Fretsaw project: Peanuts Star Wars diorama

[yamatetsu]

Found this Peanuts Star Wars pic. Thought I could do a diorama of it.



Step 1: Cutting out the characters.



Tools used: A Ryoba to cut the boards to size, a fretsaw to cut out the characters.

[yamatetsu]

Step 2: Snoopy Obi Wan Snoop.

Cut out all the parts and sanded them with 240 grit sandpaper. Sanding took approx. two hours. Yay.

Here's a pile of Snoop.



Now off to painting and glueing.

[yamatetsu]

Step 3: Cutting out Darth Woodstock.

Have to get some brown paint for Snoopy, so I painted the parts I do have paint for and went on to cut out Woodstock's parts.

A pile of Woodstock. This one has some really tiny parts.



Woodstock partially assembled and sanded.



This one will be tough to paint because the hut's roof is going to be red, but Woodstock will be painted black. It's one piece, the hut's surface is uneven, so getting a perfect transition will probably be tricky.

[bobbyb13]

Lots of tricky blue painters tape work.

And this is awesome!

[Zebidee]

This is cool.

I see a lot more sanding (and filling) ahead

[yamatetsu]

I see a lot more sanding (and filling) ahead

Actually... no. I just went ahead and painted it.

Step 4: Darth Woodstock is finished.

Painting Darth Woodstock and the hut turned out to be super easy, barely an inconvenience. I painted the hut and the lower part of Woodstock red. When the paint was dry, I just put a strip of Frogtape on each side and painted Woodstock black. Peeled the tape off while the paint was still wet, the result is not perfect, but you can see it only if you're really close. Sometimes, worrying is overrated.

Then I glued the parts on. The tiny ones were a major PITA, because it was hard to position them correctly, the glue didn't want to set, pressing lightly on them caused them to move, etc. Anyway, after much swearing and shouting, I got it done.

So this is what Darth Woodstock looks like now.

[Zebidee]

Looks better a little rough anyway    

[yamatetsu]

Step 5: The background. And the floor.

Obi Wan Snoop will be slotted into the floor, so I made a hole using the fretsaw and did astonishingly little work with a file to make it fit. Also made the classic mistake of test fitting him and going "Crap! I'm never getting him out again!"



Then I went to work on the background. Cut out that window into space with a jigsaw. Some lines may look a little wobbly to the untrained eye, but that's just because they totally are. I fine with that, this is a cartoon diorama after all.



Next, that... latticework on the back board. I cut a thin board to the same size as the back board and taped it on it. Then I drilled a hole on the inside, flipped the thing around, and used the fretsaw to saw along the inside lines, using the back board as a guide. This went surprisingly well, I didn't need to do much sanding afterwards.



Unfortunately, that board is not completely even, so there's a small gap between the floor and the back wall. I can't do anything about that, as I don't have the tools for sanding a board of that size.



Last but not least I drew the pattern for the latticework on the board. Looking forward to cutting this out. Not.

[Zebidee]

Then I went to work on the background. Cut out that window into space with a jigsaw. Some lines may look a little wobbly to the untrained eye, but that's just because they totally are. I fine with that, this is a cartoon diorama after all.

I'm sure it'll look better than fine. I could learn a few things from you about accepting imperfections.

[yamatetsu]

I could learn a few things from you about accepting imperfections.

Heh. That's hard to do. I'm always trying to do things preferctly, but that simply isn't possible. I found that the difference between 'That looks really good' and 'It's perfect' is often miniscule, but to get it perfect you have to spend an unreasonably high amount of time. Also, oftentimes I go from 'I can fix this to make it look perfect, just a little bit more' to 'Damn, now I have to do this again!'.

Step 6: Obi Wan Snoop.

Finished painting and glueing. Glueing the small parts again was a major PITA. That plywood sucks glue in like a sponge. By the time I position the piece perfectly, the glue is already gone. Then of course I overcompensate and the glue doesn't set. Anyway, I got it done eventually.



Step 7: The rest. This will take a while.

Cut out the latticework. Drawing the lines on the board is relatively easy, cutting them out with the fretsaw is not, because the saw has a physical limit to how far you can go into the wood, and this piece of wood is rather large. That made for some tricky maneuvering.



I then cut out the side wall and used the fretsaw to cut out the rounded corners. After sanding the three pieces, I must say that for a piece of wood that I found in the trash, it looks quite good. Treating it to a coat of linseed oil would make it look really good. Sadly, that 'natural wood look' clashes with Snoopy's and Woodstock's paint, and also with the latticework. It saddens me a bit to have to paint it, but it has to be done.

I see a lot more sanding ahead

This time, you're right.

[Zebidee]

Nice work so far!

Finished painting and glueing. Glueing the small parts again was a major PITA. That plywood sucks glue in like a sponge. By the time I position the piece perfectly, the glue is already gone. Then of course I overcompensate and the glue doesn't set. Anyway, I got it done eventually.

What glue are you using? PVA wood glues would work well here. They should give you plenty of time to get the positioning right, soak into and bind with the wood, good adhesion when dry, non-toxic and the cleanup is easy as water based.

There are many brands. Titebond II is a good general purpose example. Selley's Aquadhere is an Australian brand I've used a lot.

I then cut out the side wall and used the fretsaw to cut out the rounded corners. After sanding the three pieces, I must say that for a piece of wood that I found in the trash, it looks quite good. Treating it to a coat of linseed oil would make it look really good. Sadly, that 'natural wood look' clashes with Snoopy's and Woodstock's paint, and also with the latticework. It saddens me a bit to have to paint it, but it has to be done.

Yeah... woodgrain is nice, but doesn't really scream "Death Star space port" at you 

[yamatetsu]

I'm using superglue. Some of these pieces have such a tiny footprint that using wood glue just isn't feasible. We're talking about something like 3mm x 1mm, 6mm high. These can't even stand on their own. I need glue that dries fast, and that means superglue.

[Zebidee]

Understood!

Art is a tough and uncompromising mistress. To satisfy her demands, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

[yamatetsu]

Sooo, I've been procrastinating a bit, because I somehow dreaded building the room. Painting the boards went without a hitch, screwing them together, however, left me with some nice gaps between them. As I have neither tools to make a perfect straight cut nor tools to correct the cut (like a planer or something), I'll have to live with it.

I cut out the window frame and glued it to the board, then painted the inside of the window dark grey. You can't see it that well in the pic, the "window sill" is about an inch deep, so you get the impression that the wall is really massive (as it should be, thin walls don't mix well with outer space).

So that's where I'm at now.

[Zebidee]

I do believe you have painted the walls according to the 1997 Special Edition remaster, rather than the original. That is, with a slight magenta tone.

Many, many edits and changes were made to the original Star Wars movies. Many things were good, some not so good, depending on which street corner you stand.

In general the colours are more saturated in the revision, and most notably the 1997 version has a distinct magenta "wash" or tone.

I think Lucas felt this gave the movies more of a Sci-Fi/Space feel. I think it *does* change the feel of the movies somehow. Anyway, not everyone likes it and some fans have put in great efforts to "de-Lucas" their remastered versions and remove the magenta tone.

I have no personal stake in it myself, I just find it interesting.

I have both versions, so I took some quick screenshots for you to compare.

BEFORE (1977) and AFTER (1997)


 

[yamatetsu]

Whoa, I think you're reading a bit too much into this. The paint color I used was according to "This is the only light gray paint that is available in the DIY store". I think that the slight magenta tone you are referring to is just the reflection from the board behind the back wall.
Also, keep in mind that the color you see in the pic depends on the lighting, the way that the camera processes the colors and the settings of your monitor. I made two pics, the one you saw in the post was taken with the camera's flash light, the other one without it. I posted the one with the flash light because in the other one the dark grey appeared to be a bit too dark.



The colors in the right picture seem to be much darker, yet it's the same pic just with different lighting.

I'm not a big Star Wars fan, I think the original trilogy is ok, but nothing that I want to watch several times. I suffered through the first prequel movie, after watching the first half hour of the second prequel I thought that this was so ridiculously bad that I never watched anything Star Wars again, except for a few episodes of "The Clone Wars".
I own about 60+ Star Wars books, but stopped reading those, too, though some of those stories are way better than the drivel Lucas and his successors came up with.

[Zebidee]

Whoa, I think you're reading a bit too much into this. The paint color I used was according to "This is the only light gray paint that is available in the DIY store". I think that the slight magenta tone you are referring to is just the reflection from the board behind the back wall.

Is not a big deal, I just find it interesting. Even if it is unintended.

I see more colour in "greys" than most people. I've had some great discussions with people where we both look at the same grey, but perceive it differently. Grey is not really grey, it is a balanced combination of "all" colours+white, and there will often be a dominant shade. To me both the pics you show look slightly magenta, even the darker one.

I never trust a grey paint pot until I've tested it and let it dry. Now that I think of it, I would almost never buy grey anyway (would mix it directly instead).

It isn't just the lighting. Magenta is maybe even stronger in the darker one.

But like you say - maybe it is the camera or the monitor or whatever. Maybe take it somewhere else, even outside to the sunlight, or ask a friend.

Compare the metal walls in 1977 Star Wars, where they look to be covered with some mucky greenish/brown verdigris, like an old WWII battleship. Now look at the 1997 version, and the magenta tint makes the walls look cleaner, I guess like a shiny new spaceship. I don't know which one I prefer.

[yamatetsu]

Finished the latticework. Took more time than anticipated, had to recut some parts and shorten many others after having glued them.

Pro: The gaps between the boards are now gone.

Con: - Took way more work
        - I had to shorten the four bits between the window and the side wall because of the bit I added to hide the gap. This I left for last. Mistake. I didn't want to bother
          to align the side wall's latticework to that of the back wall, so I just glued it in and then glued in the missing four bits on the back wall. The side wall's bits are close to
          the back wall's, so it looks like I botched the alignment 

[Zebidee]

The side wall's bits are close to the back wall's, so it looks like I botched the alignment 

Don't worry about it too much, not worth it   

[yamatetsu]

It's just annoying that this could have been prevented just by finishing the back wall first and then doing the side wall.

[yamatetsu]

Finally made the Window into Space section and made the backside of the diorama prettier.

The backside has visible screws that I wanted to hide. Since the Window into Space is a panel that had to be glued to the backside, I figured that I could use that to hide some screws and, by adding a second panel to the side wall, hide the rest of them. The cut on the cheap ply looks ugly compared to the cut on the smooth cut on the main boards, so I decided to make the panels about 1cm smaller on each side. I painted the panels dark grey and glued them to the backsides.

[yamatetsu]

After looking at all the empty space in the window, I decided to add one more star.

This one.



This will go into the upper right corner of the window, hence the weird shape.

[PL1]

So they're on the Death Star and outside the window you see . . . the Death Star??

How about a Star Destroyer instead?


Scott

[yamatetsu]

So they're on the Death Star and outside the window you see . . . the Death Star??

How about a Star Destroyer instead?


Scott

Hmmm. That didn't occur to me. However, I do have a problem, which is the size limit of what I can do (the Death Star is about 12cm wide and 9cm deep). Whatever I make has to go into the upper right corner, as this is about the only place not obstructed by Snoopy and Woodstock.
At first, I wanted to do a TIE fighter, but it turned out that in order to be able to do the small details, it would have filled about half the window. I suspect that the Star Destroyer would be even worse.
So the Death Star might be illogical, but it's the only thing that I can think of that is instantly recognizable and fits the size restrictions.

[PL1]

I was picturing something like this, but more of a nose-down angle to emphasize the length and triangular shape.
- This crops out the detailed superstructure while keeping most of the diamond rear-profile and three main engines that everyone remembers from the original opening scene.


Scott

[yamatetsu]

While that may be an iconic view, transforming that pic into black & white results in something like this.



I wouldn't even know how to simplify this so I get something that I can saw with a fretsaw, and even if I could, this MIGHT be done on an A4 page, but definitely not on 12cm x 9cm.

Besides, that Death Star is cut, sanded and painted, which cost me a few hours of work. So I guess I will sell this as an infinity mirror scenario, in which the scene plays in the Death Star while looking out to the Death Star, in which this scene plays, looking out to... Art critics and Star Wars fans may ponder the philosophical ramifications of this piece of art for decades to come.
Oh wait, except for you guys, just a handful of people will ever see this, so maybe not.

[Zebidee]

I'll give you three alternative suggestions.

FWIW, I think you could just leave the window as stars, and call it "done". Otherwise you distract the viewer's attention away from the subjects of your art (Darth/Obiwan).

If you still feel you need something in that window corner to achieve balance, how about adapting from Death Star to forest moon of Endor (yes, this is from ROTJ, but the Death Star had to get made somewhere yes?), or even Alderaan (if you forget that it got destroyed already)? You could do it in 2 colours (white/blue, clouds/ocean).

However, I still feel that is too much fussy distraction.

Going back to your tie-fighter idea, just keep it small in the distance, then no/little detail is required. No bigger than one of the subject's faces. By keeping it small, there is little distraction from the foreground subjects. It can just be an "H" with a round glob in the middle. Main colour of tie fighter can be consistent with the grey/magenta used on the walls, though you might vary it slightly (this also means you avoid introducing new colours to the work). You can black out some of the round glob to indicate windows. Done!

This would also be most consistent with the original Star Wars scene, in which a space port would have been visible through the window.

[PL1]

I like Zebidee's suggestions, but a small tie fighter head-on view H-shape might be difficult to cut without breaking.

It might be easier to make it strong and small if you turn it like this.



If you want to go the Star Destroyer route:

1. Cut the outline of the cropped Star Destroyer as a single piece.
- Use tape to mask/paint the diamond, lower left triangle, and lower right thin wedge areas.
- Use a different shade for each area.

2. Drill/cut out the three engine holes or cut the engine circles from a piece of very thin material.
- For engine holes, not sure if it would be better to use a tape backer and blue paint or blue paint over the part of the starfield visible through the three engine holes.


Scott

[Zebidee]

I like Zebidee's suggestions, but a small tie fighter head-on view H-shape might be difficult to cut without breaking.

It might be easier to make it strong and small if you turn it like this.

Yeah, looks good. I was already thinking along the same lines after posting.

[yamatetsu]

I like Zebidee's suggestions, but a small tie fighter head-on view H-shape might be difficult to cut without breaking.

It might be easier to make it strong and small if you turn it like this.

I was going to use this one.





At that size, it would be difficult to cut out the panels on the wings, the module in the middle would be ca. 2 cm in diameter, doing the details on that would be impossible.

If you want to go the Star Destroyer route:

1. Cut the outline of the cropped Star Destroyer as a single piece.
- Use tape to mask/paint the diamond, lower left triangle, and lower right thin wedge areas.
- Use a different shade for each area.

2. Drill/cut out the three engine holes or cut the engine circles from a piece of very thin material.
- For engine holes, not sure if it would be better to use a tape backer and blue paint or blue paint over the part of the starfield visible through the three engine holes.


Scott

I am underwhelmed. The Death Star is instantly recognizable even to non Star Wars fans, this... isn't.

If you still feel you need something in that window corner to achieve balance, how about adapting from Death Star to forest moon of Endor (yes, this is from ROTJ, but the Death Star had to get made somewhere yes?), or even Alderaan (if you forget that it got destroyed already)? You could do it in 2 colours (white/blue, clouds/ocean).

That would look like just doing a random planet/moon. There are no distinguishing features on a planet view from Space that would make anyone go "This is Endor/Alderaan!"

I'm still in favor of the Death Star.

[Zebidee]

I'm still in favor of the Death Star.

Heh. Maybe the Death Star had a baby star

[Mike A]

My vote would be just keep the empty star field rather than a Death Star.

Another Death Star would just be weird.

[yamatetsu]

The decision is made. I like the Death Star too much and have put too much work into it to throw it in the trash. Into the upper right window corner it goes, logical issues be damned.

[Zebidee]

Logic is over-rated anyway. I like it too!

[yamatetsu]

Done! This cost me a lot more work than I thought it would, but it turned out nice, so I'm happy with it.

[Zebidee]

I like it a lot!

Rationale: Snoopy and Woodstock are on their own mini-deathstar ("that's no moon, err, asteroid..."), and the real one is visible behind them. Obiwan and Darth are confronting each other at the same time!

[yamatetsu]

Rationale: Snoopy and Woodstock are on their own mini-deathstar ("that's no moon, err, asteroid..."), and the real one is visible behind them. Obiwan and Darth are confronting each other at the same time!

Since this is the Peanutverse, I declare Lucas' films non canon. Obi & Vader couldn't wait to get at each other's throat, so they duked it out in the shuttle to the Death Star.

[bobbyb13]

Nicely done.
Really fun and it looks great!