[Andrew Ainsworth] has been making and selling costumes based on Star Wars character (some original, and some of his own creation) for several years. Lucasfilm sued him for $20 million back in 2004 claiming infringement of intellectual property rights. He stopped selling them in the US (as it was a US copyright) but now the UK Supreme Court has ruled in his favor, siding with his claim that the costumes are functional items and not works of art.
Good for him, but copyright issues aren’t what interests us here. The BBC clip showing him using a vacuum former to make the Stormtrooper helmet really caught our attention. A bit of further searching led us to find the thirteen minute video after the break showing the entire process, from sculpting the mold by hand, to forming the components, and the final assembly seen above. It’s a fascinating process that makes use want to build our own vacuum former (preferably on a larger scale than this one). It would come in handy whether it’s Star Wars, Daft Punk, or any number of other projects you’ve got in mind.
[Thanks Danny]
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If the vacuum forming really interest you, then you might consider reading “Secrets of Building a Plastic Vacuum Forming Machine” by Vincent Gingery. It’s a bit of simplistic document, but it does give you enough information to get up and running quite quickly.
It might be interesting to add that this person was the original designer of the storm-trooper helmet. So it’s not just a replica, it’s THE replica. Quite awesome.
We have a supreme court? When did that happen?
obviously a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away
I used to use an old convection oven, a gast vacuum pump with a footswitch, and a homemade tabletop to vacuum form prosthtic limb sockets. An even simpler setup is to use a regular kitchen oven, a shop vac, and a custom table top. As long as you can get your plastic to temp and seal it to the tabletop over your mold, any vacuum could work.
BTW, I have lots of burn scars from doing this.
Still illegal to sell in the US….
This is so cool. What’s the URL to this guys website? I’m in Canada and would love to get one :)
@Andrew Smith
The UK Supreme Court was opened on 1st October 2009. It replaced the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal in the UK (Besides Scottish Criminal cases).
It was also my 18th Birthday. =D
obviously NOT a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. :)
@Andrew Smith – http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/
This is a really interesting way of making GFRP and CFRP moulds – plenty of release agent and you have a lovely shiny smooth surface to lay up into.
I can understand why Andrew Ainsworth wants to make and sell his own costumes, as he was the original designer.
I can also understand that Lucasfilm wants to hold the rights to everything to do with Star Wars.
Shame they couldn’t get together and Andrew give Lucasfilm 1% of sales.
Lucasfilm will also get free advertising for his film.
Star Wars would not be the same film with different costume designer.
not a hack – BUT very cool indeed. Would love to be able to craft my own original storm trooper costume.
HOLY SHIT!
It’s like Han Solo getting put in Carbonite
now that I am thinking about it…
if that is the dude that made the costumes I bet that machine is what gave them the idea to make that into the movie. And used to make the prop no doubt.
@VV, @James
You live you learn
What’s the heat source he’s using? Any ideas?
@dexter: he’s using a gas burner to heat the plastic. I watched these movies over and over again when I discovered them. I learnt a lot from them.
If you can make your own set of armor, you can join the
local chapter of the 501st Legion (http://www.501st.com/).
Their site has loads of info, including plans and blueprints.
Check out the gallery: http://www.501st.com/members/members.php
I’ve heard about this process on instructables back in the day when I wanted to make… a Storm Trooper costume.
FYI: Vacuuming forming was how the *original* storm trooper costumes and helmets were made too.
This guys is decent, though his originals don’t really feel like Star Wars to me, maybe Dr. Who… or is his accent playing tricks on me? Anyway, he could have totally done all the costumes for something like Space Balls.
This site shows the true facts about the creation of the original Stormtrooper https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Original-Stormtrooper/308958205795601
Ainsworth vacuum formed the helmets and suits they were designed, sculpted, moulded and tools created by the artistic team at Elstree Studios. This was proven in court.
It has also been shown that he does not have the original moulds. He recast a GF suit – a guy who had parts of a Return of the Jedi suit and tried to make convert it back to A New Hope.