Home Made Star Wars Landspeeder

You know you always envied Luke Skywalker when you saw him flying around in that little Landspeeder, right? Well it seems Daniel Deutsch took his jealousy to an all new level and decided to fabricate a lifesized working replica in his own garage. Yes thats right, it works.

Powered by an electric drive system, the Landspeeder you see above is able to travel at speeds up to 25mph and go for several miles on a single charge. Hey, it’s not flying but it sure beats walking.

Daniel had this to say about the project:

The speeder was a collaborative effort. The body mold and windshield were produced in California, and then shipped here to Orlando. We then did the bodywork, chassis, and electronics. The side grills were waterjet cut from PVC, then spaced and stacked.

It has lighting effects in the engine pods that change with the sound during acceleration. I added a short video clip to my web gallery of the speeder being driven, there’s also one of the engine pod lights. A few folks posted that they thought the pics were photoshopped, however it’s most likely the fact that I use a fill-flash when taking outdoor shots. I am attaching an additional couple photos of the body mold, etc., for you to this email.

The entire speeder was built in six weeks, and was first revealed in Los Angeles at the Star Wars Celebration IV event (30th anniv.) in May 2007.

Seems like quite the project. I’ll be starting my AT-AT next week, who’s with me?

(Via: Neatorama)