It's back on! AT-AT Bed project resumed

My father in-law after a long hiatus has found his inspiration and mojo and has been silently working on the AT-AT bed project.

I had never given up hope that my father in-law would return to building this piece of art.  It was placed on the back burner when he took a new job that demanded long hours and weekend work.  Working on the bed gives him true peace of mind while allowing his creativity to flow.

Last weekend he called me up to come over and asked me to bring my camera.  Camera?, that only meant one thing.  The architect was back in the shop.

The AT-AT was taking up too much space in the workshop so it was moved to the garage.

The first photo is a front view.  The bed frame is rested between the AT-AT legs.  The AT-AT head piece is also shown.  

Side angle view.  There will be two ways that you can access the above play area, or as I call it, command and control.  A pop up hatch is located underneath and is accessed by standing on the bed and popping a hatch.  The second entrance, which can be seen below, will be accessed from the side.  A fold up ladder is planning on being installed. here.

A close up of the head unit.  The head unit articulates and can swing side to side.  The head unit was designed using MDF.  The guns are made from PVC tubing.  I also want to point out the fine detail.  Effect pieces were routed by hand.

 Side Entrance.  Once inside the command and control the operator has plenty of storage for supplies and armaments with the pop open cupboards.

My father in law collects obscure parts and junk.  Nothing gets thrown away around him.  Even if you don't see a use for it he will.  On a later post I will write about the odds and ends that have been collected to build this bed.

The gun rotunda is made out of the top of a parking lot barrier sleeve.

I want to thank everyone that has followed this blog over the past 18 months for their patience.  We have received emails from all over the world asking us for updates.  I am glad that I can once again share this project with you.

AT-AT Bed Body taking shape

Have a new update for you on the progress of the AT-AT bed but first I would like to announce the birth of our new padawan daughter Saraphina Mae.  Born March 31st she weighed 6.8 lbs.  Both mother and baby are doing great and getting fairly good sleep.

Now that our family is adjusting we can now get back to the business of blogging about star wars and the AT-AT bed.

A few days back we headed over to the grandparents for a visit a brought the camera along.

The body of the AT-AT bed is coming together.  You will notice that special attention is being given to the fine details of the bod.  Each of those small pieces was cut and glued to the body.

Jack popping up through the hatch door.

Panel doors on the inside body are installed so Jack can hide his Star-Wars figures or as he calls them his "guys"

Grandma picked up this toy AT-AT at a second hand store a while back.  Gary has taken it over and is using it as a model...or is he just saying that so he can play with it?  hmm...

Check out the legs on this one....

Things have been very busy lately. My wife is within three weeks of her due date. We are frantically trying to move, transfer, clean, squeeze and stuff things in such a way that will allow us to add one more person to this house.  We are starting to realize that our days of traveling outside the house are going to be limited. That means one thing..I will need to invest in a PS3 and a new big new LED TV. For the kid's and the family of course.  Making sure that they are well entertained is a sacrifice I must make.

The latest photos updating me on the progress of Jack's AT-AT bed have surfaced. I received these in my email just last night and really need to show you how things are going. Hopefully you will agree with me that these might be some of the best legs you will ever see.

All four legs look complete and next up is the body.  I was told that the project is a about a month away from completion.

First up we have Gary in his workshop assembling the leg parts.  Gary draws near superhuman focus by placing a pencil behind his ear...no really it's true.

A finished leg below.  Pure Awesomeness.  I know Gary was adamant on making sure that the legs had dimension to it.  He wanted it to appear as lifelike as possible.  Mission Accomplished.

All four legs.  It appears that the legs are cantilevered to make them appear as if they are actually walking.  

You can almost visualize the body sitting on top of the legs.  

Getting close.....

Lord Woz comes to town

No not a Sith Lord but Uncle Greg.  The self nicknamed Lord Woz came over Sunday to paint the kid's rooms.  Uncle Greg can pimp out a room prime to paint in as little as a few hours.  Better to call in the big guns than have me paint.  Things tend to get messy when  I roll paint.    

Janine and I wanted the room to have that boyish feel but also clean and updated.   We went with a three tier color scheme using horizontal bands.

Valspar paint purchased from Lowe's was used.  

• The bottom:   SR313 Warm Sand.
• Middle:          4007-5C Cincinnatian Hotel Atrium
• Top Border:   SR1214 Peace Blue

yes, we are getting some type of Star Wars bedding

We are currently debating if we are leaving it as is with clean crisp lines or if we will paint some sort of scene.  The colors allows us to work in a a sand scene if we want and that allows for plenty of ideas.  One idea was to paint a scene from Tatooine complete with Sand People, Driods and throw in General Grievous for good measure.  Not sure yet.

The Best Laid Plans

Tonight we went to pick up our 12 month old Alexis from Gram and Papa's.  Jack will be spending one more night.  Everyone looked haggard and tired...it looked like everyone was on a chocolate milk bender from the night before.  Grandma probably also handed out slices of cake in the morning for a little hair of the dog. Are there ever any rules at Grandma's? (NO!)

While we were there it gave me a chance to peek into Papa's workshop and see what he has been up to.  We were able to spy these photos:

Gary started by pulling the actual AT-AT patent drawing for scale.

Gary then turned to his brother Steve whose hobby is playing around in a Cad-Cam program.  Every piece was laid out to scale.  A 3D model was built and then pieces were exploded out.  Notice below that Gary has made templates.

Action shot.  Template placed on foot assembly and being routed.

Finished routed foot assembly

Leg Assembly.  Notice the dimension.  Lots of custom work going on here.

Showing off.  Yes he has 7 routers.  Not sure I have 7 of anything.  How does someone collect 7 routers?

The Back Story...

This weekend we went into full sprint on getting the kid's bedrooms prepped and painted.   Here's the story on how the Star Wars bedroom came to be.

The birth of our new daughter err...padawan is due in the next two months.  The new baby will be rooming with her older, wiser sister (14 months wiser).  We have two bedrooms for the kids and since Jack was the first born he was given the larger room.  But more importantly the larger closet. Yeesh, what were we thinking??

From experience I know that girls need more closet space and since two girls will be rooming together; well sorry Jack but you are going to have to move.  We had to think fast. What could we do to entice him? Candy?  No - stupid cavities. New toys? No - the excitement is short-lived. Hmmmm, how about a huge gigantic Star Wars contraption built in his room? YES!!

My wife Janine suggested that we give him the room of all rooms.  I have some creative thinking ability but it has never translated to the hands.  Jack's Papa on the other hand is a master carpenter and possibly one of the most creative and meticulous people you may ever meet.  Janine approached Papa with the idea and almost immediately the wheels started to turn.  I told him about the AT-AT Bed that I had seen online.  The plan was to think about another Star Wars vehicle but in the end, the AT-AT just worked the best.

This weekend both kids were dropped off at Papa and Grandma's so both rooms could get prepped and painted.   The kid's have been gone all day and I cannot recall the last time I was able to get this much work completed.  Can you imagine how productive I could be if the kid's lived over at Grandma's?  Let me dream for a minute....

First Post!

This is my first post in what I hope becomes a journal of my time spent playing, dreaming and watching all things Star Wars with my son Jack.  

I will also blog about the most unbelievable Imperial Walker Bed Jack’s grandfather (Papa) is building for him.  We got the inspiration from a design we saw on the internet (AT-AT Bed).

While I have always been a Star Wars fan I am not a Jedi Master in all things Star Wars.  Though familiar with the basics of Star Wars I myself am just a Padawan.  Please feel free to correct me if I misuse a term.  

This should be fun!