Star Wars Mobile Control System
Transport Case -
Problem Solving - Wheel Base
Problem Solving: Why Wheels?
It quickly became apparent as the prop was developed that its was heavy, and fragile and awkward thus not easy to move by hand or in a bag.
A transport crate became the obvious choice made to look like it fitted the Star Wars Universe.
In the Star Wars universe these would hover floating with the use of anti-gravity repulsorlift technology. Unfortunately, this technology does not exist in real life.
Hover crafts would need a skirt, be loud and frankly it’s too heavy and there is not the room for the motor and equipment in the crate.
Likewise drone like thrusters would not work either and cannot do any form of jet engines.
Super magnets would be heavy, extremely expensive and only works with a suitable ground plate, not to mention there is a likely hood of the heavy box being turning into a projectile if the polarity is not balanced potentially causing injury.
A crane like rig could work for filming in a set location with cables removed in post, but very expensive and impossible to take to interviews , film and TV job fairs and events.
That’s left wheels. In fact, wheels were used in the early films hidden by mirror surfaces under the prop hiding the wheels and reflecting the surroundings which could appear to hover.
Useless Built In Wheels
The wheels that came inbuilt on the trunk were next to useless. They were hollow, made from the same material as the trunk, a hard very thin, 2-part plastic shell. This had:
- No Grip.
- No Cushioning
- No Rotation Ability
- No Bearings
- No Axle
- Too Low to the Ground
- No Control or Steering System like Handles
- Most Importantly Next to No Ground Clearance or Suspension.
These problems became apparent when I took the prop when not quite done to the Autumn 2024 Film and TV Job Fair.
- Taking the prop out of the car in the car park demonstrated the lack of ground clearance. It only had 10 mm with the prop scraping on the uneven floor.
- This works on flat concrete or lino, but nothing uneven like paving stones, tarmac, potholes, broken tiles, curbs, steps etc which all features on the 100m from the car to the event hall.
- The lack of bearings and axles also made the wheels sticky which on top of the near zero ground clearance made the prop hard to move.
- As the wheels were embedded in slots in the prop, they could not turn which made manoeuvring difficult.
- Lack of a handle also hampered the control and manoeuvring.
- The low hight of the prop 50cm, also made pushing it uncomfortable and sore back inducing even for a short Ewok or Jawa
- Lack of rubber wheels and suspension slowed down the handling, speed and resulting in lots of shaking making control harder.
What was needed were :
- Large Fat Pneumatic Caster Wheels, with Deep Grip for Off Road
- Smooth Loose Bearings
- Break leavers
- Some Form of Dampening Suspension
Typical Casters - Rejected
Typical office and home furniture caster wheels are small hard plastic or rubber with often a diameter around 5cm or less.
These are the ones I found best suited. Heavy duty and meant for off road. The only issue was they are somewhat heavy which adds to the overall weight for when its necessary to carry the prop such as on stairs or over obstacles.
Chosen Casters
These are the ones I found best suited. Each of the wheels rated to hold 70kg each and providing as ground clearance of 125mm. Heavy duty and meant for off road with wide grippy rubber wheels and one pair of them having breaks, useful on sloped pavements. The only issue was they are somewhat heavy which adds to the overall weight for when its necessary to carry the prop such as on stairs or over obstacles.
Problem Solving the Wheel Connection
The next problem to deal with was how to connect the castors given that the underside of the truck was not designed for it.
The underside was very thin, flat plastic uneven with lots of hexagonal hollows. Not a suitable structure to focus the prop weight on as the caster could break through.
The heaxagonal gaps could not hold bolts and left things unbalanced.

My first attempt to problem solve this was to use some left-over panels. Given my success with oak wood panels to upgrade the wings, this was my first choice. The amount of my left-over material was too small to make load spreading panels.
The next option was to try larger panels out of some bamboo panelling I had left over.
I found this prone to splitting especially when there was no support with the hexagonal gaps.
Option 3 was to plug the gapes under the base with a 5mm sheet of Plastzote foam. to flatten the base
Over this was another 10 mm thick sheet of Plastazote foam to act as a shock absorbing suspension layer.
Over this I got a sheet of 6mm plywood the size of the whole base to spread the weigh over the whole base.
This was then carved with slots for the old wheels and factor in the oval shape of the of the trunk and the slope on the base.
Bolts were used to connect the caster so they could be easy to remove rather than rivets
As bolts they move could up and down with the foam compressing providing shock absorbing suspension not available if I just used the board.
