Women's Day Space Station – Complete!

[Deanpaul]

Anyone ever think of building one of these, or something like one of these?



EDIT: I didn't really think about it when I made this post, but I should have noted that this image came from the Toys R Gus site, linked below. It wasn't my intention to leave this uncredited. If there are any objections from any side involved, I'll gladly remove the link. Just realized this, sorry.

Women's Day Space Station

I remember seeing that magazine as a six year old. We kept the magazine around for years, we even ordered the plans.

My dad didn't have a jig saw, or the ability to work with the acrylic, so he kept putting off making an attempt. At some point, my grandfather made something similar that became the foundation for all my SW ship landing needs.

Now I've got kids, and I'm wondering about making something like this that would give a "neutral" place (vs. a specific diorama location like Hoth, Dagobah, etc.) for all the ships and characters from both trilogies to have adventures.

So, what have you done or thought about doing along these lines?

[Famine]

It's called a shelf, and an immagination, lol.

Kevin

P.S. I see that you have again procrastinated answering my question.

[CHEWIE]

I've always thought that looked very cool, and it reminded me more of Cloud City than anything else.

Someday I would love to be able to make something like that for a Coruscant playset.

 

[Owen D]

When I was 7 or 8 back in 1981 my mother made me the Hoth playset from the later, Empire Strikes Back issue of Woman's Day.  It was awesome but after a little while the styrofoam deteriorated so I made a larger version from the denser, blue type of styrofoam and I played with that for years.  Now that I think of it was probably my first "custom".  I should see if my parents ever took any pictures of either one.  Owen D

[CHEWIE]

Welcome Owen!

It's cool that your mom made you that.  Very, very cool.  If you have any pics of either one, it would be very cool to see them.

Have you ever considered making any custom playsets Owen?

 

[Deanpaul]

When I was 7 or 8 back in 1981 my mother made me the Hoth playset from the later, Empire Strikes Back issue of Woman's Day.  It was awesome but after a little while the styrofoam deteriorated so I made a larger version from the denser, blue type of styrofoam and I played with that for years.  Now that I think of it was probably my first "custom".  I should see if my parents ever took any pictures of either one.  Owen D

Hey Owen, welcome to Jedi Defender!

I saw pictures of those later playsets at toysrgus - they looked really cool. If my mom ever got that issue I never knew it - I probably would have driven her nuts over it until she made me one!

[JediMAC]

Welcome to JD, Owen!  Glad to have you swing on by to check us out...

As for the Space Station there, I've got that magazine floating around somewhere at home, or in storage, with the rest of the SW magazine collection.  What sucks, is that I don't recall ever seeing that when I was a kid, even though I'm sure my mom subscribed to, or bought, that magazine all the time.  But I caught that article years later, and was quite intrigued by it.  Wish I'd seen it as a lil' tike though, 'cause I'm sure I could've coerced my entire family into helping me build it, or something rather close to it.  Man, all the kids in the neighborhood would've been jealous!  Kinda reminds me of the city in Logan's Run, actually.

As it stands, it's still a very cool nostalgic article to add to the collection.  Definitely gets the kid's imagination flowing in me again, that's for sure!  Thanks for the memorable flashback there, Dp.  

[Deanpaul]

This is a real trip down memory lane.

I'm mostly starting the new project with materials. I like some of the areas in the Women's Day piece, but a straight execution of the design won't give me enough area for some of the bigger ships - playsets and some smaller ships can always go on a more neutral shelf in the room.

So far I've got a 4'x4' sheet of 1/2 cast acryilc, some white high gloss plastic laminate and 10 guage cold rolled steel. I like that the city is all white, but I'd like to introduce some texture to the environment as well. Access to wood and other materials won't be a problem, it's the more unusual stuff I want to experiment with. I've been using high density foam (like strux) in some work related projects, and I'm curious about introducing some more organic shapes into this, but it needs to be bullet-proof for the kid play.

I thought the acrylic could bee cool if I had it CNC'd into landing platforms shaped like the ones in the AOTC the opening scene on Coursecant. You could see through them to another "hanger" area below like where the Jedi starships were. That level could have a metal floor and be a darker, lower level of the city.

LED lighting could also be neat to incorporate into the floor or around the landing platform edges like on Bespin or Kamino.

I think the white P-Lam will be nice and futuristic clean, especially if it can be lit so it's a little reflective. Need to look at durability though, this will be played with by the kids so it cannot scratch too easily. There's always been something nice about the Tantive IV.



I'd like to find some good tubing to accessorize the areas, like we saw on Yavin and Hoth.

[Deanpaul]

Here's the weekend update:

I've downloaded all of the plans, and while the Women's Day Space Station holds a lot of nostagia, it is a poor use of 15 square feet for my purpose.

I laid out the original floor plan just to see how it scaled to our playroom and vehicles. It's 36"x60", and I'll probably increase it to 3 levels of stacking structure instead of two. I'll nix things like the solar energy station and the moving walkway because of space and complexity.

Here is a rough of the unadjusted magazine floor plan, not showing levels:



With vehicles for scale:



Additionally, here are a few images of the space station my grandfather built me when I was 7 or 8. At the time, I didn't realize how much he based it on the Women's Day plans my parents had ordered. It's interesting now to compare the two and the descisions he made to simplify their design.







I'm still working on adjustments to the floorplan - trying to layout maximum space for ships and figures. I want to keep some of the kitch from the original, like the weather station and maybe the monorail, and add in space for gathering like an Outlander Club or Cantina. Then I'll move into elevation studies - I'd like an integrated base that could hold storage bins, and some way for the AT-AT to open the side door as a ramp to load/unload.

More later.

[CHEWIE]

Whoa man!  What did your grandfather make it out of (what materials)?

This is really a cool thread.... your grandfather did a great job.  Very cool of him to make something like that for you.

I am truly inspired by this thread.... I think I might need to make something like this.... could do several different movie themes for it!

 

[Deanpaul]

Thanks Chewie.

It has held up really well over the years with play and non-climate controlled storage. It must have sat in a humid/freeze garage cycle for 15 years.

It's made out of plywood, primed and painted. You can easily see some of the wood grain through the paint, so I expect it wasn’t that high of a grade plywood, especially since he knew it would be sealed and painted. The lines are vinyl sign tape, just like the Women's Day magazine suggests. They mostly cover any edge or end grain, but there are a few places that it looks like he puttied edges before painting.

The overall dimension is 24"x36"x8". 8" high is the minimum for most vehicle clearance, like the DV TIE. It works out great for snowspeeders, X-wings and Y-wings. The B-wing is so big it mostly lands on the top deck.

The bottom is 1/2" plywood, the side walls are 3/8" and the top is 1/4". The 1/4" top has held up well, and I need to look at how thin I can make parts of the new project so this thing won't weigh any more than it has to.

I'm already thinking integrated base and locking castors, as well as how this thing will break down for inevitable storage periods.

EDIT: One more thing, it's all nailed together. Sure he used glue, but this was before pneumatic nail guns and cordless screw guns. And those holes in the back? I'm not sure he had a router in 1979. This thing was truly a labor of love.

[CHEWIE]

Thanks for the detailed description!  Again, I am so impressed with this!

 

[JediMAC]

Hey, that looks like a fun plan there, Dp!  Very cool that you kept your Grandpa's set around all these years...  Very cool also just thinking about your Grandpa making that whole thing for you.  Must've loved his grandson a whole lot! 

Greatly looking forward to observing your progress on this project...

[CHEWIE]

I have to mention how much I like the stairs he put on there.  Man they really add a lot to the custom playset.  I bet you got a lot of use out of this when you were a kid... I woulda used it for GJ JOE also.

 

[Deanpaul]

Grandpa making that whole thing for you.  Must've loved his grandson a whole lot! 

Man, that is the truth. I've been thinking about him a lot lately as I look at starting this. I really miss him, it's been 13 years since he died. I'd love to ask him questions about this, or even make this with him. He was so good to me. I'll tell you a cool story another time.

I have to mention how much I like the stairs he put on there.  Man they really add a lot to the custom playset.  I bet you got a lot of use out of this when you were a kid... I woulda used it for GJ JOE also.

The stairs are one of my favorite parts. I always wondered what was under them as a kid, there is air space below the upper portion.

One nice thing about his was that it didn't cross the line into "doll house" the way the living quarters section of the Women's Day plan does. My daughter plays SW stuff with my son, so I'll probably make some concession there, but not nearly the amount of space or fru-fru they did. Maybe a Stormtrooper barracks?