I grew up in the 70’s. I lived my childhood waiting for every episode of Star Wars to come out in the theaters. What kid didn’t want to be Luke Skywalker, flying his X-Wing through the trench of the Death Star, trying to blow it up? So when I saw the look in my son’s eyes the first time he saw Episode 4, I knew how he was feeling. When he asked to be an X-Wing pilot for Halloween, my answer was yes, but what good is an X-wing pilot without an X-Wing? “Red leader, this is Red five. I am starting my attack run!”
The costume was completely my idea, with homage to George Lucas for the original X-Wing design.
The entire project took about 6-8 hours, including glue and paint drying. So really, a small time investment that paid off big time in joy and smiles.
A few things I learned after making this:
- Use a mix of materials, from many different places to not only give the right visual look but also to make the air frame ridged enough to stand up to a 6 year old.
- Coraplast is stronger in one direction than the other. I added stiffening braces or gussets to keep the plastic from bowing.
- If I could change or add anything it would be adding blaster sound effects and maybe some blue LED lights inside the engines.
- And one final piece of advice to anyone trying this project: “There is no try. Do or do not!”
May the force be with you.
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