Current progress as of October 17, 2015. Unveiled for the first time at Dallas Fan Days - Irving Texas. Oct. 16 - 18.
This will be my first posting project for one of our builds, as we build it. When we built the X-34 Landspeeder back in 2006, I was not an RPF member at the time so I did not chronicle the lengthy construction process of the landspeeder build. I have a lot of photos and stories to tell of it's creation, and will eventually start a thread dedicated to it's build. But truthfully, MonCal's build thread covers the subject quite well, except that our speeder was scratch built from the wheels up. No molds or shells, just shaped urethane foam core and double sided, hand laid, triple layer 8 oz glass cloth and West System epoxy.
So here we go...
We enjoyed building the X-34 Landspeeder and later showing it off at some of the local Texas conventions, so much so that we wanted to build a second vehicle and start a fleet of Sci-Fi vehicle props. Originally we started on a Buck Rogers Starfighter, but have put that project on hold in order to create something in time to hopefully take to Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim CA this April 2015. We chose to build a T-47 Airspeeder, a.k.a the Snowspeeder. It's just the right size and quality that we have a solid chance of completing it on time and budget.
We own a M.R. 3/4 studio scale resin replica and are using it as the basis for deriving much of the scale dimensions and angles for the full scale 1:1 build. We also have been collecting all known web references as well as the original ILM build blue prints for the Elstree built stage live action props used in ESB. So with all this reference material in hand we set upon a build size of 17 feet long, rear engine fins to cannon tips, by 15 feet wide wing span. This works out to about 1"= 13" on the M.R. model.
In order to prove the concept build size, we first are building a (quick and dirty) cardboard mock-up. Here are some pictures of what we've done on the first two days of the project.
The wing panels are 6' wide by 14' long. The cardboard is attached to some wood stiffeners and the two wings are raised until they are at 22.5 degrees. Looking correct so far. Tomorrow we should have the cockpit canopy in place and some dummy seats in place so we can confirm the cockpit will be large enough for two 6' adults to comfortably and realistically fit inside the ship. We want it to be sized correctly so it looks like the onscreen filming cockpit closeups.
This will be my first posting project for one of our builds, as we build it. When we built the X-34 Landspeeder back in 2006, I was not an RPF member at the time so I did not chronicle the lengthy construction process of the landspeeder build. I have a lot of photos and stories to tell of it's creation, and will eventually start a thread dedicated to it's build. But truthfully, MonCal's build thread covers the subject quite well, except that our speeder was scratch built from the wheels up. No molds or shells, just shaped urethane foam core and double sided, hand laid, triple layer 8 oz glass cloth and West System epoxy.
So here we go...
We enjoyed building the X-34 Landspeeder and later showing it off at some of the local Texas conventions, so much so that we wanted to build a second vehicle and start a fleet of Sci-Fi vehicle props. Originally we started on a Buck Rogers Starfighter, but have put that project on hold in order to create something in time to hopefully take to Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim CA this April 2015. We chose to build a T-47 Airspeeder, a.k.a the Snowspeeder. It's just the right size and quality that we have a solid chance of completing it on time and budget.
We own a M.R. 3/4 studio scale resin replica and are using it as the basis for deriving much of the scale dimensions and angles for the full scale 1:1 build. We also have been collecting all known web references as well as the original ILM build blue prints for the Elstree built stage live action props used in ESB. So with all this reference material in hand we set upon a build size of 17 feet long, rear engine fins to cannon tips, by 15 feet wide wing span. This works out to about 1"= 13" on the M.R. model.
In order to prove the concept build size, we first are building a (quick and dirty) cardboard mock-up. Here are some pictures of what we've done on the first two days of the project.
The wing panels are 6' wide by 14' long. The cardboard is attached to some wood stiffeners and the two wings are raised until they are at 22.5 degrees. Looking correct so far. Tomorrow we should have the cockpit canopy in place and some dummy seats in place so we can confirm the cockpit will be large enough for two 6' adults to comfortably and realistically fit inside the ship. We want it to be sized correctly so it looks like the onscreen filming cockpit closeups.
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