rooms and pathways that matches the movie the diorama is based on.  One of my goals has always been to design dioramas as if I were a Vintage Kenner playset designer.  That way, they work as toys, (miniature) movie sets, and, to an extent, displays. 

As for materials, I keep things rather light, inexpensive, and easy.  I use sheets  blue packaging styrofoam.  The kind I use is often used for house insulation and comes in sheets of 0.5", 0.75", and 1" widths.  It's quite light but sturdy and works well for making floors and bases for dioramas. 

I also use foam core (one of the best materials for dioramas made famous by Niub Niub), foamies (thin sheets of flexible colored foam that can be bought at most arts and crafts stores), styrofoam balls (for Tatooine buildling roofs) and poster board.  I've also found that packaging styrofoam can come in quite handy for things from Hoth hallways to Mos Eisley buildings because of the random shapes that can be found.  I also collect random pieces of plastic such as caps, straws, and the like that are often helpful in creating props and detail.

Finally, I use acrylic paint and hot glue although my earliest dioramas used tacky glue.  Many of my pictures have been somewhat edited (ie. change of tint, cropping, addition of lightsabers, etc.), and I've become quite profficient at using Microsoft Picture It (used effectively by CHEWIE in his photonovels).

Over the years, I've made probably thirty dioramas.  I've made several from each movie.  Some are quite old now and need some work.  I've photographed most, but many have not yet been seen publicly.  Anyway, here are two links to pictures of my dioramas where you can enjoy scenes from all six movies:

The Professor's Gallery at The Jawa

The Professor's Village Photos Gallery

I hope you enjoy them, and I hope to add to this community at Jedi Defender.

[CHEWIE]

Professor!  I'm so glad that you joined us!   

I am sure that there are many people here who have seen your work before and are already big fans of what you have done.  As for myself, I've been intrigued by your unique designs and amazing talents for quite some time.

From what I've seen you're more into "custom dioramas" than "custom figures" - or at least that's what I think.  And your dioramas are some of the best on the web.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of those ones that you haven't made public yet.

So, how do you display your dioramas if you don't mind my asking?  I've seen several of them set up (and really love the new Mustafar one) but I'm not sure if you keep them on display at your home, keep just certain ones out, etc.

Anyways, I'm very glad to see that the Professor has landed here at JD, this a fun community and the customizing section has really taken off the past year or so; and you will only add to the excitement.  I'm sure there are going to be a few people that are just now getting exposed to your work that are going to be totally blown away.  You're one of the best, and always seem to be one of the nicest around too!  Welcome! 

 

[The Professor]

Well, CHEWIE, sadly my dioramas when fully set-up are quite huge.  So, most stay in storage either in my attic or closet.  I usually have 5-10 in my bedroom, not really set-up but in pieces for easy storage.  The ones I usually keep on display are my custom ships.  They're not the best,  but I usually have my sail barge and a few others "on display."  The others in my room are on the floor, collapsed for easy storage, and really not on display but easy to view just the same.  The biggest problem is I love making them but don't really have the room to display them adequately because of the way they are designed.  I hope that helps. 

Also, you're quite right.  I don't really make custom figures mostly because of the cost involved in buying multiple figures.  I've occassionally improved figures or fixed damaged ones but none of that is what I would classify as customized.  For example, my sister's dog mauled an Admiral Ackbar of mine, so I made a head set and turned it into a Mon Calamari officer.  I've also done some touch-up painting on other figures that have worn down over the years.

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up about this site. 

[Ryan]

Professor, another guy from RS. I glad those boards are down, some good people have beening their way over here lately. I remember seeing a lot of those form the old days. I really like the Mustafar dio. You did a real nice job incorporating all the maajor areas into a decent sized dio. It doesn't look cramped. And the Padme birthing scene looks really cool. I really haven't seen any ROTS dios, so it is great to see your stuff here again. You should ditch RS all togehter and stay here. I did, and I haven't looked back once. It is so much better here.

[Gregorbian]

Hey Professor, I hadn't seen that Padme birthing room dio before - great work!  You always pay a great attention to detail 

Still digging that Mustafar set.... 

[Diddly]

Wow, this is good stuff! I'm digging Mustafar, that's some great stuff. Same with the Polis Massa birth room. Can't wait to see more!

[The Professor]

Thanks everyone.  I'm glad your were able to view some of my newest dioramas.  I'll have a few more pictures of Mustafar up later this week.  Fortunately, I took pictures on Wednesday because my sister's dog decided Mustafar was really a bathroom.  Needless to say, it was a bit messy, but there's no major harm done.  It was quite a bit aggravating, though.

On an unrelated note, I don't plan on leaving that other site's forums, but I really wanted to share my dioramas with a more serious crowd.  Because of the popularity of the films right now, people are joining the Rebel Scum forums by the dozen.  Most can't type but have digital cameras and aren't afraid to post pictures and expect replies after putting little to no work into their dioramas.  I was terribly bewildered by the popularity of a thread about freezing a Bail Organa figure in a block of ice.  Not to say that it wasn't funny; I'm just not sure why it became so very popular.

Anyway, that's just a small rant, but I'm glad to be hear.  The tone is much more serious.  Thanks for the heads-up, CHEWIE.

[CHEWIE]

Professor, I'm very sorry to hear about the Mustafar incident with the dog... hopefully everything will be fixable or cleanable... whatever the correct term is.   

Anyways, yeah I've all but decided to pack up and leave Scum for good.  The immaturity around there has left a sour taste in my mouth, not to mention all of the bannings that went around there earlier this year.

I remember that Bail Organa thread... good Lord.  All it takes is for one idiot to post something stupid, and then all the other idiots join in and have an orgasm over it.  Then some people put hours and hours on end of dedication into a custom project, only to get comments like "Nice" and "Cool" and very little else.

So, I'm very glad to see you here - please keep showing us your work, and hopefully we'll get your feedback on our work as well.

As for which site I'll be at, here is where I'll be about 99% of the time.

 

[Gregorbian]

Fortunately, I took pictures on Wednesday because my sister's dog decided Mustafar was really a bathroom.  Needless to say, it was a bit messy, but there's no major harm done.  It was quite a bit aggravating, though.

[Vader]NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO![/Vader]
Ouch!  That sucks!  I'm sorry to hear that Professor 

[Famine]

So, I'm very glad to see you here - please keep showing us your work, and hopefully we'll get your feedback on our work as well.

Yeah. And we won't poop on your dioramas, either.

Kevin

[Ryan]

So, I'm very glad to see you here - please keep showing us your work, and hopefully we'll get your feedback on our work as well.

Yeah. And we won't poop on your dioramas, either.

Kevin

Speak for yourself... I'm inclined to pee on anything I like to mark my territory. And if I have to go, I have to go, it doesn't matter where I am.

[The Professor]

Sith Lord Chaos, you capture Frito's (my sister's dog) myset perfectly.  I went back to college the day after the incident.  Maybe he was upset I was leaving.

Anyway, the damage wasn't that bad because it was #1 if you get my drift.  There was a little flood of sorts in the conference room which is a rare occurrence on a volcanic world.  The holo displays got a little damaged because the are partly made with poster board.  However, I think I was able to salvage them in okay shape.  That was really the worst damage.  I was mostly worried about any lingering stench, but everything turned out all right (I hope!) because I found it early.  My sister and I washed off everything carefully and then covered the floor with salt to absorb the smell.  I'm pretty sure it worked. 

Luckily, I took pictures before the incident.  I just haven't posted them yet, but look for them by Friday. 

Finally, CHEWIE, I 'm glad I'm not the only who noticed the direction RS has taken lately.  It's sad.

[Ryan]

You two put up with it a lot longer than I could. In the final month or tow of last year I noticed the rush of newbies for RTS, it just kept getting worse, until I got banned in March, partilaly for yelling at some scalpers/newbs and partly calling Philip and Dustin names after the whole "Get a life" thing. It actually turned out great. It is soo much better over here.

[JediMAC]

That's some real nice work there Professor (Chris?).  Glad to see you're finally showcasing your wares over here at JD now too! 

Finally, CHEWIE, I 'm glad I'm not the only who noticed the direction RS has taken lately.  It's sad.

Get in line.  This entire forum has, why do you think we're all over here...? 

Some of us noticed it long ago though, so it's about time some of you slowpokes caught up!  And yes, it is very sad.  But considering those forums were never even Phillip's to begin with, it's not terribly surprising that he's run them into the ground, and doesn't care about them or it's members in the slightest bit. 

Now let's see some more customs!

- Matt

[The Professor]

I've uploaded some new pictures of the Mustafar diorama that should cover pretty much everything that happens on the planet in the movie! 




I've also put some pictures of Palpatine's Office back on the site as well as two sneak previews.   

My Village Photos Gallery 

Finally, look forward to some new pictures from Utapau and the Invisible Hand some time after Labor Day!