Adam Savage Uncovers Star Wars Molds He Made 20 Years Ago!

[@tested]

Examine the scans of Adam's Y-Wing molds here: www.lumafield.com/article/recovering-star-wars-history-with-adam-savage Check out Lumafield's scan of the month exploring 3D printing here: www.scanofthemonth.com/scans/3d-printing

[@Daniel-Strain]

Too combat the density issue, why not scan an opened mold?

[@Prophes0r]

@@Daniel-Strain Because the mold needs to be a single piece for dimensional stability. The two halves support each other. A better solution is to fill the mold with a contrast agent. This is already done in some industries. I've seen iodine infused gelatin suggested. You could also dust the inside with a high-density powder to increase contrast. Or paint on a powder infused soft-wax.

[@eddjordan2399]

if i fit yes indeed.

[@baskkev7459]

Adam have you ever seen the videos from ec Henry. Trying to recreate old star wars back ground ships?

[@BretWrightSTUFF]

I’m watching how he whorls the program without a mouse!!

[@lumafield]

Thanks for letting us scan these molds, Adam! What a cool piece of Star Wars history. It's amazing how much the prototyping and development process has changed since the early 2000s with the spread of 3D printing.

[@wobblysauce]

There would be a nice list of moulds people would love to scan again

[@TesserId]

So cool you guys are doing vids together. We're loving this stuff.

[@gexploits]

This was really really interesting to watch! thanks to both Lumafield and Tested for putting this together. Great partnership

[@Prophes0r]

Why not use a contrast agent? You could dust the inside with powdered high-density metal. Or make a paste with it using something water soluble (gelatin?). Or, as others have commented, used gelatin with another x-ray blocking additive like iodine that can then be washed out.

[@rouleauluthier]

So amazing! 3D scanning is slowly taking its place into violin making and restauration. This would also make another interresting topic.

[@TeddyBerry]

I've said it before, and I will happily say it again and again and again. The world needs an Adam Savage museum or showcase. Adam is just so filled to the brim with knowledge that needs to be taught and experienced by any upcoming generations.

[@TvTink]

It's just his personality that's interesting

[@TeddyBerry]

@@TvTink Just seems like low quality troll bait. But you really believe that Adam doesn't possess any skills or knowledge that could be interesting to pass onto other people? Sound very close-minded...

[@daksmith1216]

@@TeddyBerry I would say there’s a plethora of people out there with Adam’s knowledge and many that know much of it better. The main thing though is that Adam is both willing to share and very effective at communicating it. I’m just this video for example the Lumafield rep is much more knowledgeable about the processes he used but Adam is really good at asking the right questions and translating it into something more understandable. In a sense this channel though is exactly what you’re asking for and as long as these videos exist there is an incredible archive of the things Adam knows and is learning.

[@TvTink]

@@TeddyBerry yet you haven't named any

[@TvTink]

@@TeddyBerry and someone disagreeing with you doesn't automatically make them a troll

[@bazzatron9482]

Watching two professionals in different fields collaborate like this really gets me hyped. I'm certain that the pair of them forgot about the camera after the first couple of questions to each other. You big nerds. I freaking love you all.

[@tested]

Thank you for this comment. We really appreciate your taking the time!

[@bazzatron9482]

@@tested Not at all. Thank you for continually raising the bar on yourselves and this kind of content. You're a continual service to not only entertainment, but makers around the world. Thanks to everyone at Tested for being such a huge inspiration. 💚

[@olezant7357]

I've worked with molds of dinosaur bones in a museum of which the originals weren't accessible anymore. But the molds were old and very brittle. This is such a clever way to apply CT scanning and reuse the molds!

[@lumafield]

Thanks! We'd love to try scanning a dinosaur bone.

[@jamesmaybrick2001]

@@lumafield Ammonite/nautilus fossils with all the chambers inside would be pretty cool. Probably a lot easier to get a hold of.

[@theothertonydutch]

I used to make those! I worked as a moldmaker and wax-prepper for a year. After the place closed down there was a charity sale and I got my hands on some museum grade stuff. Replicas of ancient egyptian and japanese art as well as a pterodactyl fossil replica. They were so good that it even fools experts.

[@mizarare]

All I remember was the smell 😅

[@3nertia]

@@lumafield I love that y'all are just some nerds in a lab, playing with cool tech :D

[@dccinematicarts]

Jon is a great communicator not only of his own craft, but also asking interesting questions of Adam too. Such an enjoyable video - many thanks!

[@lumafield]

You're very kind; we'll pass along your comment!

[@ArdentObserver]

I love how they are both educating each other in their respective fields. This was a cool look into history :)

[@Ghilliedude3]

Holy shit, after looking up the exact toy, this was my Star Wars toy growing up. I loved the pull out engine and droid. I can’t believe it was sculpted by Adam, who was also one of my favorite personalities growing up.

[@meepmorprobotcaptain]

Can you share the model number or info? I would absolutely love to own one of these, knowing exactly who made it

[@coreyisenor]

This kind of video is exactly why I love Tested. The combination of technique & historical process education, paired with the modern tech of CT scanning and 3D printing, is beautifully eye opening to how humans learn/design/build and share information.

[@blaineishere3851]

as an action fleet collector myself, it's amazing to see this unreleased piece being archived in such a detailed way! especially one sculpted by yourself!

[@frigginresulrum]

That's wild. The Action Fleet Y-wing is to this day one of my favorite star wars toys. Thanks, Adam!

[@mdkultra6879]

So, I used to do this (the CT work). It's tremendously cool, and here's some further technical explanation for anyone who wants it: If you notice, he puts the mold inside the uCT at an angle. The reason for this is that rather than a medical CT (which uses a fan-beam and scans a 2D stack), micro-CT's use a cone-beam(CBCT). When you use a cone beam, the X-rays actually have to travel through marginally more air the farther away from the center of the cone you are, which can introduce geometric artifact in cylindrical or symmetric samples because the image processing algorithm does not know the path the x-rays took to the detector panel, only that they arrived with a certain energy. To avoid this, you tilt those samples so that there aren't "invisible" regions that the X-rays have to travel through.

[@bennyfactor]

This video made a left turn about 5 minutes in and I would have never expected it. So cool!

[@stefandlucas]

Savage conserving his "this sucks" feeling for the replica is obvious.ä and shows what a fine person he is and how new tech has a way to go still to catch up.

[@The_Cyberz]

It’s so enjoyable watching two knowledgeable people learning from each other. This is the way.

[@lumafield]

It's always fun to learn from Adam!

[@FlamingGiant575]

I love how this isn't as much of an interview as it is a conversation. Both these men revere the other for their skills, and they each ask questions, comment, explain processes and thought processes, and are actively interested and both learning from the other. They have skill sets that are complimentary, but divergent, and it's beautiful for me to watch these two opposing minds bridge the gaps for one another.

[@MrClaypogue]

Sounds like Adam just gave them an Absorbent amount of new work!!! GJ ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@TheMokeleMbembe]

I have this toy - it was so cool to discover WHO was making these things, years later. I always wondered, as a kid, about how the details were studied, how accurate they were to the ships in the movies, etc.

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

Do you have a link to a photo of it? I can't seem to find it on Google.

[@donfisherjr.2404]

So cool! As a former kit-bashing modelmaker of Star Wars vehicles for my own mini-movies, I love Adam's insights and enthusiasm as a modelmaker. Thank you Adam for revealing more tricks of the trade!

[@MrPaleonerd]

I'm a Paleontologist, and we use this same technology to image fossils (or parts of fossils) that we can't safely extract from the surrounding rock!

[@EnigmaticPenguin]

I had this Y-wing when I was a kid and it was one of my favourite toys. I still have it for my daughter when she's a bit older.

[@Daniel-Strain]

Wow. The ability to make new positives off of a scan of an otherwise-too-old original mold. Incredible.

[@magpieMOB]

This was a fantastic video, so well explained and I loved the rapport between Adam and Jon was so engaging and full of infectious enthusiasm! Not long ago I had to bring an old mould out of retirement and sacrifice it for one last casting, definitely gave me pause

[@brianboles7900]

I had that Galoob Y-Wing when I was a kid! I always loved looking at all the greebles and details on it. Had no idea Adam was a part of that toy!

[@timeverhartofficial]

Adam you need to get studios to take the molds and have them scanned. I would love to see foam latex items that have been lost to time and remade with scans from the old molds.

[@marcpaters0n]

This is just superb. They can essentially print the empty space in the centre of a mould. 🤯

[@CrucibleMediaLabs]

And you can do the reverse-most 3D print slicers have a mold function that will invert the model being printed, and then after some finishing work you can cast the object in whatever you'd like. Or, you can print the model itself and make a ceramic mold of that, melt away the plastic, and then cast in metal. 3D printing really has revolutionized the maker space, far more than just being able to recreate knick-knacks in PLA.

[@corrinastanley125]

Great show and tell interview, and I love that the guest asked really interesting questions to Adam too.

[@gregorysharp]

Adam is so humble. He downplays how brilliant he is not to intimidate. ❤

[@PianosAndLightsabers]

I still haven't finished the video but I wanted to exclaim how cool this is! Thank you for sharing - I haven't learned to 3D model, and only just started to teach myself casting with some help from a friend in AU who worked on Ep 2 and 3.... this is so cool to see. The wrap around pour is genius!

[@GrumpyGrobbyGamer]

REALLY interesting topic and I love to hear you talking about it spontaneously with someone.

[@peckenstein]

This is exciting as it takes preservation to a whole new level!

[@aurorathearcticwolf4243]

the fact that he keeps a Mythbusters sign on the wall makes me happy to have been around for those days! and this model making process has changed so much over the past 2 decades that its hard to believe that it went from custom silicon molds to 3D printing so fast

[@RichardGQue]

these Lumafield videos are always great.

[@lumafield]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying them.

[@neilsutcliffe5825]

I find myself looking at my model kit molds, thinking about how they go about creating the gates, yet filling everything, and how it has to seperate into 2+ pieces. It's always interesting to see the compromises that have to be made after thinking about how things are made. Especially with model kits where certain molds are designed to be reusued by multiple SKUs. Gunpla!

[@SLDFSpectreSix]

I had a Galoob Y-Wing when I was younger. It was probably my favorite toy growing up, and it was lost during a move from one house to another. It's awesome to know you had a hand in making it.

[@matthewcoleman8267]

Fascinating to see the inside of the the mold when it's closed up

[@lorawaring883]

"scanned from the void" magic.

[@nathancaudill-rakes7600]

This was awesome to see. Especially because the Y-Wing is my favorite ship from Star Wars

[@jackacebedo2318]

Love checking this stuff out. The Y-wing is my favorite Star Wars ship so getting to see this was really neat.

[@ApexBovine]

seeing two professionals in their fields talking shop is a marvelous thing.

[@jordanbellamy6993]

Fab Video, on my current project i’ve actually gone back to hand sculpting/ texturing the sculpt, moulding & resin casting, after relying on 3d printing for past 4yrs or so, i got to the point of where i got fed up on waiting of people 3d modelling, time for prints to arrive, just to find they wouldn’t work or were broken or wrong etc i’ve really enjoyed the little parts i’m working on, using the old methods. right now.

[@seabeepirate]

So cool. I love seeing how tech is changing the world.

[@puupipo]

Loving these collaborations with Lumafield!

[@tested]

Thank you! We’re having a whole lot of fun with them!

[@TheWadetube]

It's always a joy to se Adam get excited over technology or art.

[@joshuamartin7756]

It's awesome to see Adam discovering something that I work with in my lab! Micro CT is such an amazing technology for both basic science and engineering.

[@foosbabaganoosh1]

This is absolutely insane, I'm blown away by this technology.

[@chestercallahan8856]

This was absolutely fascinating!

[@3nertia]

I love how Jon seems just as excited as Adam

[@daltongrowley5280]

I could listen to these two talk for hours

[@samuelling2998]

I owned one of these as a kid! Wild to think that something I used to play with came from something that came out of this very mold!

[@funoff3207]

You missed the bit where he explained his moulds were never produced

[@SaturnCanuck]

That was amazing. For the record the Y-Wing is one of my favourite Star Wars ships and I have one of your Galoob Y-Wings, proudly on my shelf. Thanks Adam!

[@funoff3207]

They didn't use his prototypes

[@whatacrazzydude]

Thank you for that video! I'm an old- school mold maker, too and seeing your molds for the Y Wing is great! I used a straight blade when I cut the silicone, making V shapes. I always wanted to build for movies.

[@AstroBananna]

Found this very entertaining and enjoyable to watch

[@garthor]

At about 7:46 you're talking about the densities of the silicone, and now I'm really curious what a fresh casting would look like, and how it would differ from this casting... devoid the various passage of time and entropy.

[@chuxmix65]

Didn't expect a physics lesson today. Always grateful when the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements enters the chat! The resolution and the subtlety of the scans was amazing! I would have liked to hear more about why the scanned images have different colors and aren't monochrome.

[@leemarsh3569]

Cool, I love these model making videos 😊

[@lazyhominid]

Loved this episode. Excellent explanations of what happened, and love to see your models. Now I want to 3D print your Y wing.

[@tzxazrael]

wow! just imagine how many "lost forever, we just can't make any more casts from this" molds of... well, all kinds of things.... that could be restored if this became quite widely known.

[@mustang_orbit170]

Thanks. I always liked the Star Wars Galoob Action Fleet line for the scale/detail/features and sturdiness. After seeing this video, I appreciate them more.

[@Bakamoichigei]

As someone who very recently made 3D prints of STLs he extracted from his own abdominal CT scan, I'm laughing my ass off that that's the method which was used to scan the molds. 😂 With all the available methods of 3D scanning I never would've guessed, but it's such an obvious choice!

[@DaRadicalCavy]

This is just incredible and I really hope that we see this tech used ASAP in preservation efforts. We as a society are far to casual about loosing things that play such a huge part of our culture and this could really make quite an impact in the preservation field.

[@samtheweebo]

Ah the action fleet Y wing. I loved this toy as a kid! Thanks for making it

[@MrChief101]

My mind is boggled. Way too much fun.

[@Codex_of_Wisdom]

So many possibilities with this tech! And the opportunities to hybridize old model-making with new tech could be interesting, too.

[@jaypockets]

Wow, Jon is so well spoken and knowledgeable. Great video, incredibly engaging

[@Rigel_Chiokis]

Wow, I love learning about things like this.

[@pumirya]

Those are some pretty cool models. Thank you so much for sharing them with us.

[@KevinBYee]

This was such an interesting conversation. Adam should definitely pursue this and have Jon back... two great communicators and thinkers just checking out scans of cool stuff... I'd watch

[@beavismount]

NPR had a new spot today called Weekly Dose of Wonder, saying that experiencing wonder is good for mental health. I saw that wonder in Adam as he was explained how 3d scanning and printing are used in the dental industry.

[@Del129]

This is so cool! I actually owned the Action Fleet Y-wing that was based on that mold as a kid.

[@funoff3207]

The action fleet models weren't true scale like Adams shown here. He says his prototypes were never used and this y wing here was just for him

[@badassmotha2k]

It’s kind of tripping me out that Adam Savage made the Y-Wing I’ve had since I was a kid. I love it.

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

Excellent job ❤

[@oskeewootwoot]

I'm just realizing that friends and family of Adam Savage could potentially, on a birthday or at Christmas, receive a one of a kind Star Wars toy or replica that's film quality and really special. I don't know if he's ever done that or not but it's cool to just think about!

[@bpwilding]

As always, thank you for the positive in the midst of madness

[@patrickyork2975]

This is so cool. I've made these molds before from a hand modeled master and yes they are really only good for so many casts. That being said even the master modeled object pending on it's material is only good to make so many molds from it. I now also have moved to 3d modeling and have both a FDM and Resin printer at home. This is a fantastic way to revive old model molds if you no longer have a master anymore. And on the flip side we have the lidar to make a model of masters. Once in the computer you can clean things up and modify. I love it!!!

[@scottstewart3884]

That was really cool! One question though Adam, Since you still have an Original casting from that mold, that has not been taken apart from its sprue, could you not use that as a "New master" to make a new mold from?

[@Thewall6110]

I second this

[@funoff3207]

I kept thinking this the whole way, just recast it 🤷‍♂️

[@ryanosmond170]

That’s way to cool. Think of Al those molds from so many props and models that could be brought back to life if you had access to them

[@kevinmccarthy2793]

Very interesting. I just saw my doctors office had one of these small CT scanners. According to them, the shots that they need to take would take about 30 seconds. It was amazing and seeing this is really impressive.

[@zid_just_zid]

Every vid featuring those scanners is amazing, very interesting to see :) I did some mold making back 20 or so years ago, then putting a model into silicone, now im experimenting with doing the "reverse" using 3d printing. I have the model i want to get out and designing the two mold halves with half the model sticking out of each, pouring gates, vents, keys and an outline/mold box integrated, hoping i can just pouring silicone into those in order to get finished mold halves that in theory should line up. Im hoping it works because if it does ill have cut down some of the messy, fiddly and time consuming part of the mold making process a bit Doing it in 3d, printing, pouring in silicone, wating a bit and it should be ready for mold release and casting, in pewter for this experiment.

[@ivantheterrible2796]

Awesome, eye opening video!

[@ToddTevlin]

That was freaking amazing. I love that tech!

[@paulmacdonald5135]

Very nice models and all other things you have made

[@nathkrupa3463]

Nice information sir. Adam sir you are awesome

[@corhellion]

You can definitely see the genesis between the prototype that Adam made to the final Action Fleet (Pretty sure it'd be action fleet, scale is right, and that canopy is pretty much the final look of it) It's just a bit more bulky on the final model because they had to cut out sections for play, such as the R4 unit, screw holes, cockpit, the pop out engine section and the landing gear.

[@richuar]

Are you sure of the year you made this? The galoob y-wing, tie interceptor and snowspeeder all came out in 1996…time flies I guess! (Edit: oh wow, just realised this is one of the lost prototypes that never made it to production isn’t it! Shame as it looks much more accurate than the 96 version it was going to replace!) As a professional modelmaker that’s worked on similar toy prototyping projects myself (Star Trek, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf etc etc) I can relate to everything you said about never getting around to finishing the ones for yourself, I do have a lot of very similar old silicone moulds in my garage though!

[@G3PWP]

WOW Adam I print 3D so lots of fun here in my workshop in Stoke on Trent but that method of scanning then converting to STL is fabtastic

[@jamescombridgeart]

Duuuude I got the Y wing and my brother got the snow speeder one christmas growing up. This Y wing is super recognizable! Also this method of object scanning is crazy detailed & awesome

[@scottderyck1467]

I had to look up esoteric!... and I agree as a machinist approaching 40 years of experience in automation and injection molding fields, I feel esoteric. This "esoteric" methodology would be a great one day build. nothing to detailed so as to be timely but starting from a block of raw material, including the shrinkage issues and parting line determinations, materials used and sources for. etc... and if you have already done so, please point me to that video I agree with the guy below, Adam Savage with his generosities of methodologies, deserves a museum of sorts. Ya think KZbin videos are museumish of sorts??

[@clambosfishingandexploring6379]

Please do a one day build of the 3D printed Y-Wing!

[@olofj8189]

Great stuff Adam

[@dingodango1]

This guy sounds like the Ben Clymer of CT scans. I could listen to him speak about his process all day long.

[@lumafield]

😁Thanks--we'll pass along your feedback!

[@dingodango1]

@@lumafield let him know!

[@Goatee_yay]

We've worked together for many years. I enjoy listening to him talk about anything.

[@JMChladek]

I recall the first time I played with silicone RTV and resin for replicating model parts, which was 1994-95. Indeed the molds did have a bit of a use life and shelf life. Now some might ask why not just scan the resin part and not the mold. As I understand it, there is about a 1 to 2% shrinkage rate of the casted part versus the original. So scanning the mold instead of a casting from it would preserve as close to full size as possible. As far as dentistry goes, two crowns in my mouth were created thanks to 3D topographic scans of the teeth capped, both before the grinding and after. That ensured a perfect fit of the temporary crown while the permanent one was being made. Not cheap, but cool to see and do. Thanks Adam!

[@CornerCaseStudio]

I was a TSA baggage scanner way back in 2002. Even then we had CT scanners (at least at the SLC airport). Top-down 2D Xrays were used at the checkpoints for carry-on, but larger baggage went through the CT scanner before it went into the belly of the aircraft.

[@ed_halley]

Really surprised those rubber bands survived, if you didn't replace them. Love seeing these scans.

[@archivist17]

What a great insight into maker processes!

[@SeanBlader]

There's a bit of effort involved in orthodontic aligners between the impression to the 3d print of your next set of teeth, in that they have to take the CT scanned point cloud, identify individual teeth, and separate them out of the entire model so that each individual tooth can move to it's final destination, sometimes over a few hundred steps.

[@DevinGates]

My first thought on body noise is, certainly you can't make a model from the silicone but you could just pop them open and scan the halves. The only difficulty then is matching the two scans together. Jumps the scanning through the material problem, and maybe works with it for more detail?

[@lumafield]

You're right--that would probably be the best way to get a high-quality model; we wanted to challenge ourselves this time!

[@Prophes0r]

You could also use a "contrast agent" like you would in a medical scan. If you dusted the inside of the mold with a high-density powder it would be MUCH easier to scan.

[@someguy2885]

I wonder if the flexibility of the mold would be an issue, given how floppy the halves are on their own. Could be why they kept the halves together and kept it wrapped in foam core

[@user-gk2cg2th9h]

It would be so cool if they preserved molds from movies and other things this way and then shared the files online for purchase!

[@LadyTea]

As a Cat scan tech... I wonder what the voxel fidelity is.... This is stuff I do everyday. but with the human body... this so fun.... btw think of these 3d scans like a stack of transparent paper... the photo is printed on each sheet x and Y. then those sheets are stacked to form the z axis or height.

[@H2G24life]

Helsinki (finland) already uses the CT lugage scanners, and Canada will in a few years. they are so cool!