New Project - My Son's Desert Skiff Bed

Thanks guys!

I did some more work today, and I will say this, this sucker almost defeated me today! Everything that can go wrong, practically did. My control box got completely screwed up, I made a mistake with my design and I split a chunk of wood off, but I worked around it.

The first thing I did was worked on the audio. I was looking for something inexpensive and easy to work with, so I got these audio discs from Build-A-Bear (the same one I used on my Jawa), they're about $8 each. But this time I messed around with it. I removed the push button and soldered a momentary on/off button from Radio Shack. It actually works pretty good, you'll see later in the video.

I bought 3, 2 for separate blaster sounds and 1 for an engine sound. The only thing that sucks is you only get about 10 seconds, so the engine sound was cut short. The blaster ones are perfect.

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Here's the button that I mounted to a plug, these go on top of the piloting sticks.

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I mounted the speakers to the inside of the control column. I also used schedule 40 PVC for the handles.

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Here's a view with the column nearly complete.

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Here's the control panel lit up. I managed to get a broken oil gauge from the local auto parts store and back lit it with a white LED. I also added 2 lighted switches, one controls the red LEDs and the other the blue. I added another momentary on/off switch, this one controls the engine sound. The two switches below the yellow lights control the yellow lights and oil gauge and the other controls some red LEDs on the side of the bed.

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Here's a video of how everything works. All the LEDs are powered by a 9V battery, the sound is controlled separately by the internal batteries of each disc. The pilot control handles move forward and back.

Star Wars Desert Skiff Bed.MPG - YouTube

I think tomorrow I wil start painting, it's pretty much ready for paint, save a few minor touch-ups and detail work.

My son and daughter loved this, they played with those switches for half the day. My son kept pretending he was taking off and landing, it was priceless and makes this all worth while.
 
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Thanks guys!

One final finishing touch before I start painting. I finished the rear sail using a piece of foam core board and paint stirring sticks. I cut the sticks to length and added them to the foam board. I am hoping it ties in when I paint.

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Thanks again for the comments guys!

Finally got to painting today, but it's going a little slower than I had hoped for, lots of awkward angles. I really love this color, it's not nearly as green as it looks in the photos.

I also love how the rear sail wing turned out.

Back at it tomorrow, want to wrap this one up before the weekend's over if I can.

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Thanks guys, my kids are loving this. They both want to play on this thing, even when I am working on it!

Just about done with the base coat, about to move onto a little weathering. I also added a piece of gray anti-fatigue mat for the floor. I got this from Lowe's. They sell it off the roll for about $3.50 a linear foot, but I didn't need much. I spent about 8 bucks and did it with one piece because it was just wide enough.

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Today I can finally say I am done with this. I kind of rushed through the weathering process, which isn't my strong suit anyway, but I really wanted to be finished with this. I had fun, but it took a lot of time (I am guessing I have over 40 hours into this, and I swear 10 of them were getting those audio discs to work!).

Today I threw on several different coats of paint; some black, brown, yellow, gray, a little red, and a bit of silver for the blaster hits. I also finished the piloting sticks by painting them black. It looks a bit better in person.

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I am happy to say my son loves this! I am also happy to say I came in under my planned budget of $300.00. Here's the final tally:

Lumber - $111.64
Hardware - $31.96
Finishing Touches (screw covers, material for the sail wing, etc) - $34.63
PVC Pipe - $9.34
Paint - $29.95
Electronics - $46.10

Total: $263.62................Having your son say, "Daddy, you're my best friend, I love my bed", priceless!

And one last shot:

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Figured I would re-post the video as well:

Star Wars Desert Skiff Bed.MPG - YouTube

I know the next step is to make this a full Star Wars room, so painting the walls is probably next!

With all the talented members out there, I would love for someone to tackle this and do it some real justice.
 
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