Gardulla's Palace - FINISHED 9/26/06

[BrentS]

I'm starting my next big project.  You've seen the various customs for Gardulla's palace but I'll need to make the actual palace too.  Given the success of the Jedi Temple, I'm going to try to dive into a more complex diorama. 

I figured, I'd start a new thread to sort of document this process (as much for myself as anyone).  However, as I go - any comments, ideas, or criticisms will be most welcome.

As any good project, its starts with some conceptual drawings...



The plan is to make this somewhat modular so that I can use the various pieces in more than one fashion.   There will be four major "boxes".

I've got some more detailed drawings with some dimensions but they didn't scan very well.  Anyway, I think this project is going to take a while.  I've got our family vacation planned for mid June so we'll see how much time I actually get to work on this!!

When its finished, I'm not really sure where I'm going to put it.  I don't really have any room to display my things but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

[VF/501]

Hi BrentS, nice work on the PN and on the Council Chamber.

For the Palace are you going to base it on the Palace form the Bounty Hunter Game?
There were two levels that showed interior sections of her palace,  one was mostly an arena but it does show her throne and layouts for rooms.  The other was a psuedo- market place. 

If you want images of this, google or yahoo these terms.

Bounty; Hunter; Concept Art

There are only a couple of images b ut hopefully they will help.
Better yet take a look at the guide book for the game. ( I would scan the images for you, but I have no scanner )
Sounds like a great but expensive project.  Good Luck

[BrentS]

I actually wasn't aware that there were any EU images for the palace.  I'm just sort of making this up as I go along.  I suppose I could look for some reference photos but I don't think I'm going to be try to be true to anything specific per se. 

Thanks for the headsup!!

[CHEWIE]

This is going to be a fun project to watch you work on Brent.  After your Jedi Council, I can't wait to see this!

 

[Quazar]

Hey, will Gardulla and her home feature into any awesome photonovel work?

[BrentS]

Hey, will Gardulla and her home feature into any awesome photonovel work?

That is exactly the reason I'm doing it.  Parts of the next couple of chapters will showcase Gardulla, the fate of the orb, and other fun surprises. 

While this project will be fun to work on the downside is that it will significantly hinder the appearance of the next chapter of the PN 

[Jesse James]

The palace as it's represented in Bounty Hunter (A great game by the way, probably one of the most underrated SW games in history...  I go replay it routinely) is massive in her audience chamber...  The layout is a huge cathedral ceilinged room that's somewhat shaped like you have in your initial layouts there Brent but obviously there are differences.  I'd say its size is even a bit prohibitive so going your own route is for the best.

I wish I could pull screen captures from the game for you, as I gladly would, but it's a console game only so I can't.

In the game you see multiple portions of her palace though, not just the audience chamber...  You see her huge dungeon complex underneath, her arena complex where she feeds her Krayyt Dragon, her bazarre complex where there's entertainment and shops, plus there's multiple hangar bays for speeders and warehouse facilities for whatever her fat fingers are into...  Lots and LOTS of palace shots. 

The main palace audience chamber/throne room though is just massive itself really with balconies and things.  In the final fight of the level you have to defeat her Krayyt Dragon, and at the end Jango pushes the fatty down to feed it.

[BrentS]

Jesse,
Thanks for extra comments on the reference info.  I've actually got the Bounty Hunter game for the Ninendo Game Cube but haven't really played it (we bought it cheap at Sam's club one day).

In looking through the online strategy guides (all text based no screenshots  ) it looks like Gardulla's palace is late in the game so I've got a lot of work to do to get to it.

I've posted in the video game thread a request to see if anyone has the game guide that might have some photos.

It sounds like those screenshots would be a great resource.  Like I said, its not my intention to make a complete replica but if I can get the spirit of the palace in my diorama that would be great.

[Jesse James]

Very cathedral-like is the impression i got...  A hint of Jabba's place but more light...  And bigger.  At least the audience chamber was.

I don't have the SG to the game actually or I'd gladly scan what I could for you.   This actually has inspired me to look for it though.  I keep SG's around for customizing resources.  You'd be amazed how useful they are.  Especially for console games where ripping shots isn't easy.  But to me the SG's usually are as big a resource for information on the SW EU as well as a customizing source as any sourcebook like the Incredible Cross Sections or SW RPG books and such.

[BrentS]

Okay, this project is not dead.  I've been working in a little bit of my free time to make some progress.

I've got a Game Guide for bounty hunter on order, hopefully that will help me get some other inspirations.  Like I said before, I'm not planning on modeling this excatly off anything specific.  I've tried to play Bounty Hunter some but jumping right to Chapter 15 is a little bit too hard 

First up, I think I've decided on a wall texture:



It is basically just wall spackle on foamcore.  I'll paint with a base tannish color and hit it with some dark and light drybrushing.


Next up, major progress in framing out the main chamber.  Here are the shots:









I put some figures in there to show the scale.  Basically the back wall is 30".  None of this glued together and I probably won't glue it all together at all.  Since I've got no place to store this set up fully, I'm just going to have to make it semi portable.  Maybe thats a bad idea but I've some ideas on how to make that happen.

Comments would be appreciated.

One thing I haven't decided yet is how to do the floor.  Should I used a big piece of foam core?  I've also thought about using vinyl from a fabric store.

[roron corobb]

Great start so far. I love to see these type of customs. Scale looks good too. Are you going to have a stage for a live band?
roron corobb

[CHEWIE]

Wow Brent!  Fantastic work!  I can't wait to see the finished result.

I am thinking the height is pretty good on this considering how wide/long it is.

Love it, and I"m sure your wife is as excited about this as you are!   

 

[BrentS]

I got my Bounty Hunter Strategy guide today.  Not quite as many photos as I was hoping and they are definitely small.  However, I did pick out a few from Gardulla's throne room/arena.







I'm going to try to incorporate the balcony in some fashion.

[Quazar]

The structure looks really great.  I can't wait to see the finished version.

This is going to be terrific to watch coming together.

[BrentS]

Thanks for the comments guys.  Roron, I haven't really intended to put in a band.  Its pretty big but with all the doorway arches I'm not sure where to put them. 



I've got another update.  I spent about 3 hours working on this tonight.  I finished cutting out the walls for the side rooms.  My goal is to make the side rooms available as "alternate" sets for other locations (Tatooine Cantina for example). 




As I was putting this together for a picture, I realized that it is quickly becoming too large for my table    Not sure how I'm going to address that yet.  I can either make the side rooms smaller or keep them as individual walls that I can move around and place as necessary.




The walls were spackled and coated with a base coat of Delta Dreamcoat "Trail Tan"  It was a wal-mart special acrylic paint.



With inspiration from the Bounty Hunter game, I've put together a balcony that I'm planning on attaching to the wall.


A couple of open questions I'll need to answer.
1.  How to address the overall size of this project.  Should I make the side rooms smaller and risk not letting them be "usable" for other sets or should I use moveable walls.  I haven't decided yet.

2. What to do about the floor.  Given the size, I'm leaning towards going with a roll-out vinyl floor.  I'm just afraid it will look too "plain"

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.