Creating a Star Wars themed road vehicle. Input welcomed

[syntrooper]

Hello from a new member. I happened across this site while researching a Prometheus prop for a friend.

During my search I became interested in the prop builds for the Star Wars movies and the design of interiors and control panels from ships and movies within them.

I am using these as inspiration for the forthcoming build of my Star Wars themed Volkswagen project.

You can find details of the build so far here but the essence of the concept is to use an 80's VW Transporter as the canvas from which to create a vehicle that might have been designed as a land vehicle for the movies. The retro styling of the T3 Transporter (Vanagon in the US) is symbolic of the Imperial Stormtrooper helmet and fits the design of the rest of the vehcile well.

My aim is to take design elements from vehicles like the 'Juggernaut/Turbo Tank', 'AT-AT' and 'Millennium Falcon' and use them to create a practical, themed design for the bus which evokes the designs of the movies.

Here is a photo of the base vehicle at present and a few of the concept sketches I have begun with.



Design sketches and graphic work:



Your thoughts and input is very welcome

 

[TheDodgeMan]

That will look sweet! Can't wait to see this finished!

 

[IbanezSaber]

I was going to chime in with, "Do it up like the 70s custom van"--until I saw your sketches.

Love the ideas. I'll be watching your progress with intetest.

 

[SofaKing01]

Great idea... how involved / deep into a design are you wanting / willing to go? I'm sure there are members who can completely transform the Van into something wild! I think an AT-AT style design would better fit the boxy Van. But again... how far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go?

 

[syntrooper]

With regard to internal design the crucial factor is durability. The van is a working 4x4 and does get used offroad so anything fixed inside has to be able to take a bit of shaking.



I also have to ferry children, dogs and camp in it so the surfaces should be easily cleaned and maintained.

For the two cab seats I have considered highbacks, probably Recaro LXB's with black/grey vinyl bolsters and black basketweave centres for grip and ease of cleaning.

Something similar to these 70's Porsche seats:


I like the detail on the basketweave:


I was thinking to use grey patterned rubber on the floor:


Grey ceiling materials with the side panelling in black and full of doodads (greebles?) and surface relief detail. The layout in the rear will be sparse to make the living area when camping very usable. The rear will include a full width rock and roll bed with underseat storage. Removable access panels in the sides will provide 'hidden' storage a la Millennium Falcon floor panels

These 80's dayvan windows will add light and offer that spacious feel shown in the starships of the original trilogy:



I guess I need to do some interior sketches and let you all pull them apart and suggest ideas.

Here is a Sketchup plan I made to get a feel for the spaces. I'm working on this now to get the basic furniture in.


Any advice on suitable materials, patterns and textures would be welcome at this point. I only have a few components that are 'fixed' in terms of what I have to have in the van itself. Most of the remaining design is fluid pending further research.

 

[Drac]

Interesting ideas, I'm keen to see what you further come up with, looks like what you have so far is pretty good :thumbsup

 

[syntrooper]

So today in frustration I went out in the rain and dug out the rest of the aircon system from my shed. I had wondered about re-tasking the rearmost parts as upper storage before but put the idea aside to work on the front. Looking again I decided to remove the heavy exchanger radiator and blowers as these add much unnecessary weight when moving the unit around. I'm unsure how the equipment was originally fitted so I may have to make brackets and ask a few questions before it can be secured in the van.


With the internals removed it was easy to trial fit the sections. There is a great 'spacey' feel to the pods that modernises the van interior and the harsh sides


From the front there is storage potential. Previously I had noticed a cut-out section to the front of the side pods. Now it became apparent this is to allow the seatbelts to work correctly. There are two circular holes for speakers which may again see sound emanating from those holes once more. Perhaps using R2D2 vents or similar props with speakers mounted behind. The central 'vent' hole isn't of much use as is but may be opened up to form a door or perhaps an aperture for a folding TV bracket.


Perhaps this vent can be restyled?

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Base van sort of looks like an Imperial Shuttle.

 

[syntrooper]

I thought that too.With that in mind I intend to fashion the upper grille in a style similar to the shuttle front by extending the grille over the headlights.

Underneath it the lower grille might be replaced by square spots.

 

[Darth Lars]

You're not into Star Trek? I think it would look good as a shuttle craft, because they are somewhat similar in shape. Already white, some stripes and a United Federation of Planets logo.

 

[IbanezSaber]

If Brett Michaels was rockin' that RV--he'd certainly add the red oval lighting to the interior baseboards!!!

 

[Fuzzual]

This will be awesome. I have always wanted to do this!

 

[NorvilleRogers]

A millennium 'vancon' sounded like too much fun not to doodle

Please excuse the messiness

 

[syntrooper]

A bit of an update.

The van had to serve duty for the annual holidays in 2015 and in its scruffy state a repaint was required.

After much indecision we decided on a basecoat of Panzer Grey, as used by Germany in WW2 and the body was prepped and painted outdoors between showers, new wheels fitted and some mechanicals fixed.



A new kitchen unit was installed using a tool rollcab as a basis. This works great and compliments the utilitarian style of the van. As a concession to practicality I added a rollout awning for protection outdoors and it works very well.



Now its time to look at giving the van some sci-fi styling so the wheels are being rethought as well as the interior.

 

[syntrooper]

If Brett Michaels was rockin' that RV--he'd certainly add the red oval lighting to the interior baseboards!!!

That is a plan under consideration at the moment. White ovals on the side panels for reading etc, red down in the bottom for moody effect.

I'm adding an full media system with a touchscreen controlled Raspberry Pi controlling it. This is to be built in the side panel with death star style mouldings disguising it.

The software for the Pi allows some customisation so i have been toying with a red/grey theme, the Aurebesh font for Glactic basic text and a suitable logo central. I initally considered the Iron Wolves but now have found the logo on the AT-DP driver helmets which seems more in keeping?



I managed to obtain some very rare Recaro seats with built in Blaupunkt headrest speakers. They are a velour trim which will later be replaced with the basketweave I mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[syntrooper]

With a bit more time at it I have decided to use this logo on the Pi interface instead. Might need to redraw it as I haven't located a good base image.



Some playing with the exterior has ensued too. Using paint, graphics and some GRP panels the body shape has been broken up to give a more faceted look, much like the AT-AT, troop transports by Ralph McQuarrie and others.




Wheels with influence from the A5 Juggernaut would be made using Land rover wide steel rims and this cover from the Lad rover Discovery as a basis.

 

[Heyjude7]

I have a classic mini cooper and found that someone did a mini storm "cooper"version of it. It looked pretty sweet also!
I was thinking of doing a Mini'nium falcon version and make the whole interior look like the Falcon's.