Folgore
New Member
I have been an avid snooper on the RPF for several years now but never a participant. To be honest I have been very intimidated by a lot of the creativity and precision that goes into so many members builds but at the same time being inspired to create. With a deep breath I decided to enter the fray this week and show off a build that I did last Halloween using a lot of the techniques found on the forum as kind of a “Thank You” to all the builders out there that have been kind enough to show off their own projects along with the trials and errors that go along with them.
As 2017 turned into 2018 my son, and only child, was on the verge of becoming a teenager and no longer really interested in participating in Halloween anymore. I realized 2018 would probably be my last chance to fulfill a childhood dream of mine, albeit vicariously through him. Being the good boy he is, he agreed to humor his old man by allowing me to create a “semi” functioning speeder bike and scout trooper costume for him.
Starting in January (2018) with a very small budget, I began to assemble as many unusual parts I could find from thrift stores and the dumpsters behind my office. I eye-balled most of the dims to scale them down to my son’s size and used a lot of creative license because of the steering and limited budget. It is by NO means screen accurate.
For the main speeder bike power source and platform, I used a hand-me-down Razor scooter that I bumped up the battery size and made direct power to the motor. As stated before, most if not all the techniques I used can be found on this forum so I will not go into great detail but I can tell you none of it is printed as I’m not that knowledgeable.
I knew I had to keep it as light as possible but still have structural strength. Plywood I figured would be too dense and heavy for the body and polystyrene too expensive, so I decided to use an old ironing board as the skeleton and cardboard as the skin with some modifications.
The steering veins are the ironing board legs, while the greeblies (I learned that on the RPF as well) are everything form a frozen lasagna pan, medicine bottle caps, vacuum cleaner hose, plumbing fixtures, googly eyes, and Estes rocket parts just to name a few. The mirrored plexiglass came from an old display case.
Cardboard body:
Base paint:
Patina/distressing:
And a short video I put together for friends and family interested in how I did it that shows the bike in "flight":
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed making it.
Thanks again for all the in-direct assistance and inspiration.
As 2017 turned into 2018 my son, and only child, was on the verge of becoming a teenager and no longer really interested in participating in Halloween anymore. I realized 2018 would probably be my last chance to fulfill a childhood dream of mine, albeit vicariously through him. Being the good boy he is, he agreed to humor his old man by allowing me to create a “semi” functioning speeder bike and scout trooper costume for him.
Starting in January (2018) with a very small budget, I began to assemble as many unusual parts I could find from thrift stores and the dumpsters behind my office. I eye-balled most of the dims to scale them down to my son’s size and used a lot of creative license because of the steering and limited budget. It is by NO means screen accurate.
For the main speeder bike power source and platform, I used a hand-me-down Razor scooter that I bumped up the battery size and made direct power to the motor. As stated before, most if not all the techniques I used can be found on this forum so I will not go into great detail but I can tell you none of it is printed as I’m not that knowledgeable.
I knew I had to keep it as light as possible but still have structural strength. Plywood I figured would be too dense and heavy for the body and polystyrene too expensive, so I decided to use an old ironing board as the skeleton and cardboard as the skin with some modifications.
The steering veins are the ironing board legs, while the greeblies (I learned that on the RPF as well) are everything form a frozen lasagna pan, medicine bottle caps, vacuum cleaner hose, plumbing fixtures, googly eyes, and Estes rocket parts just to name a few. The mirrored plexiglass came from an old display case.
Cardboard body:
Base paint:
Patina/distressing:
And a short video I put together for friends and family interested in how I did it that shows the bike in "flight":
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed making it.
Thanks again for all the in-direct assistance and inspiration.
