This article was first published in the August 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Any Star Wars fan worth their salt will recognise the iconic shape of the Millennium Falcon. Olivier Chapuis, a CAD designer from Grenoble, France, took his fandom to the next level: he attached a Falcon shell to a quadcopter drone to make a flying replica of Han Solo's light freighter. Follow these steps to make your own fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.
Gather your kit
You'll need a razor knife, scissors, tape, sandpaper and a hot-glue gun. Extruded polystyrene insulation of 20mm and 30mm thickness and grey paint will be needed for the body. Use a computer with a printer to produce a template, and a compass (or string and two pencils) is needed to transfer several circles on to the insulation. Two LED clusters will go in the front of the craft, and one blue and one white LED strip will go on the back to simulate the main thruster. Chapuis used a quadcopter with 335mm between the four rotors, but the design can be scaled up or down, depending on your rig.
Print the patternFind or draw a top-down view of the Falcon on your computer (excluding the rear thruster overhang). Scale as necessary to fit the four rotors inside, and print the template out, using more than one sheet if necessary.
Cut the outlineDraw four circles slightly larger than the quadcopter rotors and the same pattern inside the Falcon's main body circle. Place a dot in the centre of each. Cut out the excess paper, leaving only the ship's outline. Try to keep the centre of mass in the middle of your ship as you construct the foam disguise.
Keep cuttingTape the template to your 30mm insulation. Cut around the outside with the razor knife to form a rough Falcon shape (including, importantly, the distinctive side-mounted cockpit).
Make a circlePierce the circle through the centre mark for each rotor, leaving an impression on the insulation. Then remove the template.
Add insulationUse a compass, or pencil-and-string arrangement, to create propeller circles around these four centre marks, then cut them out. Cut out a long piece of 30mm insulation, about 50mm high at its apex to form the top. Glue it longways to the top from the back of the ship's hull to the fork in the front mandible.
Finesse shapeConstruct some hardware out of the insulation to attach the quadcopter to its new shell. Hot glue it to the bottom of your Falcon. On the top, glue a centre circle as well as horizontal members made out of the thinner insulation, branching out forwards and to the sides in order to further imitate the "real" spaceship.
Finesse furtherCut out two circles roughly the same diameter as the side members. Glue them to the side notches to form the escape pods, removing insulation as needed. Add insulation on the cockpit section, then remove the material to form a spherical shape.
Install thrusterCut out a strip of 20mm insulation in the shape of the rear thruster. Cut a small strip out of the inside of this thruster a third of the way in from the concave portion and 10mm deep. Glue the larger piece on to the rear top of the Falcon, using the cut-out notch to secure to the body.
Add lightsAttach the piece that was cut out on the bottom of the Falcon, directly under the top section, forming a channel in the middle and glue the LED strips inside the channel. Chapuis used blue on top and white on the bottom. Secure the front LED clusters to each of the forward mandibles, and wire the lights so they attach to the power supply.
Punch it!Add any details you'd like, such as a turret on top or a sensor dish. Paint the Falcon grey and smoke. Attach the facade and test-fly your new drone-ship. But be warned: Chapuis says his model "handles poorly – 'foamies' are not good fliers." Still, we have a good feeling about this...
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
