Thanks to the upcoming release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” new and old fans alike are glued to the Internet, eagerly awaiting the release of any additional information about the film. An American fan has jumped on this bandwagon – his home-made giant lightsabers are getting a lot of attention, as reported by BBC News.
Walking into his local hardware store one day, perusing through some sizeable cardboard tubes, it suddenly occurred to Bob Clagett that making a Jedi weapon was, to some extent, possible. Grabbing the necessary hardware, he made his way home, locked himself in his garage, and set to work.
“I’m a geek, I’m a geek at heart and, you know, when I have a chance to do something fun like that I’ll do it,” Clagett told BBC News. He recalled how he started laughing to himself when the creative epiphany hit him.
This type of construction project isn’t too unusual for Clagett: He used to work in the software industry but left to set up his own business, demonstrating how to make both practical and impractical devices online.
Although relatively simple in design, his giant lightsabers – one red, one green – have certainly had an effect in the online world. Fans of the venerable sci-fi franchise have heaped praise on the engineering, although some particularly pedantic members of the online community have pointed out that the hilts on the two lightsabers don’t match with their blade color.
In the real world, Clagett’s neighbors were fairly surprised when they found him having a lightsaber fight out on his front yard at night. These slightly impractical, 3.66-meter (12-foot)-long weapons were being swung as gracefully as possible back and forth, all the while being filmed by a camera mounted onto a drone.
There's no word at present if he plans to market his elegant creations. If you would like to build your own oversized lightsaber, however, you should check out the instructions on his own website, I Like To Make Stuff. They're made using clear, corrugated roofing panels, large cardboard tubes, lots of spraypaint, and a bright LED spotlight.
Note: if you make your own, the awesome sound effects are, sadly, not included.
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