Project 3 Death Star

The Situation: Christmas 2021 was approaching, and I felt inspired to make something for my son. He is a huge Star Wars fan and has been collecting action figures for many years. I was inspired by a Pinterest post of a Death Star shelf and decided to give it a go.

The Challenge: I wanted the project to be a secret, but my son knew I was working on something. It reminded me of when my dad made me a dollhouse for Christmas, but he convinced me it was for his trains so I wouldn’t know it was for me (I was pretty gullible at 5 yrs old). My son was already in his teens, so I had to work in the cold garage for hours and hide the work so he wouldn’t see it. I wanted the final product to have more detail than the original post I was inspired by. I wanted to try some carving and playing with light, but was also under a firm deadline.

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, Return of the Jedi

The Result: 

How I did it: 

• select 1/2′ x 4×4 mdf (medium density fibreboard)
• cut large circle using jigsaw
• make french cleat at the widest part of the piece so that it will be stable and the centre shelf is supported
• determine where remaining shelves will be located and cut to size
• massacre edges using jig saw and Dremel
• install shelves
• spray paint/airbrush
• install led lights. I like that these offer different colours

Lessons Learned: 

1. Sawing a large circle is not easy! I made a jig for my jigsaw but still did not get a perfect circle.  Thankfully I positioned it so the imperfect curves were on the side I would be carving into. 

2. I wanted to do something cool with the Death Star’s “eye,” but the fine detail I tried didn’t let much light through. I abandoned my plan and made a circle cutout. Simple sometimes ends up being better.

3. I thought about putting a sticky surface on the shelves so that the figures wouldn’t fall off, but it wasn’t necessary

4. I tried airbrushing for the first time with this project. Fortunately, I got the effect I wanted. I didn’t want too much detail, which could distract from the figures displayed. I was going for more of a general “feeling” (which also helps to temper my perfectionistic tendencies).

I’m happy with how it all came together, and my son thought it was pretty cool. Please share comments or suggestions!