Death Star Trench Run Model; or me and my big, fat mouth!

yeah, something lie that, but tidied up to allow game models to work in the space

        I was leaning on my friends to run a game at Pro Or Con and asked Justice&Rule about his long-posited but never presented Stars Wars "Attack on the Death Star" game. There had been a series of playtests a couple of years back but the project had lain dormant since then (as if I am one to talk, being the King-of-Half-Finished-Projects myself). J&R agreed but on the condition that I build the model of the famed trench with its unguarded exhaust port. A moment's contemplation (all geometric shapes? check, simple black & white palette? check, small size? check) and I agreed. Perhaps I should give things a full-minute's contemplation in the future. Be that as it may I work best with a short deadline and as there is but three slim weeks to Pro Or Con I am on a short leash indeed! So off to the workshop it was.....

 

I framed-up a 2x4 foot sheet of luan ply with 1x2" furring strips and then glued down a sheet of styrofoam insulation board, onto this base I started applying 2x2.5" blueboard rectangles that would act as the grid which controls movement and shooting

 

the rectangles are just very thin slices of board, deliberately made slightly different in thickness to ensure that players can easily recognize the  grid

once this task was finished it was time to look into the

 "Interesting Shapes" pile of old styrofoam packing bits
 

 

this provided the walls of the trench,

these will need loads of extra detail to look at all like the movie prop 

the turrets I had made last night as an exercise in producing them en-masse

 

 

at J&R's request I widened the trench a few inches

 to move the turrets out of the maneuvering space of the fighters

 

       Now I will get started on panels to place into the bays along the side of the trench, these panels will have "sci-fi details" added to them. After that it is time for a crate and a trip to the paint shop. Should be done by Friday........

 

 

time to start making shapes.....

 

 

don't have a clue what it does but it sure looks like it does something

 

 

bits and bobs, odd shapes and tiny rectangles and circles

 

 

a glance "down the trench" to make sure things look good

 

 

still have to add some small details and wiring/plumbing

 

 

but it is starting to look the part

 

 

the left wall...

 

 

....and the right one

        That was a quick hour of work. Things are shaping up nicely but tomorrow is Labor Day which means I can't run to Lowe's and buy the lumber I need for the crate. I will have to stick with adding detail (which really isn't that bad a deal as it is supposed to be near 95F tomorrow!).