Entertainment

3D printed Death Stars ensure Rogue One will go off with a bang

A Death Star, 2 meters in diameter, from Star Wars is being 3D printed in Spain’s capital city Madrid. It is one in a series of events taking place across the globe this week as people are hit with Star Wars fever – celebrating the release of the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story film.

Image via Star Wars Espana on facebook.
Image via Star Wars Espana on facebook.

The upcoming film is a spin-off, and a prequel to the original trilogy, set just before A New Hope, between episode III, where Darth Vader is slipping into the dark side, and episode IV when Princess Leia gets captured. In Rogue One the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the Galactic Empire’s Death Star before it can take control.

Gif of the Death Star eclipsing the sun taken from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer (Official) by Star Wars on Youtube.

The big-builders behind the Spanish Death Star

California big-scale 3D printer manufacturers ErectorBot are behind the Spanish Death Star that will finish printing on the 18th December after 2 weeks of printing, with the film itself reaching cinemas mid-week. The finished FFF print will weigh over 100kg and has been attracting crowds to the Puerta de Alcalá square who can watch the circular motion through a glass case.

The Death Star being printed in Puerta de Alcalá square. Photo via: ErectorBot.
The Death Star being printed in Puerta de Alcalá square. Photo via: ErectorBot.

According to Leonard Dodd, CEO of ErectorBot and chief engineer of the project, the Rogue One printer is one of the largest in the world, at 8 foot x 7 foot x 7 foot (LxWxH) and uses the company’s proprietary stationary print-bed and gantry set up. It puts it in league with some of the industries other big builds 3D printers, like the machines from Swedish BLB Industries, who can print objevct 14 feet tall.

Australian Counterpart

Sharing the images on their Facebook page, the film franchise has also installed a 3D printed Death Star at Event Cinemas on George Street in Sydney. The object was created by 3D Printing Studios who created quite a fashion statement in another Sydney-based project recently.

The 3D printed Death Star at Event Cinemas. Image via StarWarsAUNZ.
The 3D printed Death Star at Event Cinemas. Image via: StarWarsAUNZ.

This model weighs slightly more than its Spanish counterpart at 150kg, and took less than three weeks to print.

If any of our readers have any Star Wars themed 3D prints this week we’d love to see them – post your pictures to us on Facebook or Twitter and leave any facts about the print time, material and design.

Featured image shows a screenshot of the Death Star seen in Return of the Jedi. All copyrights in regards to this image are held by Lucasfilm ltd. and/or its subsidiaries and as such are the property of said company. Via: Wikipedia contributor Melesse