Behind the Scenes – Lifesized Tauntaun™ Bust


Feb 25th 2021

life-sized bust or statue of Luke Skywalker's tauntaun

Take a peek behind the scenes of our lifesized Tauntaun™ Bust!

“In a wonderful bit of movie magic, the tauntauns of Hoth™ were brought to life using amazingly fluid stop-motion miniature puppets and full-scale creature creations by one of my heroes, Stuart Freeborn, and his team. We’ve been very fortunate to spend countless hours with several of the original 1:1 tauntaun props and I’m excited to share that experience by way of this incredibly authentic life-sized bust that fans can now bring into their homes.” – Tom Spina (Regal Robot founder).

The 1:1 tauntaun creations made for the film trace directly back to legendary stop-motion animator and FX artist, Phil Tippett’s original concept sculpture (you can order our replica of that very tauntaun maquette sculpture here). While Tippett worked on the stop-motion puppets, a resin casting of the maquette was sent to the U.K. and used by Stuart Freeborn’s team as the main reference for their work creating life-sized tauntauns. Their work came to life in the form of giant puppets used for close-ups and interaction with the actors on location and in studio.

Many of the fx artists on our team worked very hard to create our replicas. Richard Riley and Ricky Vitus sculpted the head and horns in clay at full scale.  Samantha Martino created the eyes, teeth and tongue. Additional sculpting, fabrication, mold and cast work was done by Patrick Louie, Nate Hernandez and Marcus Loscalzo. Ricky and Nate also applied the hair and the detailed paint and styling was done by Tom Spina and Melissa Ocampo.

We’re offering two amazing variations of this custom, numbered edition and each is made-to-order in the U.S.A. and hand crafted by the FX artists in our New York studio.  Learn more below and thanks for reading!

We are Now Accepting Commissions on this Custom Creation!

Payment Plan Eligible – Click The Images For More Details or to Order

Custom Empire Strikes Back 1:1 tauntaun bust by Regal Robot
The face for our bust was originally sculpted by hand, in clay, side-by-side with a production casting for proper scaling and proportions.
tauntaun life-sized bust prop
Patrick Louie and Nate Hernandez at work in our mold and fabrication shop. Pat’s just finishing the sculpture for the neck of the beast.
tauntaun life-sized face prop
Each full scale tauntaun bust is painted by hand in our N.Y. studio.
Custom Empire Strikes Back 1:1 tauntaun bust by Regal Robot
Ricky Vitus applying hair to a nearly-completed tantaun bust. This shot really shows the immense size of this creature!
Custom Empire Strikes Back 1:1 tauntaun busts by Regal Robot
Choose from the “standard” style on the left, or the “deluxe” shown on the right with snow and reins

Star Wars decor by regal robot

And remember, we have a whole range of Star Wars inspired decor, furniture, and replica busts and characters – so explore the site and see what else we may have to add character to your space!

© & ™ Lucasfilm LTD.

 

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