Star Wars Full-Size Scout Trooper Speeder Bike Build

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

SPEEDER BIKE BUILD -

Plans available:

Blueprint Plans & 3D Parts for Building A FULL-SIZE STARWARS SpeederBike

Blueprints and Build Photos for Building a STAR WARS Speederbike (Aratech 74-Z)Interested in building a Star Wars SpeederBike of your very own? If you have the time and skills for this epic adventure, we can help jumpstart your build process by providing the set of plans we designed when we...

acesinaction.com

<UPDATED FINAL PHOTO>

One of my more ambitious projects for the movie room and our Halloween event this year is a full-size speeder bike from ROTJ. My goal is to keep this project within a reasonable cost, lightweight and made out of simple materials and structure (i.e. wood/foam vs. aluminum/carbon).

I started by gathering as many plans and profile views as possible and determined a significant number of discrepancies between the source materials (as always). Therefore, I set out to create my own plans and projected them onto the large sheets of foam and plywood.

Little Jawa helpers assisted in transferring the design to the building materials (pink builders foam and plywood).

DrscifiProps · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

That's a great method to scaling up your plans

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Exactly - the plans I drew were designed at 1" = 1'. That way at 11 feet, the plans fit on a letter size sheet to use in the garage and parts measurement became much more simplified.

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 2:

Cut out all of the parts with a jig saw. Making sure to stay within the lines helps to reduce sanding and filling later.

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 3:

You'll notice the base of the speeder bike is not completely flat and includes some ramping shapes. I opted to build some elongated triangles for the shape changes, but to also incorporate a flat base for the mounting frames (office chair bases) to be secured. Holes were drilled in all the plywood pieces to help lighten the structure.

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 4:

With the base prepped and ready, all the formers are aligned and put into order for assembly. I opted to use the plywood formers at the critical junction points (near handlebars, under seat, ends, etc) and used pink foam in between. There are still gaps in between, but we'll tackle those spaces later.

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 5:

To adhere the formers to the base, I used Liquid Nails "FUZE IT" all-surface adhesive as it grabs fast, doesn't react the foam, and is fairly tough stuff. In case you glue the wrong the part down, this stuff can be cut up with a knife when cured (a few hours), so it's definitely not as solid as something like epoxy. Once the formers are setup, let them cure overnight to keep them from shifting.

It's at this point that the hair on the back of my neck begins to stand up! It's starting to look like a speeder bike!

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 6:

The gaps between the formers are filled with the Great Stuff expanding spray foam. I used both the normal and big gap filler types and would highly recommend staying with the normal gap filler for all these prop projects. Although its tempting to shoot the big gap filler all over since it fills bigger gaps faster (right?) - it actually continues to expand for days upon days, thus upsetting the cutting, sanding, and fiberglassing process. Trust me - and stick with the simple gap filler. Within the deep recesses, I layered scraps of foam so that I didn't have to use so much of the spray version. I ended up using 3 cans to fill all the remaining voids.

What a mess at this point!

SpaceMind · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Awesome!! I can't wait to see the final project.

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Thanks SpaceMind - it's really starting to come along!

FrightMaker · Jul 6, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

Step 7:

Cuts Just Like Butta'! Actually, using a bread knife and small box cutter, the foam does cut somewhat like butter. This takes some patience, time, and a large garbage can at your disposal. Making sure to not go too deep and keep things symmetrical - this is the key at this stage.

Sith Lord · Jul 7, 2016

Very cool!

FrightMaker · Jul 7, 2016

Sith Lord said:
Very cool!

Thanks for following!

- - - Updated - - -

Step 6:

Once everything has been carved and sanded to the proper contour, I take a 1:1 ratio of wood filler and lightweight spackle mixed together and apply it to help fill the voids.

- - - Updated - - -

Here are some photos of the spackle mixture being applied

FrightMaker · Jul 7, 2016

Step 7:

The intakes were lined with heavy foam core board to create nice flat surfaces (and sharp edges). They'll later receive a coat of epoxy to harden them up even more.

SofaKing01 · Jul 7, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

FrightMaker said:
Step 2: ... Making sure to stay within the lines helps to reduce sanding and filling later

Hey FM... I had to laugh at that comment. It never turns out quite the way we want... I can't tell you how many tubs of filler I've (if not many of us) gone through.

Loving the progress so far! Looking forward to more!

FrightMaker · Jul 7, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

SofaKing01 said:
Hey FM... I had to laugh at that comment. It never turns out quite the way we want... I can't tell you how many tubs of filler I've (if not many of us) gone through.

Loving the progress so far! Looking forward to more!

Hey Sofa - isn't that true? If the lines were actually perfectly cut, then we wouldn't need filler. Where is that CNC machine that I need so badly? ;0

Amazing work on the Falcon by the way... I'm working on plans for a crashed a Tie Fighter (full-size) for the front yard. We're not too far from one another - we should get our vehicles together at some point for the big launch event! You're having a launch event right?

SofaKing01 · Jul 7, 2016

Re: Star Wars Scout Trooper - Full Size Speed Bike Build

FrightMaker said:
Hey Sofa - isn't that true? If the lines were actually perfectly cut, then we wouldn't need filler. Where is that CNC machine that I need so badly? ;0

Amazing work on the Falcon by the way... I'm working on plans for a crashed a Tie Fighter (full-size) for the front yard. We're not too far from one another - we should get our vehicles together at some point for the big launch event! You're having a launch event right?

Hey FM,

Thanks for the kind words! I've been using the laser cutter and CNC for a while now and even then... filler, sanding, filler, sanding, filler, sanding! But it's all worth it in the end.

I like the way you think! A full scale TIE is going to be awesome!

Am I having a Launch event? I am now if we can get the "kids" together!

Sith_Lord_Hritz · Jul 7, 2016

Looking good so far! I can't wait to see the end results. Thanks for sharing the build with us and remember you can never take to many pics of your progress.

FrightMaker · Jul 7, 2016

Sith_Lord_Hritz said:
Looking good so far! I can't wait to see the end results. Thanks for sharing the build with us and remember you can never take to many pics of your progress.

No worries - I'll make sure to keep the photos coming!

metaform3d · Jul 7, 2016

Thanks so much for sharing your process. Very cool!

Star Wars Full-Size Scout Trooper Speeder Bike Build

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Master Member

Well-Known Member

Master Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Jr Member

Similar threads