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Q&A with Zipidi Doodah

Q&A with Zipidi Doodah

XOC2008: There’s a couple things you touched on that we’ll get back to, but let’s continue with a bit about you first. When you’re not building or showcasing a massive diorama, what’s your daily life like?

Zipidi: As an Adult Film Casting Agent, my life usually revolves around discovering and recruiting new talent for…. Just joking.

Seriously, I’m just a guy who had a spare room, and that enjoys Star Wars and displaying my very large collection in diorama form. I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary a few days ago, and primarily, my life revolves around my wife and our 2 sons. My wife originally inspired me to do the Hoth diorama, as this is her favorite scene from the original trilogy.

X: Congratulations on 25 years and 2 kids! You said your wife inspired your Hoth diorama. What does she think of your hobby and large colection, and was she at all upset about how much space it took up in the house?

Z: Thank you very much.

She constantly supports my interests and encourages them, so I’m very fortunate to have her in my life.

X: So no evil-eye or anything when you started taking over the living room with an inter-stellar snowscape?

Z: Lol, not at all. She was already kind enough to give me one room in the house, and when one of our sons moved out at age 23, I pounced on the opportunity to take over another room for Hoth. I currently have an eye on a third room for Geonosis, but that’s a secret, lol. Currently, 2 rooms are for Star Wars. I’m hoping for the 3rd. My Tatooine dio (140+ sq ft is scheduled for a total makeover after I finish Hoth. A link to my Tattoine dio ( this has been dismantled since I shot this photo )
ziptattoine

More HERE.

X: Way cool, and insanely detailed! You really have a keen eye for a nearly frame by frame picture of the scenes from the movies. If the Hoth diorama is 140+ square feet, how big is the remaining part of your living room and is it livable, or is it pretty much considered in construction for the rest of Hoth?

Z: Thank you very much. I consider research to be key on my dioramas.

There isn’t a whole lot of room left in that room. I still have around 10 sq ft left, before I finish this dio, which will leave just enough room for me to walk along the right side of the dio, to make adjustments, like when a figure falls over. Finish is a strong word, lol. My dioramas are constant works in progress. There’s always something that could be “better”.

X: I know there have been some comments here and there about some inaccuracies, too. But, you know, I attribute all that to artistic liberties. Nothing has to be dead on, it’s just got to suit the artist.

Considering the Hoth dio, how many hours in total do you feel you put into the dio thus far, and how many more do you think might go into it before its in a state of “completion”? Barring circumstances that would involve adjustments and changes to make it “better”, as you said.

Z: As far as inaccuracies, I have had several who thought that the pic of Vader choking a random Rebel pilot, on his way into the base, was Vader choking Luke, but I know what you mean. And I realize I have 6 walkers instead of 5, and that was to show the evolution of the scene. The shuttle landing pic, which was originally shot as a concept, is inaccurate.

I have put less than 100 hours labor into this over the period of 6 months, and I probably have around 20 more hours before being complete.

Actually, besides the people who thought it was Luke being choked, only one person, across many many venues, has pointed out the inaccuracies, and since I have had problems with this particular forum member in the past, I did not acknowledge his complaint in a way that would cause him to troll me like he has in the past.

X: Good for you! Haters are gonna hate, as the saying goes. The best way to counter-troll is by giving them nothing to troll in the first place!

Personally, I always wondered what more was happening outside beyond the ion cannon firing into space and the escaping transport craft, so it’s good to have a ‘what-might-have-been’ scenario to look at.

That’s a lot of time to dedicate to the project, and with future projects, I can only imagine how much time will go into them.

Most of us at The Fighting 1:18th know you have some pets. Could you tell us what they are? Do they ever get in the way when you’re working, and has there ever been a furry AT-AT addition to your diorama in the past?

Z: Thanks, Ian.

Currently, we have 4 cats, 4 dogs and two horses. One of the cats got into the Hoth room and thought that the smoke stacks were for climbing, and that the dangling figures around one of the explosions was something to swat at, lol. That required rehanging the 50+ ft (total, with 3 figures hanging from the ceiling [each line ran from the ceiling, to the figure, and back to the ceiling) which was more of a bitch than a scorned ex wife, lol ( Each figure isn’t quite heavy enough to pull the line tight, and requires A LOT of adjusting) . The smoke stack was easily fixed.

X: That’s a lot of animals. I can imagine there’s a good bit of maneuvering sometimes, just to get around them, let alone to work on the diorama and to fix things the cats would love to play with, it seems. I can only imagine the scene. You have to promise me you’ll try and catch a picture if one of the cats decides to help invade Hoth again!

How many figures and vehicles are in the diorama as it stands, and how many more do you plan on adding before you’re “done”?

Z: I’ll snap a pic for you if one of them gets back in there, lol.

There is only around 20 vehicles and around 100 figures in there, as well as probe droids, Tauntauns, turrets and custom built battle damaged turrets and a 10 hour build on a scratch built, 4 foot wide Shield Generator.

I will add at least 5 vehicles to my last portion, the entrance to Echo Base, which will also include a scaled down version of some of the hangar bay that holds the Falcon and some other vehicles.

X: Nice. Clearly this has been both a labor of love and an investment of time and money, and it’s excellent that you have a supportive family to go along with it!

Is the diorama modular at all, in that it would be easy for you to break down and reassemble someplace else with the same amount of space, or is it pretty much static?

Z: Thank you.

It is totally static. I had a request recently to bring it to the European Celebration, but I don’t think that I can. The base is made from several sheets of plywood, with hundreds of pounds of “snow” in there. There are hundreds of feet of suspended fishing line, as well. I would have to travel, and then rebuild with locally purchased supplies, as the airlines frown upon boarding aircraft with sheets of plywood, lol.

X: By weight alone it certainly seems like transporting it would be something of an ordeal. I imagine breaking it down and reassembling it anywhere would probably take days, if not weeks just to get it to look somewhat similar to what it looks like currently. So basically anyone that wants to see this thing will have to manage with just pictures and video!

Do you have any future projects of similar size and scope that you could share with us, or was this your ‘magnum opus’ as it were?

Z: As I said earlier, this one was for my wife. Next, I’ll redo Tatooine much bigger and better than my original was. I have been building dioramas since the early ’90s, and I thought that my original room was my “magnum opus”, but I think the Hoth room, given its recent publicity, will be what most associate me with when they hear or see my name. I’d also like to recreate the Geonosis battle scene, with gunships flying and lots of mass chaos on the ground. Fire and brimstone kind of carnage, lol.

Both the Tattoine and the Geonosis dios would be comparable in size with the Hoth dio.

X: Hearing this, I’m sure most of your fans will be waiting with bated breath, and likely not-so-patiently to see some results! To be honest, after seeing the scale of your Hoth dio, I’m intrigued to see what comes next, and will certainly be watching!

Do you work with, customize, and build any other dioramas with other lines like GI Joe or other 1:18 scale military?

Z: Lol, I’m more of a fan of other people’s work. I have admirers and I am humbled by their admiration.

I haven’t done any other lines than Star Wars. I realize that your site isn’t primarily SW, but I wanted to especially share the explosion tutorial with your members, in hopes of sharing the knowledge that has been shared with me to help recreate cool battle scenes.

X: We won’t hold it against you. Star Wars is still a 1:18th scale line, to some extent, so it totally counts! And we certainly appreciate the sharing of knowledge. It’s what helps this hobby continue to flourish despite manufacturing companies decreasing what we see of late.

Let’s talk a bit about this sudden fame you’re experiencing. Since forum member WVMojo wrote on Wired’s Twitter about the diorama, the internet has basically exploded with sites both in the US and international, pointing back to your diorama and your facebook page. Are you getting swamped with messages and emails, and how do you feel about this sudden ‘celebrity status’ you’ve been granted?

Z: Thank you. Sharing knowledge is certainly how we can evolve more quickly as customizers. People have been very kind to me over the years, sharing what they know. I would rather share knowledge than get a lot of attention. I do like that my diorama is getting seen, but more as to inspire others to create their own dios and customs. I was inspired by many great customizers, and I still am. Their work made my work happen. If I hadn’t seen what others were doing when the internet was made public, I would have never done this.

I have received thousands of notification emails, and have been interviewed by several sources. The Huffington Post called me last night, and then aired my dio and info on their broadcast channel. That was very nice. My wife and I enjoyed watching it. I also felt proud when Industrial Light and Magic shared my work on their Facebook page.

X: Sounds like you’ve been kept pretty busy, and you’re exceptionally humble and modest about the whole thing. I do like that your priority overall seems to be sharing the diorama and the knowledge with the community at large, rather than using all this exposure to gain some kind of notoriety.

I hope that in some way, that all this publicity might help the collecting community as a whole, perhaps convincing companies out there that there are adults who will spend just as much time and energy playing with our toys as our children do!

You said that another couple forum members, VideoViper and The Willoughbian, brought the site to your attention and you came to check us out. What are your thoughts on the community we have here at The Fighting 1:18th?

Z: I have had some nice comments saying that seeing this has inspired them to create their own customs, so that’s always a win.

Everyone has been very nice and welcoming at The Fighting 1:18th. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

X: We try. It helps that you mesh well with our brand of humor and fun. It’s certainly not for everyone, but we try to be as welcoming as possible to everyone and anyone that comes aboard.

What’s the story behind the name Zipidi Doodah? We all have one. Some are benign and some are vastly entertaining, but I’m sure everyone wants to know.

Z: I usually just pick a user name that sounds nice to my ear. Nothing really significant with that user name or my youtube user name. Both just sound good to me. Or maybe it was that I watched Song of the South on youtube just before joining Facebook and other sites that know me by that handle.

X: Hey, it’s usually something that seems mundane that gives us inspiration. Whether it be a username or something more profound!

Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you’d like to share with us? Any other secrets, or words of wisdom to spead to the 118th community?

Z: I would just encourage anyone who is interested in customizing to not be afraid to ask questions and just have fun with it. If you can’t do it, find a way. I’m always looking to improve. I don’t hesitate to ask someone something if I have a question in my head.

Thanks so much for your interest. I appreciate your time.

X: And thank you for taking time with me this afternoon to answer these questions and let me, and everyone else, get to know you better! We look forward to what your custom building endeavors bring in the future, for sure!

Again, we want to extend our thanks to Zipidi for taking the time to answer some of our questions, and sharing details of his life and his customizing here with us at The Fighting 1:18th! I, for one, certainly enjoyed just getting to know him better. He’s a great guy, and has some real love for customizing, and for the community as a whole.

Make sure you guys check out his Hoth diorama HERE, and the No-Photoshop explosion tutorial HERE.

You can also check out his YOUTUBE, and FACEBOOK!

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About Ian Walker

Just a stay at home dad, part time internet troll, and amateur photographer, with delusions of grandeur and a love for 1:18th scale toys.

4 comments

  1. Great read.

  2. I had a great time. Ian should be working for CBS News, with his sweet interviewing skills. Thanks so much!

    Barry

  3. Great Interview

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