CORUSCANT CUSTOMS

Figure and Diorama by:

Blue Snaggletooth

SoME_3.1.JPG (34965 bytes) Trying to stay as true to the movie scene as possible I needed to make a couple of Ketwol pilots/smugglers as seen in the film when the main heroes are walking into Mos Espa for the very first time. It was easily done by using the chop-shop technique on a small batch of figures. Djas Puhr,  Ellors Maadak, & 2 Ketwol all fell to the blade to create these two aliens. This photo shows you an undone product but gives you a good idea what is going to happen where these creatures are concerned.  After two Ketwol heads & hand sets were super-glued to the Djas & Ellors bodies a few other things still needed to be done. I am going to file down any rough areas on the figures, re-paint certain aspects of the flight-suites and do some paint detailing and shading on the weapons and equipment. The theme to this whole update is to show you totally unfinished product so you can see the entire piece in working progress.
SoME_3.2.JPG (32186 bytes) This figure was mainly made for the street environment.  However, I don’t want to be just making random figures but actual universe/EU characters only. So I looked at my stock pile of misc. pieces/parts for an idea and hit my reference books & Red 6’s site for the character info I needed for the flow of this story. I decided to make a version of the Saurin known as Gauron. Little does this guy know that we will one day become Jabba’s personal Gamorrean Guards trainer. He already has direct links to Jabba at this point in his life. Gauron was made from a POTF2 Bossk (head, hands and feet), a POTF2 Lando Skiff Guard main body, and a Massif (SAGA) saddle used as a combat themed shoulder pad. He carries his weapon of choice (vibro pike) chained to his back. This figure will also need some final touchup done before this diorama is fully complete, but this gives you a good idea of the progress being made.
SoME_3.3.JPG (28948 bytes)

All desert cities need moisture evaporators and Mos Espa is no different. This piece is one (of three) evaporators that you will eventually see on this first stretch of street. This evaporator is going to get the total paint and sand dusting treatment soon, but for now I wanted to show it off in its basic state. To construct this piece I needed a small square cardboard section, Ellmer’s wood glue, a few 10 penny nails, a metal coat hanger, tooth-picks, some drinking straws, Sculpey, Super Sculpey and the big black box on the front is 12” Luke’s Tatooine binoculars. This photo is self explanatory in terms of construction with the only thing you can’t see are the nails sticking through the cardboard for Sculpey anchoring purposes. This structure will look great when finally finished. I can’t wait to finish it up and get started on the other two.
SoME_3.4.JPG (30683 bytes) This is a new structure prior to the plastering phase. Up until this point I have only showed you finished product. I thought it would be fun to show you various stages of the process so when you see the final product you will have seen it from multiple points of view. The structure itself is made from cardboard and it is all held together by lots of masking tape and a little bit of duct tape in some feisty areas that require more of a hold. The next step is to cut out the door way and windows with a hobby knife (you can see where I have marked certain areas) and then we can start the plastering process. After the entire structure is plastered and dried we will paint its entirety, lay down the sand, lightly dust the building and do any special detailing work that may need to be done. As seen in the photo, the moisture evaporator will set in from of this building to the right of the two Ketwol. I don’t think that I will leave Shmi in this area, but for now I am just playing.
SoME_3.5.JPG (38267 bytes) This picture shows you the city flow at this point. I will share my future plans. There will be an archway connecting structure #2 to structure #3 (above Gauron) which will open my next strip of street running north. Both sides of this new strip will have structures and activity scenes. The archway will add more base depth to the newest building structure as well. The small cardboard squares are placement squares for the next two moisture evaporators (this is how the first one started out).  The Aleena square will have three more Aleena figures on it soon. These figures are finished, just not painted. I am making a smaller square for a photographer Aleena so it can be placed near his 4 buddies. ….Ah Mos Espa, what a wonderful vacation spot…… To the right of the newest structure will be a parking lot which will eventually house 2 swoops and a waiting Dewback. This piece is slowly coming to life, slowly but surely. Once all of this section is complete I will attach it to an appropriately sized base board and start on the northern running new stretch of street. I have many exciting ideas for this Diorama and I hope to implement as many of them as I can so keep checking back on the progress.