Author Topic: HUGE ride for my Jawas!**UPDATE**12/29/07  (Read 38310 times)

Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2007, 04:41 PM »
Looking at the tank and the treads on the sandscrawler, it looks like there won't be four separate sets of treads. I assume the sandcrawler will pretty much ride on top of the tank. Is that going to change? Due to the weight, are you sure the tank motors will be able to turn with this much payload on top of it?



I am comfortably certain that the RC tank motors can handle the Custom Sandcrawler's weight (approx. 21 Lbs.), but they will be slowed which works out nicely for the scale, size, and apparent locomotion speed of the Sandcrawler as seen in A New Hope.

Also, to be clear:  The Fake "cosmetic" treads currently on this Custom Sandcrawler are being REMOVED and then they are being REPLACED by the treads and motors of the RC tank.  So this Sandcrawler WILL NOT simply ride atop the RC Tank. 

Instead, this crawler will move on four separate motorized sets of double treads "kit-bashed" off of the RC tanks.  That is why I have purchased FOUR of the 1/12th scale RC Tanks shown in the link above (for 8 total treads). This will be a full-scale "reverse engineering" operation on the RC Tanks.  Serious stuff.

It is for this reason that I am confident that the motors can handle the Custom Sandcrawler's weight.  Don't forget: It won't just be ONE RC tank motor pushing the Sandcrawler forward.  It will be four.

The only item from the custom Sandcrawler's original fake cosmetic treads that will be salvaged will be the faceplate facades placed over the modified RC tank treads.  And even those faceplate facades are being re-worked to be more accurate. For example, the three (currently missing) vertical rectangular vent openings are being added to the center of each faceplate.

« Last Edit: August 27, 2007, 04:57 PM by DARKLORD »

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #16 on: August 27, 2007, 05:04 PM »
That sounds like it will work great. So are the little wheels on the faceplace going to turn?
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #17 on: August 27, 2007, 05:29 PM »
They make small vacuums for cleaning electronics...  One of those COULD fit I think, however the suction needed to lift a figure would probably be more than the tiny vacuum could handle I'm afraid.

I too would have some concerns on the weight issues...  Less on the motor though and more on the transmission of the tank, as they are known to strip gears pretty easily if you put too much weight on them.  I had some problems taping my RC runs years ago when I was young by strapping a camcorder to my truck...  WEight could be a problem to consider...

I at the very least wouldn't run it on too rough a surface for a bit.
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Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #18 on: August 27, 2007, 05:54 PM »
That sounds like it will work great. So are the little wheels on the faceplace going to turn?

Hmm... good question.  I hadn't thought of engineering them to do that.  I could be wrong, but I always assumed that the little wheels on the faceplates were not meant to turn, even on the actual Lucasfilm Sandcrawler.  I always thought they were a cosmetic consideration.


I too would have some concerns on the weight issues...  Less on the motor though and more on the transmission of the tank, as they are known to strip gears pretty easily if you put too much weight on them.  I had some problems taping my RC runs years ago when I was young by strapping a camcorder to my truck...  WEight could be a problem to consider...

I at the very least wouldn't run it on too rough a surface for a bit.

Hmm interesting information.  Do you think the weight would be an issue even with all 4 Tank transmissions being applied?

Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #19 on: August 27, 2007, 06:01 PM »
:o :o :o Can You imagine a to scale AT-AT?! That's totally awesome!

Yes... unfortunately I CAN imagine it.  Although, I'm trying not to so I won't grow to hate my Hasbro AT-ATs!

I think the ONLY reason I've not commissioned a correctly-scaled 3/34" AT-AT for my collection is that I could NOT afford to own FIVE of them like in the movie! :'( :P ;)

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #20 on: August 28, 2007, 04:09 PM »
How tall would a 3 3/4" scale AT-AT be? Are we talking 6' or 7' tall?
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Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #21 on: August 29, 2007, 09:06 AM »
How tall would a 3 3/4" scale AT-AT be? Are we talking 6' or 7' tall?

As I'm sure you know, an AT-AT correctly scaled for 4 inch Hasbro figures would be absolutely ENORMOUS, far larger than my SAndcrawler!

For those of you that own the STAR WARS Chronicles photo refernce book, the land vessels comparisons page shows the Sandcrawler as dwarfing an AT-AT in scale.  In my humble opinion, this is incorrect.  Based of what we've seen in the films themselves, an AT-AT is definitely larger than a Sandcrawler:

My custom built Jawa Sandcrawler takes it's scale (basically) from film and photo references of the full-sized filming set used in Tunisia.  This was where we saw the relative height of the Sandcrawler's treads when compared to jawas, droids, and average heighted individuals (C-3PO, Uncle Owen, Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi, etc.)

Based on that information, a correct Hasbro-scaled Sandcrawler was determined to be (approximately) 2-1/2 FEET tall and just over 5 FEET in length.   Pretty big.

Now let's look at the AT-AT based on what we saw in TESB.   Here is what was written in the technical commentaries over at The Force.net:

The scale of the AT-AT is contentious. There are several independent claims and points of evidence:

   •    West End Games and derivative sources indicate a height of fifteen metres, but they do not state any justification or proof. Their number could be an arbitrary invention for all we know. On the other hand, AT-AT walkers seem much bigger in the movies.

   •    A late-stage ILM scaling diagram from the production of The Empire Strikes Back indicates a height of about 14.5m. However it's impossible to say whether this diagram reflects the final condition of the movie.

   •    Long-range views of Luke Skywalker ascending a cable beneath an AT-AT indicate a height of 22.6m, with a precision of seven percent.

   •    Comparison of an AT-AT and the scale of the handrails of a docking platform at Endor in Return of the Jedi indicate a height of about 23m, with the rail being slightly more than 1.0m above the deck. This is consistent with architectural standards handrails on Earth.

   •    One of the walkers on Hoth managed to crush Skywalker's snowspeeder, covering most of the vehicle with the walker's footpad. If an AT-AT is about 23m tall, the foot diameter is about 4.5m. The snowspeeder's length is independently known from set blueprints: 4.53m. If the AT-AT was only 15m tall, it could not have covered the 'speeder as well as it did.

   •    Interestingly, the length of the snowspeeder as indicated by set blueprints [The Art of STAR WARS Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back] is 4.5m, which would suggest that the walker foot should have covered it. However vehicles on movie sets are traditionally built underscale. Oddly, the West End Games value for the snowspeeder length is 5.5m, which supports the larger, non-WEG value walker height.

   •    A stormtrooper officer receiving orders from General Veers was able to stand and walk within the AT-AT cockpit. If the vehicle was only scaled to 15m tall, the space between floor and ceiling in the cockpit would have been no more than 1.3m. The walker must be scaled to over 20m in height in order to allow the observed cockpit scenes to fit.

   •    Observations of a snowspeeder in the act of tying an AT-AT's legs would provide another scale estimate. By initial eyeball estimates, these scenes seem to support a larger AT-AT height.

On the balance of evidence, an AT-AT walker is approximately 23m tall and 26m long. Judging by direct front views, the hull width is approximately 35% of the height, the width across the legs is about 26% of the height, and the width across the toes is about 46% of the height.



So if our friends over at The Force.net are correct (and I believe they are!), an AT-AT stands approximately 75-1/2 FEET tall. So much for early descriptions of the AT-AT in magazines and documentaries as "...40 foot tall giants..."  Way off!

That's equivalent to 12-1/2 average men (6 FEET in height) standing end to end.

If we stand 12-1/2  average STAR WARS figures (4 inches in height) end to end, we get 50 inches (or an AT-AT's correct HASBRO scale height). Add to that the fact that Hasbro's Snowspeeder is actually too LARGE in its scale size for Hasbro figures, and this all seems to pan out.


My friends, THAT translates to a toy that would be (sigh) 4 FEET 2 inches in height. LARGER than a correctly-scaled Sandcrawler.

Now, just to give you some perspective on this: The largest AT-AT miniature built by ILM for filming The Empire Strikes Back came in at roughly the same 4 feet in height!
« Last Edit: September 4, 2007, 04:56 PM by DARKLORD »

Offline David

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #22 on: September 3, 2007, 10:40 AM »
I could NOT afford to own FIVE of them like in the movie! :'( :P ;)

 :D THAT would be AWESOME!  :D
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Offline King_Maul

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #23 on: September 3, 2007, 01:13 PM »
Wouldn't it be awesome if your custom could do this?  Sandcrawler Racer;D  I saw this video link over in RS and couldn't resist.

Great Custom!

Offline evenflow

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #24 on: September 18, 2007, 09:57 AM »
That is just amazing! I would love to have one.
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Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #25 on: October 8, 2007, 04:07 AM »
Wouldn't it be awesome if your custom could do this?  Sandcrawler Racer;D  I saw this video link over in RS and couldn't resist.

Great Custom!

That sandcrawler racer is OUTRAGEOUS!  Those jokers at ILM are sick! ;D

Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #26 on: October 8, 2007, 04:19 AM »
I could NOT afford to own FIVE of them like in the movie! :'( :P ;)

 :D THAT would be AWESOME!  :D

Yes, it would ALSO be grounds for my wife to divorce me. ::)

Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #27 on: December 7, 2007, 08:50 PM »
Well... my custom Sandcrawler arrived, and the pictures DID NOT do it justice.

First of all, this Sandcrawler is HUGE.  You don't realize just HOW huge it is until you see her it in person.

My best guess is that it weighs in the neigborhood of 25 pounds.I'm telling you, my vintage Kenner Jawa Sandcrawler looks like a Micro Machines dinky toy next to this.

This custom Sandcrawler is TOUGH too.  Not quite as tough as a tooled and molded Hasbro Toy, since the kit-bashed parts are glued on the surface.  But it is TOUGH nonetheless.  It is made of thick styrene plastic, wood, and fiberglass. The kit-bashed parts are an assortment of plastic and metal.

All in all, guys, my Jawas are EXTREMELY happy!

The next step NOW is my RC Conversion guy will come over to take meansurements so that he can fabricate the rolling RC TREADS, and in another 2 months or so, we'll install the new RC motors and treads on this baby.

I also have a very close friend who works in the area of retail store DISPLAY manufacturing.  He will be stopping by tomorrow to take measurements for the heavy corrugated cardboard box and inserts we are making to store her in.  The colorful graphics for the box have already been designed (based on the one I created for the Vintage Kenner RC Jawa Sandcrawler)
« Last Edit: December 29, 2007, 10:46 AM by DARKLORD »

Offline Phrubruh

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #28 on: December 8, 2007, 10:49 AM »
Your right it is huge! What's your budget on this guy?
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Offline DARKLORD

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Re: HUGE new ride for my new Jawas!
« Reply #29 on: December 8, 2007, 12:06 PM »
Your right it is huge! What's your budget on this guy?

After shipping, RC conversion, and the paint modifications I'm planning we're talking about $2200.