Death Star Detention Block AA-23 with Prisoner Cell Diorama MOC

[TheCreatorr]

This is my very own Death Star Detention Block AA-23 with Prisoner Cell Diorama MOC built of LEGO bricks: 

 

! Minifig scale ! This SPECIAL EDITION Star Wars Diorama recreates one of the most iconic scenes in the Original Trilogy: the Rescue of Princess Leia inside the Detention Block AA-23 by Han, Luke and Chewie from Star Wars: A New Hope ...

Death Star Detention Block AA-23 with Prisoner Cell features the iconic Security Foyer with 2x Turbolifts, Imperial Lights on the wall, a Command Center Duty Post where the Officer receives the prisoners, 2x Cargo Containers, a 57C Holocam and one fully closed hexagon-shaped Blast Door. The other Blast Door leads to the hexagon-shaped Prison Corridor section which features a removable grid to unveil the Garbage compressor shaft, as well as an easy removable Prisoner Cell Door with hidden mechanism, that leads to Princess Leia's Cell 2187 with the Interrogation Droid IT-0 inside. The Prisoner Cell 2187 features a bench, ceiling with lights, and surrounding wall details. The Prison Corridor is slightly more elevated than the Security Foyer and Prisoner Cell, and like in the movie, you access the Corridor and Cell by taking a few steps up or down.

The 180 degree wide open diorama look allows you to take professional shots of scenes with your minifigures, reenact moments from Star Wars: A New Hope or Battlefront 1 / 2, or just display it on your shelf. Recreate Han's funny failed conversation, Luke's first collide with Leia, Leia's Interrogation by Vader, or the Escape through the Garbage compressor shaft!

I took very much attention to the source material references for this SPECIAL EDITION Star Wars Diorama, which resulted in this highly detailed and accurate recreation of one of the most iconic scenes in Star Wars.

 

--> Purchasable Instruction Manual and XML-Parts List available in my own shop: https://payhip.com/TheCreatorr 

You can follow me on flickr or take a look at more Star Wars MOCs of mine: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-creatorr/ 

 

What do you guys think? 

 

 Please note, that you can get the Instructions for this MOC in my own shop. And even if you only want to know how some building techniques works for this build, you can cleary use my Intructions for inspiration! As we all know, LEGO delivers a huge amount of freedom for building our most beloved scenes from SW.

[Hunter003]

This is fantastic!

[TheCreatorr]

4 hours ago, Hunter003 said:

This is fantastic!

@Hunter003 Thank you !

[TheCreatorr]

I finally finished building my very own DS Detention Block AA-23 with Prisoner Cell Diorama MOC : 

What do you guys think? 

Edited February 1, 2020 by TheCreatorr

[BEAVeR]

If I had to go to prison, I hope it would look as nice and clean as your diorama does! You really manage to pack a lot of things in without it feeling too crowded or messy: everything has its alloted space and room to shine. For example, I love how that central command post stands on its own small stage, which really pops from the floor which is both a different color and a different texture. That makes it a very clear focal point in your build, and rightly so, with its interesting way of constructing the consoles (great how you used those 1x1 brackets both as a structural element and a way to give some interesting color patterns). The focus on the central command post is also helped by the fact that all lines point to it: the corridor, the angled doors and walls, the turbolifts, the camera and even the minifigs in your example scene. Of course it's like that in the source material as well (and moreover it makes sense, as real prisons often mimick the same layout such that the central post can overlook all corridors at once), but the fact you picked up on that and managed to maintain it in a simplified, cutaway build, speaks of your attention to detail. I saw you made a design sketch of this model on Flickr, and to me it really shows that you put some careful thought and planning into creating these scenes!

I don't think there are many improvements that you could possible make to your creation, but maybe there's still one thing, and that is that the textures in your model feel a little bit flat to me here and there. Using the grill tiles for texture on the floor is nice, but they cover a large area and the same part returns in two other forms in your build which make that particular texture a bit too repetitious. An additional pattern on a different scale in the floor could break things up a bit. For example, in the movie you see that actually the grilled appearance of the floor has been divided up into several sections with some rather thin black stripes in the perpendicular direction. Another example is the smoothness of the walls. On some places you addressed this with some slightly inset panels into the walls, and those sections are amazing. But they also result in the sections that don't have it and are just bare (mainly behind the doors and in the cell) to look flatter in comparison, which could be improved by also adding inset sections or even just by including some textured bricks. Now, they have the same texture as the black outside of the build (the surfaces that are not actually part of the scene but really are the cut-through section), which make the outside and inside flow into each other instead of offering a clear division between focus and "behind the scenes" parts. This could also be improved by making the transition between the dark grey and the black around the central gate of even thickness to really reinforce the cut.

I find it really difficult to explain what I really mean and that's because it's something subtle. Something so subtle that it hardly takes away of the wonderful achievement of your build with many great touches, like the texture around the turbolift doors or the fact that you managed to tile off the top of those lifts so neatly. You're definitely a craftsman, so I hope you continue designing these great sets!