We've seen a TIE Interceptor. We've seen the Millennium Falcon. But we've never seen a "Star Wars" drone that looks quite as realistic as this Imperial speeder bike created by Adam Woodworth.
Check out the video below to see what I'm talking about. If you are like me, then the speeder bike chase in "Return of the Jedi" is one of your favorite "Star Wars" moments of all time. The sheer speed of the scene — as Luke zips through the forest of Endor with Imperial scouts hot on his trail — is exhilarating. Who didn't want their own speeder bike after that moment?
Woodworth's speeder bike drone is the next best thing. It looks simple, but the drone actually required a ton of extra work from Woodworth, as detailed in a post over at Make.
Woodworth acquired an old Hasbro "Star Wars" speeder bike toy, took it apart and built a custom frame for it that would support the weight of the four rotors. When the Scout Trooper riding atop the bike proved to be too heavy for the drone, Woodworth also took apart the doll and crafted an entirely new, lightweight body for the soldier out of pipe cleaners and old Nerf darts.
The end result is so fantastic, it looks like the remote-controlled drone could have been used in the filming of "Return of the Jedi." Woodworth says he has plans to create more RC drones with Hasbro toys in the future. Exciting!
It's even more convincing from a first-person view. Sure, the scale of the trees and bushes is off, but that doesn't diminish the sense of magic that comes with watching one of the most iconic "Star Wars" vehicles come to life. Furthermore, the four rotors keeping the speeder in flight are out of sight from that perspective.
This is one of the coolest "Star Wars" fan creations I've seen in a long time and it will definitely help tide us over until work is done on Olivier C's AT-ST. Then we can actually recreate the Battle of Endor — just add some kids in little bear suits.
All the while, we will wait for the day when we can all have full-sized, fully functional speeder bikes to zoom around town with.
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