How would you feel showing up at a Star Wars convention not dressed as Chewbacca or C-3PO, but in style, as a Tie Fighter pilot? Not dressed like a pilot, but riding a Tie, that is.
That dream will come true for at least one Star Wars fan with some mad engineering skills, a guy named Allan Carver.
But everyone can have a shot at it, too. All one needs is some advanced welding knowledge, a big garage and a lot of spare time. Oh, and a pair or so of electric wheelchair motors.
The 2 meters tall (6.5 feet) Tie Fighter you see here is constructed out of a steel tube frame, covered with either L200 foam on the body or rigid insulation foam for the wings. It is powered by a Sabertooth dual-motor driver, controlled via a DX8 RC receiver.
The creator of the insane machine says it can achieve a top speed of 6 mph (10 km/h), but that’s really all you need to make a hell of an impression. Especially considering the fact that a 30-watt amplifier insures all the sound effects needed to go with the fighter from a galaxy far, far away.
The replica looks close enough to the real movie deal so that crowds go wild when laying eyes on it. The only things that look off on the Tie are the four wheels needed for it to go about. But we can overlook that.
“I didn’t want people to look at this and start picking it apart. I want people to look at this and go ‘That’s a TIE fighter,“’ Carver said according to The Globe and Mail. “The proportions are right, the details are close.”
One of the most shocking traits of the machine is that it can fit, in an apparently tiny round pod, a full-grown human being. Complete with a Darth Vader helmet. Just like in the video below.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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