Hi Steemians. I showed you my other hobby in my previous post. From a combination of flying quadcopters and building custom toys came this project, flying machine inspired by Rey’s Speeder Bike as seen in the trailer of new Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and directed by J.J.Abrams.
I designed all the parts of this model in google sketch-up. It started before the movie was released, based on limited reference photos I could find online. I designed it in pieces which would fit on most home 3d printers without support material. I tried to make them as light as possible without sacrificing strength, but all elements add up to 500g for just frame only! It was heavy and center of gravity shifted by a heavy weight on the back. I was not sure if it will work until the end but I took the risk.
The weakest parts were external panels, I added glass fiber inside to strengthen them. It also added extra grams :( and it was probably unnecessary. All parts were sanded and filled with filler to achieve a smooth finish. I was not very focused on detail and movie accuracy because I did not have enough reference and it was an experimental model.
I used parts I had at home. When you start flying copters you change motors and electronics as the new is released, so lots of old parts are lying around. I used DYS 1806 2300KV motors, which are not very powerful but are small and light and did the job quite well. The microcontroller and ESC also improved and were reduced in size since this build so I would not recommend the ones I used. You can have something lighter these days. If you really need this information, I have a list on my blog here http://themodelmaker.net/reys-speeder-quadcopter/ or under youtube video and on the Thingiverse page.
I released the files on Thingiverse so if you want, you can 3d print it yourself. After seeing the movie, I wanted to improve this model but other projects took my attention. I also planned to release model of a pilot but never had a chance to sculpt it digitally. On this version, I made it with styrofoam covered with pieces of cloth, glued in place and painted with acrylics. Hands, face, and legs were sculpted with polymer clay Sculpey. From what I see in comments on Thingiverse, figurine is hard to make for some 3d printing guys
Everything was painted quite quickly with acrylics. I was not very detailed with my weathering. I already spent lots of time on the models which could become a pile of broken plastic with one wrong move of the joystick :) I crashed it few times but it was easy to fix. Mostly superglue was the weakest point. I managed to make few flyes to record it on youtube but it was cold outside and windy season in Ireland. After that I left it on my window cill for few months and when it got warmer, the very thin panels deformed because of sun heat. I now have it in one of my boxes waiting for rebuild. Enjoy the few minute clips and the photos, if you like what I show you here, please give me some upvotes.I will use minnowbooster later, so you can take advantage and earn some curation reward ;)
this video shows more how it fly.
