1:1 Levitating Jedi Training Remote - First Attempt - UPDATED BUILD WITH FOUND PARTS

[azheat01]

Do me a favor, if you’re a hater, or not a hater but disagree, or mis-interpreterd this thread, you’re upset, you don’t like my build, or you just think I’m wrong and your right, whatever, please either PM me your discontent or go start your own thread.

This non-sense is clogging what was intended to be nothing more than a budget build of a really cool prop. It’s just like the many other budget builds I’ve done. That’s it. It’s not a bash on anyone or their work, it’s not a discouragement from buying someone else’s prop, and it’s not a hate thread. Members are taking liberties with their implications and it’s garbage.

I wanted a prop that I couldn’t afford so I tried to see if I could make one for less. And in the spirit of this community, I shared it in the event others were in the same boat as me. Then I thought about helping others who may have also wanted to build one for less, which I have now abandoned.

I’d like to get this thread back on track and return to sharing my build.

 

[Brothervader]

Beautiful work! I love the final result. I was so impressed, I went and looked at some of your other threads. All of the props that you have posted look amazing. I'm always grateful for talented prop makers, that Inspire us how to build on a budget.

 

[mikid]

I’m just getting caught up on this build, and I previously noted a comment for a diy kit, I’m so sorry that I may have helped in elevating this in a heavy discussion, I guess I was out of line, I support everyone that starts a build thread but like to do my own if I can’t afford/ justify the full expense....

 

[baptizer]

Love this build and thanks for sharing! You’ve motivated me to try to build one. I love taking my time and building whatever I can. I have three kids and they love seeing me make ‘something’ out of nothing. The builds that detail how to do certain things are how I pull that off. I’m new at this!

I had some luck finding some cheap 1/25 scale model chrome truck tires on eBay from some various sellers. Additionally the AMT AMT866 has 8 chrome wheels with the lug nuts and all. These rims are about 22mm in diameter.

 

[azheat01]

Love this build and thanks for sharing! You’ve motivated me to try to build one. I love taking my time and building whatever I can. I have three kids and they love seeing me make ‘something’ out of nothing. The builds that detail how to do certain things are how I pull that off. I’m new at this!

I had some luck finding some cheap 1/25 scale model chrome truck tires on eBay from some various sellers. Additionally the AMT AMT866 has 8 chrome wheels with the lug nuts and all. These rims are about 22mm in diameter.

Thanks for the info!!! Found some online and bought a set as well, so thank you!

So now that my son's less accurate version of this prop is almost done, I decided to try and see if I could make a more accurate one for me while spending a little more money. I kinda shied away from this at first thinking it would be unattainable. I still want to keep this on a budget, I'd like to be around $150 when all is said and done. That's about double what I spent on my son's project and I'm good with that if it gets me a little better version. I would love to have one of these that is worthy enough to display in my office. There's a couple Master Replicas Remotes on eBay which I would love to have, but can't afford upwards of $800 at the moment, and of course those don't levitate.

First things first, I wanted to see if I could find out any info on the original prop. I spent all but 20 seconds searching the internet, typed in "Jedi Training Remote Parts" and was amazed to find all I needed to know on www.partsofsw.com. They have a page with found parts info for this prop. So credit to them / that person for finding that info and sharing it!

After reading through that page I went on eBay and found my first kit, a 1/72 scale Sherman Tank Model. Since these kits are not the original 70s versions, but reissues, I'm guessing some of these parts will be slightly different, but they look great so far! This one cost me $24. From this kit, I'm using the wheel halves...........




Then I found a Tamiya 1/48 Panzer Panther Tank "G Type" kit, this one was a little more expensive and cost me $30.00. I'm using the tank treads, hatches, etc from this one.






And thanks to Baptizer, I found some 1/25 chrome wheels that aren't exact, but pretty darn close. They cost me about $19. I didn't buy the entire Kenworth T-600 model kit because it is too expensive, so I will just have to print the truck axle brackets. No big deal.........



Since I want this one to be a little more accurate, I decided to print the hemispheres to make them closer to the 6.25" scale since the globe is smaller. First half is printed and is almost exactly 6.25", will sand and bondo smooth..........



I also bought another floating globe, this one, thankfully, didn't arrive broken and has the LED lights inside. This one cost me $63...........




I'm going to make some molds and resin copies of the hatches, etc, rather than print them again since these appear to be so close to the actual found parts. I have enough of the tank treads and wheel halves in the kits to use them as-is so those don't need to be reproduced.

So far here I am with cost................

Globe - $63
Sherman Tank Kit - $24
Panzer Tank Kit - $30
Chrome Rims - $19

That put's me right around $136, so I don't think my original budget of $150 is unreasonable. Looking forward to working on this.........

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey azheat01 ! ...and everyone else looking to build their own Jedi Training Remote, if you are interested in PERIOD CORRECT PARTS...

The T600A kit wasn't available until 1984! Thanks again to Scalemates.com for the abundance of information they've gathered on model kits!!!

You can find kits like the K-123, which are both period correct, and sometimes less expensive than the T600A kits if you're going for a vintage build. Again, I'm not saying these are THE kit used in the original Jedi Training Remote, just that they were available before 1977. There are a couple of other semi-truck kits that are period correct that might also fit the bill, or should I say ball.?.

p.s. if you're wiley, you can also use Scalemates.com's wonderful resourses to determine which tank kits on Ebay or wherever are also pre-1977.


It's always fun to see other members' build logs, every one is a little different, and that's what makes this community so amazing. Being able to see and learn from how other members come up with solutions to complete their builds is a blessing. Thank you for sharing yours!

Keep at it! I look forward to seeing how you finish these off!

 

[azheat01]

Hey azheat01 ! ...and everyone else looking to build their own Jedi Training Remote, if you are interested in PERIOD CORRECT PARTS...

The T600A kit wasn't available until 1984! Thanks again to Scalemates.com for the abundance of information they've gathered on model kits!!!

You can find kits like the K-123, which are both period correct, and sometimes less expensive than the T600A kits if you're going for a vintage build. Again, I'm not saying these are THE kit used in the original Jedi Training Remote, just that they were available before 1977. There are a couple of other semi-truck kits that are period correct that might also fit the bill, or should I say ball.?.

p.s. if you're wiley, you can also use Scalemates.com's wonderful resourses to determine which tank kits on Ebay or wherever are also pre-1977.

It's always fun to see other members' build logs, every one is a little different, and that's what makes this community so amazing. Being able to see and learn from how other members come up with solutions to complete their builds is a blessing. Thank you for sharing yours!

Keep at it! I look forward to seeing how you finish these off!

Thanks for the comments! I would have purchased that K-123 had I known, but since I only need the axles at this point, I'll just print them, but I appreciate the info!

On another note, I found this plastic sphere on Amazon which is slightly larger than the levitating globe, so it'll work perfect and save me a TON of time on printing and prepping one myself!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LETSN4A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[DiggsBarklightr]

I saw that sphere too but I was afraid of it cracking using the step bit. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[baptizer]

Great update and thanks for all the additional information. Any chance you could get some caliper measurements for some of those original parts? I have an SLA printer and would love to try to get some accuarate prints!

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey azheat01 ! It's not that much more for a Plastruct sphere if you wanted to splurge a bit...

https://plastruct.com/shop/tubing-fittings/vhh-600/ ...well, O.K. it's like 2.9 times more...

...but it's certainly more cost effective to experiment with the 6.25" that you found rather than this one...

Hemispherical Head 158mm - Hemispherical Domes - ABS Tubes & Fittings

I've been wondering about the 6.25" for a while now, especially since it's offered in that grey ABS. Ever since I saw that photo TheRealMcFly posted up ( Revisiting the Training Remote ) I thought, hmmm, the semi wheels look smaller in relation to the sphere, and it's grey. Yes, EMA offers the 6.00" in grey too, but compared to the size relationship between the wheels and the 6.00" spheres used in other project builds, I've wondered if either the wheels being used are too big, or the sphere was too small. BrundelFly speculated that the sphere in the photo might be covered in black primer, and I can see it either as that or perhaps a darker grey pigment in an older EMA grey ABS sphere.

If you go with the 6.25" I'll be stoked to see the results one way or the other to see if my hypothesis is correct, or if my eyes are playing tricks on me.

This one's kind of in between at 156mm = ~6-1/8"...
https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Plasti...B01DE3IKH4/ref=pd_sim_0_1/141-3181746-7121834

Of course, who knows, they may be the exact same thing measured differently from different vendors.

If you're looking for the Axles... did I mention that the K-123 has eight of them? No, well it DOES!

Not to mention 4 chrome lugged wheels, 4 white plain wheels, which last I heard counted, was exactly the amount needed to complete a Jedi Training Remote. If you paint or chrome the 4 white plain ones that is. It's still possible that the original JTR had 4 chrome plain wheels from another kit, but I'm happy with the K-123's combo.



******DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OF THE JEDI TRAINING REMOTE'S BACK SIDE? I'd love to complete my JTR maps and I just can't find images of the back side anywhere!******



I'm looking forward to seeing how that new sphere source pans out!

 

[azheat01]

Hey azheat01 ! It's not that much more for a Plastruct sphere if you wanted to splurge a bit...

https://plastruct.com/shop/tubing-fittings/vhh-600/ ...well, O.K. it's like 2.9 times more...

...but it's certainly more cost effective to experiment with the 6.25" that you found rather than this one...

Hemispherical Head 158mm - Hemispherical Domes - ABS Tubes & Fittings

I've been wondering about the 6.25" for a while now, especially since it's offered in that grey ABS. Ever since I saw that photo TheRealMcFly posted up ( Revisiting the Training Remote ) I thought, hmmm, the semi wheels look smaller in relation to the sphere, and it's grey. Yes, EMA offers the 6.00" in grey too, but compared to the size relationship between the wheels and the 6.00" spheres used in other project builds, I've wondered if either the wheels being used are too big, or the sphere was too small. BrundelFly speculated that the sphere in the photo might be covered in black primer, and I can see it either as that or perhaps a darker grey pigment in an older EMA grey ABS sphere.

If you go with the 6.25" I'll be stoked to see the results one way or the other to see if my hypothesis is correct, or if my eyes are playing tricks on me.
This one's kind of in between at 156mm = ~6-1/8"...
https://www.amazon.com/Clear-Plasti...B01DE3IKH4/ref=pd_sim_0_1/141-3181746-7121834

Of course, who knows, they may be the exact same thing measured differently from different vendors.

If you're looking for the Axles... did I mention that the K-123 has eight of them? No, well it DOES!

Not to mention 4 chrome lugged wheels, 4 white plain wheels, which last I heard counted, was exactly the amount needed to complete a Jedi Training Remote. If you paint or chrome the 4 white plain ones that is. It's still possible that the original JTR had 4 chrome plain wheels from another kit, but I'm happy with the K-123's combo.

******DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OF THE JEDI TRAINING REMOTE'S BACK SIDE? I'd love to complete my JTR maps and I just can't find images of the back side anywhere!******

I'm looking forward to seeing how that new sphere source pans out!

Thanks!! Got my sphere from Amazon today, considering it was only $9, I'll try this first to see if it works before spending anymore money. I'm working on it now so we'll see how it goes!

 

[Ridire Firean]

Hey azheat01 ! Glad to here you got your sphere! How does it measure out? Is it exactly 6.25" in diameter?

 

[azheat01]

Hey azheat01 ! Glad to here you got your sphere! How does it measure out? Is it exactly 6.25" in diameter?

It's not exact, but pretty close. Looks to be about 1/16" or so short, but very close.

 

[DiggsBarklightr]

It's not exact, but pretty close. Looks to be about 1/16" or so short, but very close.

Psssh, Bob’s your uncle and call it a day! Good enough for government work! Wouldn’t split hairs over a 1/16”. Pick a saying, it all applies there. How’s it taking to a drill?

 

[azheat01]

How’s it taking to a drill?

No issues, just be sure to drill your pilot hole first, then go slow and steady. Worked great!

 

[azheat01]

So not a lot of time this week to work on this, but I was able to drill the 7 other holes. I'm going to start working on removing the magnet from the globe and remounting it to my sphere next.

I've gotten several questions from members asking for a size comparison, so here's a side by side. You can see my first remote, even with all the greeblies attached, fits inside the new sphere. I'm much happier with this size.



More progress coming....

 

[DiggsBarklightr]

Wow, you wouldn't have thought there would be such a drastic difference but it is. Thank you for doing that.

 

[azheat01]

Wow, you wouldn't have thought there would be such a drastic difference but it is. Thank you for doing that.

Anytime!

Trying to get more work done on this...........I opened up the top of the globe and slowly trimmed around with a pair of sheers until I got to the base. I decided I wasn't going to try and pry off the magnet or light coils, for fear they would break. So instead I left everything in place and trimmed around them, leaving a small portion of the globe attached.

I was happy to see nothing got damaged............





I then took my globe, leveled it, put some water in the base, and then drew lines at the waters edge so I could use it as a guide when I installed the magnet.



I lightly sanded the inside base of the globe, the exterior of the magnet piece, and used some 5 minute resin epoxy and attached it to the globe.



It's curing now, so will give it a test run a bit later..............

 

[azheat01]

And we have lift off!



The only thing I would recommend if someone wants to try this, do not put resin under the bottom of the magnet / globe piece. Instead, place that piece directly onto the bottom of whatever sphere you are using, then add resin to the sides. You want that magnet piece to sit perfectly flush with the bottom of the sphere, otherwise you may run into problems getting it to levitate. Thankfully I did a test with a small amount of resin and was able to remove it and re-attach. Works like a champ though!

 

[baptizer]

Awesome work man! Awesome to see this work out so well!