Star Wars Hoth terrain advice. Shuttle tydirium scale question.

[The-closet-gamer]

We've just watched the new Star Wars trailer on YouTube and have decided to start a Star Wars project. So I've got two questions.

1.) they have decided that they want a Hoth table and muggins here has to build it. I'm going to base it on the battle front level with the interior of Echo base being built around the Star Wars illustrated cutaway visual guide. I'm just a little concerned about a.) how white it's going to look. Flat boring white and b.) how am I going to get a scale representation of snow. I could use textured paint or I've seen dioramas that have used poured plaster but I'm not a huge fan of plaster scenery/terrain as I find it's heavy and brittle and can crack. I could use the snow effect you can buy from model suppliers but it's designed for diorama use and not to be handled. I don't want to place a mini on it and find it's left an impression from the base. I've got a tub of Micro Balloons that I bought years ago for a military model project that got side lined. They are glass balls that are used as a light weight filler that you mix with other materials to keep the weight down. It was made popular by Industrial Light and Magic for the snow effects in Empire of the AT-AT scenes. Also the colour. Is it going to look to stark and flat.

2.) I've always thought the Tydirium toy that was released by Kenner/Hasbro would work well for 28mil but it's for action figures and the toys tend to lean on true and sensible scale. Example. The X wing seems to be true scale whereas the Falcon is sensible scale. Almost a charcuterie. The cockpit which can house four crew in the film becomes a cosy little cockpit for the toy. I actually think the master was made from a plastic plant pot. The Tydirium has this effect housing only two action figures but in the film there's quite a few sat around chillin while smoking and joking in a large area. It doesn't suffer from the the charcuterie effect like the falcon. So if I was to remove said cockpit and rebuild a 28mil scale one is it going to work or is the toy just to big in scale. If this is the case it might just have to be a scratch built job. As I've got the old Airfix and AMT kits ( the same kit but moulded buy different manufactures ) I could scale it it up ( 1/96 perfect for 15mil if anyone's interested ) to 1/56 scale and it's not to taxing a shape to build. I mean if a scale model was built for the film from styrene sheet and wotsits that was originally a back ground blink and you miss it mini for Empire how hard can it be? But I'm lazy and would prefer not to go down that route, the hyper space route that is.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. As for John Boyega as a storm trooper. Yes they are clones. But not all of them. It's called enlisting.
P.P.S. Cockpit "childish snigger"

[Constable Bertrand]

1. Steve has done some good snow effects with his SSS setting.

2. Mmm,

I've been questioning the revell kit or the action fleet toy range. Not sure which shuttle is bigger but possibly the Revell.

I would say a sensible reduction in size for gaming and some minor scale changes to the revell would be the best way forward.

Shut the cockpit and no one will see inside

Cheers
Matt.

[Connectamabob]

DO NOT use microballoons, as they are an inhalation health hazard. They make fantastic snow when affixed solid with glue or varnish, but you don't want them lying about loose in powder form.

While they were used in old model FX, that was under controlled conditions with lots of special precautions. You don't want to go casual with them.

In fact, most any granular material fine enough to really look like scale snow is going to have inhalation-related safety issues associated with handling bulk amounts where it can get into the air. Even ordinary food-grade stuff like baking soda or flour. If you want to be safe covering a whole table, you gotta either up the granule size to something more like sand, or solidify/affix the stuff.

On a less serious note:

[Mick Dundee]That's not a cockpit. THIS is a cockpit![/Mick Dundee]

[No Such Agency]

To avoid your snow "looking flat", can you just paint the surface clean white and airbrush in bluish shadows?  That tends to give a really convincing outdoor look.  Maybe make the terrain out of blue styrofoam sheets and cover it in latex house primer or something to smooth it out.  Connectamabob is correct that you don't want to mess up your lungs just for some Hoth diorama.

[huesped]

i used some sort of Marble Dust, mixed with water-thinner white glue, once dry, i aplied some  thinned white glue sprayed, in order to cover and protect the board: check :http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=64398.30
Since i wanted to represent a melting-snowed terrain, there's only patches of the snow - i presume- you're looking for.

[zizi666]

On a less serious note:

[Mick Dundee]That's not a cockpit. THIS is a cockpit![/Mick Dundee]

 

[white knight]

Not quite what you asked but the old Kenner Micro Collection sets might offer some useful scenery parts to incorporate. To judge the scale, the figures are 30mm diecast figures. I have most of these sets for a similar project and they are quite nice. Ebay usually has some floating around.

[The-closet-gamer]

Right. So Micro Balloons are out. I do like the idea of marble dust though. I think the air brush will be getting a hammering for this project.




[/quote]

Interesting. I've got the old Airfix Echo base hanger and Hoth Attack even though the latter is mixed scale I'll be using it as reference. The old Kenner play set might be useful. The ice rock/ icebergs could be incorporated. Wonder if the laser defence turret scales right. I was planning to build one for a diorama after seeing one floating around the net. The ion cannon is way to small so a forced perspective perhaps? 

Revell Tydirium. Hmm? It would be cheaper, much cheaper than the toy. Even if it's a second hand ebay win.

Childish snigger.

[Connectamabob]

Right. So Micro Balloons are out. I do like the idea of marble dust though.

The main thing is that you should solidify it with glue or something. Microbaloons are perfectly safe if you mix 'em with glue, and marble dust has it's own health hazards if used as a loose powder. What ever you're using, don't try to make a sand table with it unless the grains are sand-sized instead of powdery.

Solidified microbaloons will be much lighter than solidified marble dust. Looks-wise I'd guess they'd be pretty similar. I've never used marble dust or seen it in person, but I have done snow basing tests with microbaloons, and it looks pretty good if you do it right.

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

The old ( ish ) Revel snap fix kits work just fine...
The Falcon is closer to 20mm in scale, but its quite big enough with 28mm figures, same goes for ALL of those kits including the shuttle.
If you used proper scaled ones they would fill the entire table!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Star-Wars-Imperial-Shuttle-Revell-easykit-/131496891630?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e9dd354ee

And to be honest, they are great for what they are!

[Daeothar]

I've had the same idea about the old Kenner toy.

Not because I would be unsatisfied with a smaller kit, but I went all the way and bought myself the large Hasbro Falcon, which comes out at a scale of about 1/48.

So a smaller Shuttle would look out of place, should I ever put it side by side with the Falcon...