August 30, 2026
I began the week working on the Lego Emperor’s Throne Room which believe me was no walk in the park. I have never built a large Lego diorama piece fresh out of the box, and I had a lot to learn… three long days of building and rebuilding to get to a point that I could accept. A couple years ago I found the structure (walls and floor) for the Star Trek Enterprise Bridge Playset at the swap meet and decided then that it would make a good environment in which to set the Lego Emperor’s Throne Room, and that turned out to be a pretty good buy.
With the throne room done, I turned my attention to a piece/part of terrain I was literally given at the last Brookhurst Hobbies Bring and Buy. The seller/giver said it was a loose piece that he was not going to use, and I could have it if I wanted it. It looked to me like it had potential as a Trench Crusade shrine. I added a few candles, a bomb, a loud speaker and some tufts, and I think it turned out pretty good.
Trench Crusade began as a small detour from working on my Star Wars collection and became an obsession all its own. But recently I’ve started feeling the need to get back to Star Wars, and that is how I ended the week. I painted a few more cantina patrons, two more members of the Max Rebo Band, some cargo, and lots of Pit Droids.
I ended the week throwing together Star Wars workshop usings odds and ends I’ve had for years… these are fun projects and I like the way this one came out.
August 23, 2026
A couple of years ago, I bought a box of random Nano Space Comd parts at the swap meet. At the time I didn't know what they were, but they looked like they could be useful. Since then, I have used them more than once to build futuristic interiors, so when I decided I wanted a Clone command center, I made use of the Nano pieces once again.
Also a couple of years ago, I found the Lego Emperor’s Throne Room on eBay at a price I could afford. It was a gamble. I’d never seen the finished piece in person and knew I would have to do some modifying to get it to work with my 28mm figures and hide as much of its Lego look as possible… that was the gamble. When I finished the Clone command center this week, I decided it was time to screw my hobby courage to the wall and build the Emperor’s Throne Room. It wasn’t fun. I did my best to follow instructions and open the packages in the order suggested, but between pieces falling off as I added new pieces and my inability to locate pieces in what I believed was the order the directions recommended, it was three days of hair pulling. That said, I finished it (probably imperfectly) and in my opinion it will work with my 28mm figures. Painting is next.
August 16, 2026
This week the workbench has been devoted to creating Jabba the Hutt’s throne room. Several years ago, I purchased the AMT model of Jabba’s throne room at the swap meet for $10. A year or so after that I bought the Lego version of Boba Fett’s throne room, which is basically Jabba’s throne room, at the swap meet also for $10. It is actually better than the Lego version of Jabba’s throne… more complete. The task was bringing the pieces together in a more usable form and hiding as much of the Lego look as possible… that took a huge amount of time. The long side wall is from the AMT model as is the floor grate. I gave most of it (walls and floor) a texture coating once it was together and then I painted it.
I closed the week out painting figures related to Jabba’s throne room including Boba Fett’s throne.
August 9, 2026
I began the week painting a Jabba-like barge that I purchased about a dozen years ago and set aside. It is a Jesus Labiano design (Desert Skiff) and 13 inches long and 6 ½ inches tall. It’s compatible with 28mm or 32mm figures. The model went together rather easily and has great detail.
At the same time I discovered the Labiano design barge, I also found a group of Star Wars style buildings I had purchased at about the same time as the barge. Two of those buildings had been purchased for the purpose of creating Jabba’s palace. In 2007 I bought four Lemax Halloween bases (mountains) because they were on clearance for 70% off and I was sure they would be of use in the future. That future is now and one of those bases will be the mountain base for Jabba’s palace. The Lemax base required a good deal of modification… hiding the unwanted, expanding a surface for one of the buildings, and adding the main ground-level entrance. The entire piece stands 14 inches tall.
With the exterior of Jabba’s palace done, I painted what I think will be the last two of my Star Wars buildings.
August 2, 2026
Most of my time at the workbench this past week has been devoted to painting the figures that will populate my Natoshoo’s cantina. The only figure I couldn’t fit into the cantina’s floor plan was a drunk Hutt. Great figure, and he’ll serve as an option for the cantina.
With the cantina’s figures’ done, I painted a group of space plants for my Star Wars town. I got these years ago and regret that I can no longer remember the source.
