Landing at Yavin Base

Yavin Base

Props of A New Hope (part 2)

Here are some in-progress renders of the next two props from A New Hope. The DH-17 Blaster used by Rebel Marines aboard the Tantive IV, and trusty (if inaccurate) E-11 Blaster used by Stormtroopers the whole galaxy over.

Both props started out as Sterling Submachineguns, popular during WWII, and had lots of greebles piled on top to make two distinct blasters. One of the unique features of Star Wars was the use of modified real world weaponry, which often fired blanks during filming (to which laser bolts and sound effects were added in post-production) In Pre-Star Wars movies laser weapons were completely static, and actors would pretend (or not) to feel any recoil from them. Props that fired blanks in Star Wars, adding a real kick to the action, gave the film a much more realistic feel. That said, in the opening scenes of A New Hope, only the Stormtroopers had functional blank-firing guns, the Rebel weapons were crude rubber castings.

and here's a collection of all the props I've modeled from A New Hope so far...

Props of A New Hope (part 1)

To keep myself occupied during all this interminable waiting between snippets about the Force Awakens, I've started a new project. I plan to make a model of every prop that appears in Star Wars A New Hope, in order of appearance. I already tackled every ship/vehicle and every droid elsewhere on this blog. To kick things off, the first prop seen is a Rebel Marine's Helmet.

Force Awakens X-Wing

I'd built a model of this a long time ago, but lost it in a back-up fiasco. So here's an all new version. Designed in sketchup from photomatched images of fullscale prop built for Force Awakens.

Earlier work in progress renders...

Comparison

Adding a little texture now...

Episode 7 Millennium Falcon

Episode VII X-WIng "Lock S-Foils in Attack Position"

Definitive Millennium Falcon Interior (part 2)

Definitive Millennium Falcon Interior

Well... here we go again. My first model of the New Hope interior of the Falcon was made waaaay back when I was just learning sketchup. It is a mess, to say the least. So, armed with new skills and knowledge (and a fair amount of time borrowed from somewhere) I've started an all new model of the interior.

Starting with a photomatch, and working my way from there, this is as far as I've come.

my goal is to make a model that, when rendered, is indistinguishable from what we see on screen in A New Hope... no sweat, right?

and just for the sake of bragging, here is the geometry of the model overlaid with the perspective matched photo of the real set.

Further updates. more junk for everybody!

Yavin Base Briefing Room

Greeblies for Everybody!

Size Comparison

An updated version of the size comparison chart I started this blog out with, now that I have some new models.

Rebel Blockade Runner

A while back I built a model of the Rebel Blockade Runner, which I'd created from fan-made plans found online. I'd been pretty satisfied with the model for a while, but didn't think about it for a long time afterward.

Earlier this week, I got a wild hair up my ass to see what would happen if I photomatched the scene in ANH where the Star Destroyer draws the Blockade Runner into its bay. I wanted to see what the relative scales would look like, if everything was matched in perspective (rather than through guesswork).

What I discovered, instead, was that my previously built Blockade Runner Model didn't match what was on the screen at all. So I got complete distracted, and rebuilt my Blockade Runner from scratch. This time 100% original work, using Sketchup's Photomatch tool on the studio scale model used in filming ANH. Turned out pretty well, if I do say so.

Here's the geometry of the model overlaid on the photos I used.

Echo Base Rough

Just fooling around with a few models... The X-Wing, the Falcon, and all the background elements are mine, but the snowspeeders were downloaded from the sketchup warehouse for a quick preview. The space is based on the blueprints of the Elstree Sound Stage where the interior sets of Echo Base were constructed. The extended space beyond the berths (second picture right-hand) is a rough extension of the large matte paintings that were used in those areas on the sounds stage to imply a larger space.

Yavin exterior with the Millennium Falcon

This is a composite that shows what might have been if the full scale prop of the Falcon had been composited into the shot of the Yavin Base exterior. I found copies of all the original elements of the shot that ended up in the film, and started playing around with recreating it from scratch, adding an element of my own. To get the Falcon into the shot, I used sketchup's photomatch tools to match the perspective of the hangar shot below. Then I added some simple figures into the scene where the actors are standing, to set the scale. Next I added my replica of the full scale movie set into the scene.

Here is the final composite

Now here's the the stack of effects elements

and finally, here is the shot as it appeared originally in 1977, without the Falcon