Thanks for all the kind words, guys.

CHEWIE, I always feel like my details are so far off, simply because of the playset framework I chose to work in. I've seen so many other dioramas that look so much more "spot-on" since they can basically make mini movie sets, whereas my rooms stretch and bend in odd ways to accomodate each other. Still, I go for the best look I can get, and your praise is appreciated.

...I take a couple months off and this place blossoms like nobody's business! I'm very happy for you guys at JD, this place is a lot more active than it was when I left.

As I mentioned sometime before, I got married in May (the Friday after Episode III came out, actually.) as well as a serious promotion and transfer at work, so things have been way too busy for me. On top of that, I have taken quite a break in the Star Wars toy collecting area, as most of the E III stuff hasn't caught my eye (Except for the nice Threepio, who filled in the hole I had in my loose VOTC collection.) And those Evolution toys look to be all that I hoped for!

Anyways, it's nice to come home again. I can't believe how much I've missed around here!

Here's a shot of me on my honeymoon in the Mayan Riviera that I thought everyone would enjoy:



To all the new guys: looking forward to seeing you around!

--Bobb

The last room for this level is Chewie's junk room. This is where I did the bulk of my work this summer.



I mad a ton of junk for this room (as shown earlier) and a half of it is "dedicated" (ie glued in place) while the rest is stackable around the room or on the conveyor or whatever. The above pic is the room with its bare bones junk, including dead IG-88:



No other real "play features" in here, but it's fun to have stuff for the ugnaughts to toss around:







The crate for the Threepio parts is actually the tray to a pack of Gummi-Savers I happened to scavenge at Halloween, painted white. I'd like to make a few more but I haven't seen a single pack of the "fun size" ones since!

Next is the hallway, also previewed a few times earlier in the year:







The problem I can see I'm going to have here is the rubbing off of the painted doors on their tracks in the walls...already the front door has needed a touch-up during photographing. I guess not everything works as planned.

Hey guys, miss me? 

This customizing section sure has blosssomed since my last visit around March or so. Lots of cool new work here, that's for sure, but that might be a topic for another time...

If I'm back, you know that means I have completed Cloud City level 2 pictures to show you all. Once again the project got put on the backburner as I got a new job this spring, then turned around and got married in May. As of June I went back to work on this monster, and here I am to show you the results.

A quick question for someone with a Vader's TIE and a TIE Bomber handy for comparison:

Are they the same dimensions? Is the Bomber wider? I can't imagine it would be taller or longer, since I remember hearing they have the same wing panels, but how do they compare size-wise?

Thanks in advance.

It's weird, I will probably go to this one, but I can't say I'll be buying much. Guess it's just the StarWars geek in me needing to gawk at all the new stuff as soon as I can.

I was getting ready to go to bed in April of '99 when a news story came on about the "Midnight Madness" for TPM, including some shots of some of the toys. I had stopped collecting at that point, but seeing the Jabba Glob and Sith Speeder on TV made me change my plans and drive out to the nearest Wal*Mart that night. I got there just before midnight to find a nice-sized crowd waiting. I figured, "eh, I'd like a young Obi-Wan and maybe that JarJar character" and wound up buying almost all of the first 18 that night. I even hung around a while til they restocked so I could get a Maul. Then I didn't buy another toy until the CommTech ANH figures hit.

For AOTC I had been seeing the pictures for months of the stuff leaking and at Toy Fair, but I was mostly hoping Bespin Luke and Vader would be out. I bought a ton of figures that night, pretty much everybody except the Jedi figures or Battle Droids. I felt lucky to get a Yoda and a Dooku, not to mention Hangar Anakin. Still, I didn't pick up any deluxes or beasts or ships (were there ships? I don't even remember).

This time I'm looking to pick up maybe three or four figures out of the initial twenty, but it feels like old times going out at midnight to see the display all shiny and new. I'll go just for the fun of it.

Ummm...it's a really craptastic Leia figure, that's all...

(I knew I should've gone with Slave Leia like JediMAC suggested...)