Building a Jabbas Palace themed stand for full ROTJ armor

[WBCenobyte]

Hey everyone,

long time lurker, first time poster here. Taking my first humble steps in this message board and hoping I landed in the right subforum.

I have just received the final parts from Bobamaker for my full ROTJ Boba armor and now want to build a display stand to place a mannequin with the armor on.
My plan was to fetch an extra pair of boots, fill them up with modelling plaster and fit some neodyme magnets in there. Then screw those to a display stand. Next I will saw the feet of the mannequin, seal the legs and place another set of magnets in there, so it will stand on the fixed feet securely.

As I got the ROTJ armor, I thought ist would fit best thematically if I would design the display stand like the inside main hall of Jabbas palace.
I could not find any good reference pictures to base my concept on, as I would like to add some illumination as well.

Now my question: Can you guys help me out with some good reference pictures, give conceptional ideas on how to build the socket and give feedback to my building plans? That would be a great help to me.

Thanks for any feedback! Please excuse any language-mess-ups.

Greetings from Germany,
Tim

 

[chibi fett]

You might want to see Bobamaker's display stand idea for your build;

bobamaker: Boba Fett Diorama

And, as for the magnets for legs, forget them. You really do not want to risk seeing your Fett coming down in pieces due to some accident, and the magnets giving up.. The mannequin stands usually have some support rod connected to one leg, that is not under the sole, but connects to the leg just above the ankle.

With those, you can dress up the manny with your Fett, using your own shoes on the legs, and the support rod going in behind the leg, through the Ankle Spats.

Nice and secure, no need for another pair of boots, and less work.

And, please, pics would be great...

 

[WBCenobyte]

Okay, planning on this progressed and will buy everything I need tomorrow.
I will implement two mounted ceilinglamps on each side, linked with a single switch (like these: Halogen-Einbau-Spot 57975/48/16, Alu lackiert Leuchtenland.com). And I will try to work in the mannequin stand as chibi fett suggested.

Thinking about what could lie around there on the floor. I thought about implementing a pewter ring door knocker with a chain attached to it, ending in neck shackles. Something like this might come in handy building it: Neck and Hand Chain - horror-shop.com Bones would be a little bit too cheesy, wouldn't they?
What do you guys think? Any other decoration ideas?

 

[WBCenobyte]

Heavily inspired by Bobamakers Display Stand (Excellent idea and execution - kudos!) I started working on my own today, with some twists to Daz's concept. I had all materials gathered and the wood precut and everything was ready for assemply.



First I assembled the base and the upper step with white glue. After the glue dried, everything was screwed together.



I then attached the sides which have precut holes for ceiling lights.



After that I placed the upper step in the corner opposite to the rounded side of the base. Again - glue first, screws following.
With everything in place, this is the basic shape.



I covered the screwholes with whiteglue and crepe tape and installed the ceiling lights.
And testfitted the mannequin.



What is now left on my To Do List for the next days is:
- Screw the front cover panel into place
- Install the metal rod that will hold the mannequin in place (which needs to be reposed badly, but that will be another story...)
- Chip the wooden edges with a jigsaw
- Create an uneven and textured surface and work out transitions between the pieces with dental plaster
- Fixate lamps and attach sanded acrylic glass on top of them to diffuse the light.
- Cover electronics of lights and secure cables.
- Paint the whole thing using tinting paint, washes, airbrush and drybrushing.

Hope this will look nice when I am done. And maybe, when the hackjob on the mannequin is done the whole thing will do the armor justice.

Cheers guys, hope you like the progress so far. Happy to hear some feedback, as always.
Tim

 

[RafalFett]

So far the stand looks good! Can't wait to see it finished and the mannequin positioned in true ROTJ style.
Here's a ROTJ still that might help you to achieve the Jabba palace look:


Keep up the great work!

 

[WBCenobyte]

Though it may not be true ROTJ style I thought about a more dynamic pose. I like the one you posted (and the pic gave me awesome reference for building the stand) but I guess I want something that yells more "Come get some". I will check that.

 

[RafalFett]

I posted that image as a reference for the stand and not for the ROTJ pose (my mistake that I didn't specified that), but there is a screencap that might have that 'come get some' stance:

 

[WBCenobyte]

No need to feel sorry, because I understood you wrong. Happy about the reference, the pose looks great.

Will post more progress-pics later. Your reference pics gave me a nice idea.

 

[WBCenobyte]

Back at working on this thing again. I screwed the frontpanel into place and a knob foil used for isolating walls was cut and attached via double sided adhesive tape.





Next steps will be the chipping of the wood and then the texturing via dental plaster and a whiteglue/water/sand mixture on the foil. I guess I will have to prime the foil first - so I also got some primer spray.

 

[RafalFett]

Clever use of existing materials. Keep up the great work!

 

[WBCenobyte]

Everything is in place now, and after chipping the wood with a jigsaw and laying down a base layer to uneven the surface and priming the plastic with primer spray i coated everything with epoxy filler.



I also placed some small round metal pieces in the filler on the walls to add something to their looks. While the filler is half cured, I installed the lights as a test and they fit well and I like the way the light shines on the whole thing.



When everything is completely dry tomorrow I will slap some paint on this thing. I still have to install the metal rod that will hold the mannequin in place, but for that I first want to modify the mannequin itself, so I know the final position. Hope my materials to do this arrive soon.

Hope you guys like the progress so far.

 

[ICEmonkey]

looking good, nice effect with the walls

 

[WBCenobyte]

Base color laid down. Tomorrow I will start with the washes, the airbrushing and the drybrushing. Also have to glue the lamps in place and color the sockets. Happy with it so far.

 

[Vultana]

That is fracking awesome!

 

[WBCenobyte]

Thank you! Still thinking about how to highlight this thing. Need to work outside to do this, but it's snowing as hell here, so I can't continue at the moment. Hope to be able to give you some more pictures soon.

 

[bobamaker]

Great job, your mannequin is gonna look incredible standing on that. Just be careful, spotlights are very good at bleaching out colour from fabric. Hopefully won't be a problem with your mannequin on the top step.

DAZ

 

[WBCenobyte]

Thank you Daz, it's your work that will look great on it. The lights won't hit the armor directly and I will only turn them on for display purposes anyway, so I guess I am pretty safe. Still not 100% sure on how to highlight this thing. Washes on a stand that large might result in a weird look. Have to experiment a little.