Star Wars Diodrama

IIRC the Naboo had screws that could, with a little elbow grease, be unscrewed. You could then scratch landing gear bays and glue them to the inside. Cutting the openings would be easier too. You might talk to the guys in the aircraft forum about gear struts. Cutting the openings you'll probably have to drill four small holes and use a small saw blade that is made for the X-Acto. The hull is rather thick on the bottom, but still lucky its styrene. Here's a few more pics of my conversion:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/ussarcadia/hullrear.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/ussarcadia/carrierprogress.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/ussarcadia/carrierprogress2.jpg

As far as help with dioramas, pick up a book or two on building them or visit that forum here. Lotta helpful people here as well as Starship Modeler:
http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/gallery/gallery.cfm

First link is SW forum, second is the Reader Gallery which should have a few dioramas. The guys in the forum should be able to provide more links to dedicated SW sites.

I am pretty creative but a little queazy when it comes to tearing the ship apart. I do have a spare so I guess I can do some surgery to the first one. Could you give me any more detail on who you did you conversion? What materials you used or recommend for alterations? Do you or anyone else have know of any other sites that could give me good ideas or "how to" for Star Wars dioramas or dioramas in general? Thanks again for the ideas!

Sounds like a cool idea. You'd have to cut in holes for the gear bay doors, and scratch some doors out of styrene. You might find some gear from an aircraft model. Take the wheels off and glue on some skids made from styrene. Luckily the main body of the Naboo is styrene, so it will paint easy. I sacfrificed mine to build a Trek carrier. Here's a before and after:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/ussarcadia/hullfront.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/ussarcadia/026_23A.jpg