Started in November 2017, Chris and Taylor began researching a way to build a full size speeder bike prop. Initially the plan was to build on a mountain bike converted with a motorized front wheel, using 4 lead-acid 12v batteries to get the 48v needed to move. This desire to move the bikes stalled the build while we tried to figure out steering and battery storage. When you look at these build pictures, know that we did 75% of this thing on a bike frame then gave up on that to build it as a static prop.
Making the other 2 mobile came next. Click here to skip to those parts.
Let’s get this out of the way first. I’m aware of some liberties we took with the details on this. It’s not exactly 1:1 from the film. The intent was to have a mobile prop that would be used in a night-time Xmas parade, covered in lights and Xmas decorations. We weren’t too worried about accuracy for much of the build because in those conditions, the basic shape would be close enough for people to recognize what it was. After the parade (where it was stationary on a trailer), we began modifying it with a new intent: letting children sit on it without breaking anything.
Alright, time to start building…
We started with these photocopied pages from the book Art of Return of the Jedi, which were found on www.partsofsw.com. I cannot express how grateful I am to the thousands of Star Wars fans who began compiling info like this decades before I tried recreating anything myself.
I took these images, cleaned them up to basically black/white, then I scaled up to the dimensions stated (main body is 6 feet long without the front fork added). Next, I overlaid a simple mountain bike with luggage rack added, because that’s how we planned to build.
Doing it over, without the need to fit a bike inside, things would be different. Our next build is somewhat different as well because we now know that a full mountain bike is so tall, it is difficult to balance with all this added and we are modifying the plans to get it all closer to the ground.
With the side/top/bike views all in one file, I used a vector art program to basically trace the main horizontal and vertical cross sections for the body. I used my plotter to cut these out as giant vinyl decals on some pink vinyl because I have a huge roll of that and I don’t think I could ever run out of pink. We laid those decals on some wood and went at it with the jigsaw. We used big pieces of particle board that were being thrown out of a retail store where they were used as shelves. We cut costs anywhere we could on this build and a lot of the materials came from store shelving that was headed to the landfill.
As promised, you can download my templates by clicking here. These are Adobe Illustrator files that you should be able to convert to use with any plotter or CNC. And here’s an older version of the file as an EPS document, in case your software can’t open a new *.AI file.
From here on, I wanna apologize for the cell phone pics that probably don’t look great as a webpage and are kinda sparse because we were not originally thinking about the importance of documenting this.
We only made one of the biggest template so it was taped down then spray painted like a stencil on 3 pieces of wood for the 3 bodies.
One and a half quick tangents…
I suppose after those pics I should explain what’s going on in the background. That speeder bike against the wall was built for DragonCon 2002 by Studio Creations. It was also used in Star Wars Weekends parades at Walt Disney World.
We are big fans of SC’s biker scout armor and have worn their armor since 2001 and 2013. Well, one of us has been replacing bits of another vendor’s armor with SC since 2013 and the others have full sets. I’d recommend his armor to anyone looking to be a biker scout. You can see pictures of SC’s speeder on their website.
This one found its way to me because of our 3rd builder, who lives out of state has held onto it since those days. She asked me, when we started planning the new builds, if I wanted it for reference and to possibly repair the damage that had been building up over 15 years of conventions/parades/storage. A little repair work was done on the front half, but the back was in bad shape and with workshop space becoming full, the back half was basically scrapped in an effort to get the newer speeders built. You’ll see later that the engine block, while not usable itself, was very useful as a template for making my own molds to do our engine.
And the death star wall in that last pic was here in spring, then gone for most of the summer as different 501st members used it at various conventions throughout North and South Carolina. It’s back, but stored in a stack of panels rather than a cool decoration for the workshop.
Back to the build…
That’s a pretty bad pic because of the sun setting behind me, but there you can see the vertical skeleton of alternating wood/cardboard panels. They were originally done on paper, basically freehanded on the actual body, so that we would have them to do the other 2 afterwards. We left the center hollow (for the bicycle) and filled the outer body with expanding spray foam. That was then carved/sanded down to the correct shape and eventually covered with fiberglass. After 2 layers of fiberglass, it was time for bondo, then several days of sanding and filler primer spray paint.
We thought the white screen mesh would help with the carving stage by keeping the foam contained, but it was more of a hassle than anything. I don’t recommend doing this.
… and here’s where our two in progress speeders became one rush to get something done before the parade. Much of the stalling and procrastinating over the summer was actually because we didn’t want to get too far into the build without knowing how the steering was going to work.
Spoiler alert: it never worked.
Handlebars were a combination of lots of found parts. A thick wood dowel ran under the body – I know, it should be attached to side of body, but this was much easier and we figured it would need to be accessible to make modifications later.
The main part was legs from steel shelves. On top is a bent steel tube with a cut up actual bike handlebar, old brake lever, and new grip. Below that is the base for a pressure regulator/filter for compressor tools. Down at the bottom is a cap from a spray paint can and a cap from a prescription bottle. An aluminum bar wraps around the wood dowel and is riveted to the square metal handlebar in front and back.
Sorry, lost the handlebar closeup images when moving the website
Next up is vac-formed parts!
I have these molds and can make more of these at any time if anyone else out there is interested in building a speeder. Feel free to email me chris@negativeeleven.com if you’re interested.
The engine is done with these 2 halves, and extended forward with corrugated plastic signs. There’s some layered sintra for the details and holes for 3 hoses that go forward on the left side.
This was near complete, but from here we move to making the bicycle inside work. Click to go to page 2.