Scale: 1/12
Image: Inspiration and result.
Image: Title
Before our minds were blown away by the Child's appearance at the end of "The Mandalorian" Episode 1 back in October 2019, we only had the trailer and a million fan theories teasing us with the awesomeness to come. My favorite trailer segment was of the Mandolorian walking out and shooting a storm trooper before fighting more stormtroopers. After building Bandai's Boba Fett kit a year ago, I decided that my dislike of figure kits was unfounded and started on this diorama.
I started with a screen shot from Episode 8. I used Bandai's 1:12 Stormtrooper and Bandai S.H. Figureart's 1:12 Mandalorian to create the screen. Since neither character was really weathered in the episode, I kept the figures as pristine as I could throughout the build. The Mandalorian figure did not come with the option to hold the blaster in his left hand so I had to modify it to hold the blaster to match the photo. The Stormtrooper was straight out of the kit without modification.
The base is formed with two plywood pieces with the floor slabs, doorway, control panel, and lights being crafted from sheet styrene. I used epoxy putty to create the stucco wall and fine grained sand to give the dirt its texture. I used five different paints to get the weathered look seen in the photo, a light black coat to get the shadow on the wall, and mixed dark wash on the slab, doorway, and fixtures to help them pop out. The title "This is the Way" in Aurebesh was cut from a thin styrene sheet using my wife's Cricut and painted gloss black.
