A Winter Wonderland
We had no snow last Christmas, though the last couple of weeks have partially made up for that criminal absence. The first few days of Christmas were occupied almost solely in resurrecting our kitchen after having it gutted and refitted painfully close to Christmas itself. I barely got to wrapping presents until Christmas Eve. Once I was finished with that and there was a series of programmes about Ronnie Barker to watch I got me Lego out.
What to make, what to make?
We had been enjoying the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar all through December and the final sets were these fantastic snow R2 unit and a Santa Maul. They were irresistibly destined to be used somewhere, in something. I just love the use of carrots and coal for the R2 droid. Overall the calendar was not as good as last year’s. The vehicles tended to be from Episodes 1-3, which just aren’t as interesting as proper Star Wars.
I’d used up most of the greens and browns to make The Woodland Whimsy (I have more now!) and had already separated out all the white and grey pieces. I had quite a bit, though no large baseplate to build on. Some kind of Christmas scene was called for, and what is more Christmassy than Hoth? I always think of Hoth whenever I think of snow, so combining it all was fun.
As I said, I had quite a bit of white, but no large structural pieces, so the base of the diorama is clumsily pegged together. However, I do like the uneven levels and surfaces it creates.
So here’s the whole thing, from the front. It is much smaller than The Woodland Whimsy owing to time and parts.
I wanted to create a series of min-dioramas in one, so right at the front we have the most Christmassy part with the 5N0W droid and Maul. Immediately behind them we have the Rebel troops on the left (including the fantastic facial expression on the dude in khaki), shooting up the Imperials on the right. The cannons they have here are adapted from those included in the advent calendar. I like to re-use.
Behind them (and sort of between them) is the Lego AT-AT (my single favourite model from the advent calendar) attacking the Rebel base defended by the snowspeeder. I found I had to add blue and the occasional off-white brick to stop the whole landscape blurring weirdly when I looked at it. In retrospect it works well.
Right at the back is the best scene in Empire (contentious, even with myself), Luke suspended in the Wampa cave waiting to be torn to pieces. I had particular fun making the ice cave itself. The horn/bone pieces are good for icicles, and again I enjoyed the irregular structures you can make. The beast is not a Wampa, because I don’t have that set. He’s from the Orient Expedition Yeti’s Hideout set. He’s on a revolving base and has the head of a Gungan. I couldn’t find my actual Jar-Jar but I figured any racial stereotype would do. Luke’s lightsaber is tantalisingly close, and can be wiggled. I was pleased to find I had a couple of skeletons knocking about as well.
Here are a few shots from different angles, so please have a look and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.
