Lando's Disco build.
I had made a Lando Calrissian costume years back that never got much attention. I decided it needed some attention so took the opportunity to re imagine Lando into a Disco legend. If anyone would be a disco king it surely would be the coolest cat in the galaxy, right?
I first only planned to build a disco ball and walk around with it on an IV pole or something. Then it just snowballed.
I wanted a death star disco ball! and not any old Death Star disco ball, I wanted Death Star II. Ive seen some made online but none looked that great.
I could have used an already made disco ball but they are hollow, so it would be difficult building up the inside for what i need so i decided to use a polyurethane rigid foam ball.
started with this Polyurethane Rigid Foam ball.. $14 at a local craft store
carved out the dish area and taped off the trench
Hand made tiles, I used plastic mirror sheets glued to foam core boards and then cut into 1/4 inch pieces. this gave the same thickness of glass tiles. otherwise the plastic sheets are too thin and I assumed it wouldnt look as much like a mirror ball as it could. good call in hindsight.
first tiled the middle diameter but realized that when I cut my tiles I broke them all off and threw in a big pile to take from, unfortunately my cuts werent perfect so the tiles were all different sizes, this made for a sloppy first run.
I corrected this by not separating the next tiles right away and working off rows instead since they all matched. When they were cut with an exacto knife they remained intact and had to be "broken" off the sheets.
Honestly I did this part backwards, I drew out the area I wanted to cut then tiled around it, I should have carved out the unbuilt areas first then tiled, but it worked out fine
Once carved I took some hobby wood I bought that came in a pack of all different sizes and shoved them into the ball
Once I got the look I wanted I glued them all into place
then painted it gunmetal
wasnt fully happy with the paint so repainted a dark glitter black and threw in a ton of black glitter flakes that made it pop. Worked perfectly
Once the ball was done I moved onto the dance floor. I got some free plywood and cut it all into the dimensions I had designed. encased the floor area and framed out the interior by interlocking all the framework. I had originally planned to have 64 squares but the amperage required to run that many LEDs was too much for the powerbanks I was using and I wasnt to keen on buying more. Plus the light patterns on the led controller ran 5 leds long. putting the strip into 64 cubes would mean 3 to 5 cubes would be the same color at all times. I got it down to 1-2 cubes with 16 squares.
Undercarriage . one wheel placed direct center of the floor for better weight displacement
Once I got the floor the way I wanted it I covered it with a $1 shower liner from a dollar store. and pinned it taught over the top with thumb tacks all around. Worked out fantastic and has no visible wrinkles. On top of that I placed a piece of 1/4" Lexan. Its far more durable than Plexiglass but more scratch prone. scratches werent my issue.
They both run about the same price and you can get them on ebay fairly cheap. Seeing as my floor was 2' x 2' it was fairly simply to order and Lexan is unbreakable so would work great at holding my weight.
From there it was fine tuning. I had made a group of LED lights made from a 3 pack of headlamps I got for $9. One went on top to illuminate the death star better, another two were attached to the pole. I built color changing discs so i could easily transition between a few colors.
As time went on it became apparent the lumens of these lights werent terrific. only about 125 lumens. It worked great in a pitch black room but not so much it a lit area. Plus the disco ball is designed to go up to 12 feet so it would require more powerful pinspots.
I ended up buying two cree ultrafire mini flashlights that had tremendous lumen power plus were zoom-able. I built casings to slip in different colored filters. I have about 12 colors total that can be changed in and out in a few seconds for those. They sit on two swivel holders so have 3D rotation in all directions Also built a tow arm that doubles as the pinspot light bar. This can swing out and away or fold in flush with the dance floor. It also worked great as a "do not stand" bar for times I left the build in a busy party to go to the bathroom. It could fold half way over the floor to block anyone from standing on it. It was originally made to give me a way to lift the entire thing up "stairs". grabbing by just the pole wasnt working out well.
The last twp pieces were a life size Jawa replica I made a few years back that has eyes that run on a usb battery pack. Inside the Jawa holds all the electronics plus a bluetooth sound system I used to play the Star Wars disco album. Last was "Lando's Disco" sign I made last minute to avoid old women from asking "Who are you?"
It was originally white diffused LED light but I bought an orange vinyl sheet to give an the overall orange motif look from the rest of the build.
I had made a Lando Calrissian costume years back that never got much attention. I decided it needed some attention so took the opportunity to re imagine Lando into a Disco legend. If anyone would be a disco king it surely would be the coolest cat in the galaxy, right?
I first only planned to build a disco ball and walk around with it on an IV pole or something. Then it just snowballed.
I wanted a death star disco ball! and not any old Death Star disco ball, I wanted Death Star II. Ive seen some made online but none looked that great.
I could have used an already made disco ball but they are hollow, so it would be difficult building up the inside for what i need so i decided to use a polyurethane rigid foam ball.
started with this Polyurethane Rigid Foam ball.. $14 at a local craft store
carved out the dish area and taped off the trench
Hand made tiles, I used plastic mirror sheets glued to foam core boards and then cut into 1/4 inch pieces. this gave the same thickness of glass tiles. otherwise the plastic sheets are too thin and I assumed it wouldnt look as much like a mirror ball as it could. good call in hindsight.
first tiled the middle diameter but realized that when I cut my tiles I broke them all off and threw in a big pile to take from, unfortunately my cuts werent perfect so the tiles were all different sizes, this made for a sloppy first run.
I corrected this by not separating the next tiles right away and working off rows instead since they all matched. When they were cut with an exacto knife they remained intact and had to be "broken" off the sheets.
Honestly I did this part backwards, I drew out the area I wanted to cut then tiled around it, I should have carved out the unbuilt areas first then tiled, but it worked out fine
Once carved I took some hobby wood I bought that came in a pack of all different sizes and shoved them into the ball
Once I got the look I wanted I glued them all into place
then painted it gunmetal
wasnt fully happy with the paint so repainted a dark glitter black and threw in a ton of black glitter flakes that made it pop. Worked perfectly
Once the ball was done I moved onto the dance floor. I got some free plywood and cut it all into the dimensions I had designed. encased the floor area and framed out the interior by interlocking all the framework. I had originally planned to have 64 squares but the amperage required to run that many LEDs was too much for the powerbanks I was using and I wasnt to keen on buying more. Plus the light patterns on the led controller ran 5 leds long. putting the strip into 64 cubes would mean 3 to 5 cubes would be the same color at all times. I got it down to 1-2 cubes with 16 squares.
Undercarriage . one wheel placed direct center of the floor for better weight displacement
Once I got the floor the way I wanted it I covered it with a $1 shower liner from a dollar store. and pinned it taught over the top with thumb tacks all around. Worked out fantastic and has no visible wrinkles. On top of that I placed a piece of 1/4" Lexan. Its far more durable than Plexiglass but more scratch prone. scratches werent my issue.
They both run about the same price and you can get them on ebay fairly cheap. Seeing as my floor was 2' x 2' it was fairly simply to order and Lexan is unbreakable so would work great at holding my weight.
From there it was fine tuning. I had made a group of LED lights made from a 3 pack of headlamps I got for $9. One went on top to illuminate the death star better, another two were attached to the pole. I built color changing discs so i could easily transition between a few colors.
As time went on it became apparent the lumens of these lights werent terrific. only about 125 lumens. It worked great in a pitch black room but not so much it a lit area. Plus the disco ball is designed to go up to 12 feet so it would require more powerful pinspots.
I ended up buying two cree ultrafire mini flashlights that had tremendous lumen power plus were zoom-able. I built casings to slip in different colored filters. I have about 12 colors total that can be changed in and out in a few seconds for those. They sit on two swivel holders so have 3D rotation in all directions Also built a tow arm that doubles as the pinspot light bar. This can swing out and away or fold in flush with the dance floor. It also worked great as a "do not stand" bar for times I left the build in a busy party to go to the bathroom. It could fold half way over the floor to block anyone from standing on it. It was originally made to give me a way to lift the entire thing up "stairs". grabbing by just the pole wasnt working out well.
The last twp pieces were a life size Jawa replica I made a few years back that has eyes that run on a usb battery pack. Inside the Jawa holds all the electronics plus a bluetooth sound system I used to play the Star Wars disco album. Last was "Lando's Disco" sign I made last minute to avoid old women from asking "Who are you?"
It was originally white diffused LED light but I bought an orange vinyl sheet to give an the overall orange motif look from the rest of the build.
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