Crixe
New Member
A group of the 501'st here out in Utah just got the go ahead from our CO to build a new prop for our charity/convention events and possibly using in a parade.
It would be easy if it was just build it without restrictions however we have some issues.
We have screen accurate copy of the blueprints we are going to blow up to life size for scale references. My job is information gathering and assistance in every way I can to find the most cost efficient way possible to accomplish the task. This comes out of our own pockets here as we are 100% non profit we aren't going to get donations to make this.
1. It MUST be light weight - We are considering high density foam coated with a hard shell
2. It MUST hold a persons weight and be able to take some abuse so consider people sitting on it up to a level of 300lbs Max (Sometimes we'll have people holding children or two people at once). We don't want to have to turn people away as it's only going to need to hold someone for a photo op.
3. We'd like it to be suspended by it's side so that there is no visible support from the front side to give it the illusion that it's floating.
4. It has to come apart into manageable sections so we can transport it - they are around 10 feet long 3 meters (according to
Star Wars: Behind the Magic ) long when assembled we can't fit that in a truck so the forks will have to come off.
So with that in mind we've had a few ideas but I think we can do better. I've seen a product that can coat foam in a plastic from Smooth-On Epsilon. We've looked into it more but our understanding of it is a bit limited and while cost is't terrible we don't know anyone who's tested it. My other thought was trying a style used in ultra light airplanes but carbon fiber gets costly quick too. Then there is always Fiberglass but the end results is this has to be as accurate as we can make it so please please give me any ideas shoot them out there and I'll be passing everything along. We have access to a vacuum former for some of the parts such as the fins and what not but the structure is so big keeping it light is key.
I've seen this post http://www.therpf.com/f9/my-full-size-speeder-bike-replica-92961/
But as I said we can't have it solid metal we considered a metal skeleton though but it has to be lightweight. I expect the whole thing together fairly heavy but that's also why it needs to be able to come apart. The lighter it is however the more we can use it. We'd ideally like to make two one on each side of a parade float and have some of our speeder bike polites sit on it but that's more future thoughts there..
I know I'm asking a lot here but all you can give will help and it's for a good cause I promise it will bring smiles to hundreds of children in need over it's life.
It would be easy if it was just build it without restrictions however we have some issues.
We have screen accurate copy of the blueprints we are going to blow up to life size for scale references. My job is information gathering and assistance in every way I can to find the most cost efficient way possible to accomplish the task. This comes out of our own pockets here as we are 100% non profit we aren't going to get donations to make this.
1. It MUST be light weight - We are considering high density foam coated with a hard shell
2. It MUST hold a persons weight and be able to take some abuse so consider people sitting on it up to a level of 300lbs Max (Sometimes we'll have people holding children or two people at once). We don't want to have to turn people away as it's only going to need to hold someone for a photo op.
3. We'd like it to be suspended by it's side so that there is no visible support from the front side to give it the illusion that it's floating.
4. It has to come apart into manageable sections so we can transport it - they are around 10 feet long 3 meters (according to
Star Wars: Behind the Magic ) long when assembled we can't fit that in a truck so the forks will have to come off.
So with that in mind we've had a few ideas but I think we can do better. I've seen a product that can coat foam in a plastic from Smooth-On Epsilon. We've looked into it more but our understanding of it is a bit limited and while cost is't terrible we don't know anyone who's tested it. My other thought was trying a style used in ultra light airplanes but carbon fiber gets costly quick too. Then there is always Fiberglass but the end results is this has to be as accurate as we can make it so please please give me any ideas shoot them out there and I'll be passing everything along. We have access to a vacuum former for some of the parts such as the fins and what not but the structure is so big keeping it light is key.
I've seen this post http://www.therpf.com/f9/my-full-size-speeder-bike-replica-92961/
But as I said we can't have it solid metal we considered a metal skeleton though but it has to be lightweight. I expect the whole thing together fairly heavy but that's also why it needs to be able to come apart. The lighter it is however the more we can use it. We'd ideally like to make two one on each side of a parade float and have some of our speeder bike polites sit on it but that's more future thoughts there..
I know I'm asking a lot here but all you can give will help and it's for a good cause I promise it will bring smiles to hundreds of children in need over it's life.
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