STAR WARS INSIDER / 75WORLDWIDECraftinga capitalshipoutof cardboard
IMPERIAL INGENUITY
A
ustralian engineer Andrew
Guy and his four–year old
son Aidan share an interest
in all things Star Wars. “I am very
pleased that his favorite movie is
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
(1980),” states Andrew. “This tells
me that he has a good instinct for
cinematic brilliance.”
California resident Andrew had
already built a toy cardboard TIE
fighter for his son when he decided
to deploy his engineering talents to
modify Aidan’s bicycle into a mobile
Imperial Star Destroyer. The father
and his young protégé collected all
the used cardboard boxes they
could lay their hands on and set to
work constructing the load–bearing
frame that fits onto the bike.
More cardboard pieces were
manipulated to add detail to the hull,
and Aidan’s mom helped paint the
vessel during its three-month
construction, resulting in a finished
vehicle weighing in at roughly 60
pounds. Dog bowls turned out to be
perfect stand-ins for the ship’s rearthrusters, which glow thanks to the
same circuit of LEDs that also light
the Star Destroyer’s windows. In
addition, there’s also a speaker inside
that plays “The Imperial March” as
Aiden rides.
“Aidan premiered the Star
Destroyer bike on Halloween,” Guy
reveals, proudly. “It was a massive
success, and his ‘costume’ attracted
a lot of admiration.” Better still, the
build resulted in plenty of quality
Star Wars time for this dedicated
father and son duo.