Star Wars Wax Figures and Costume Displays for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Madame Tussauds wax museum style statue of Samuel L Jackson
Each custom mannequin was made to fit a specific original screen-used costume, chosen by George Lucas for the "Star Wars in Motion" Exhibit!
Wax museum style sculpture of Mace Windu from Star Wars
hyper realistic silicone bust with hand punched eyebrows and acrylic eyes
For hyper realism the Mace Windu figure was completed with custom made acrylic eyes, and hand punched eyebrows and hand applied lashes
Young Anakin Skywalker statue that looks alive
Our custom Anakin figure not only needed to fit the screen used costume and helmet but it also needed to fit into his original screen used podracer
Real-looking wax figure of young Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Episode 1
Replica likeness busts of Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace
We created a pair of Anakin figures; one for a screen used pod racer and one for a screen used Naboo Starfighter
Life size diorama of Endor speeder bike chase scene from Return of the Jedi
1:1 Scale hyper-realistic statur of Princess Leir on Endor in ROTJ
Wax museum figure of Carrie Fisher made of silicone
Custom display mannequin for screen used costume
A custom mount was created to safely display a original Scout Trooper costume while protecting a screen used Speeder Bike from the weight of the figure.
Life-size Luke Skywalker statue with Tattooine landspeeder
Since Luke's original 1977 costume was not in the museum's archives, we were commissioned to create a highly accurate replica, in addition to the realistic figure!
Life-like statue of Mark Hamil as Luke Skywalker
Highly accurate replica of Luke Skywalker costume from Star Wars
Hyper realistic bust of Mark Hamil from Star Wars 1977
Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor costume displays
We worked closely with the museum team, using 3D scanning and blueprints to match our figures to the interiors and controls of the cockpits and seats!
Madame Tussauds wax museum style figures of Anakin and Obi-Wan
silicone figure with hand punched hair and acrylic eyes
Hand-punching, a technique where hairs are inserted one at a time was used to add realistic eyebrows, eyelashes, and even Obi Wan's beard and Anakin's hair!
1:1 statue of Ray Park as Darth Maul in a wax museum style
Scaled sculpted resin figure of Ray Park as Darth Maul on Tatooine
1:3 scale statue of Darth Maul on Sith Speeder
Lead digital sculptor, Christian Maggi (pictured), along with ILM model-maker, John Goodson brought original concept sketches to life with a scaled model of Darth Maul on his Sith Speeder
Madame Tussauds style wax figure of Zam Wesell
Bounty hunter Zam Wesell from episode 2 attack of the clones
The Zam Wesell figure was created to sit in her screen used speeder from the iconic chase in Attack of the Clones
Hyper realistic wax figure Zam Wesell from Star Wars
Life-like wax figure of Princess Leia from Star Wars
Replica human statue of Carrie Fisher
Realistic silicone life-like statures of Star Wars characters
For each figure no detail was too small, right down to the hands and nails! All were hand painted and realistically finished!
Original screen used Cowardly Lion costume from MGM's The Wizard of Oz
Replica head of Bert Larh as the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz
Custom display for original screen used movie costume
Lead Project Coordinator, Christine Richter takes a moment to see her old friend the Cowardly Lion in his new home!
Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts in Los Angeles

Wax-Style Figures and More for The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The Tom Spina Designs team was honored to create custom life-sized figures and other elements for the Star Wars in Motion inaugural exhibit at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.  Our work on this over-one-year-long project spanned the challenges of hyper-realistic wax-style figures, costume displays with complicated dressing needs and figures that needed to securely integrate with vehicles that were 3000 miles from our studio.

Every pose, facial expression and likeness was carefully crafted to match the discerning vision of museum founder, George Lucas, who also set hyperrealism as the direction for the look of these figures. This meant that any character with an exposed face would be created with silicone, the current state of the art for wax museum-type realism.

For the head sculptures, we leaned heavily on our studio’s experience with 3D technology, which allowed for faster incorporation of client notes and changes and helped make the best use of budget and time. This also allowed us to send printed model heads to our clients so they could directly handle and look at sculptures for approvals, rather than depending on photos.

Mannequin work was a practical affair. Specialty fabrication included sculpted fiberglass and poseable soft-foam with welded elements and mounts made to secure the figures in the museum’s tableaus. We worked closely with the museum team, using 3D scanning and blueprints to match our figures to the interiors and controls of the cockpits and seats of the many vehicles in this motion-themed exhibit.

Each of the mannequins were custom sculpted for proper fit and drape of the original screen-used costumes worn in the films. For Luke Skywalker, whose original 1977 costume was not in the museum’s archives, we were commissioned to create a carefully aged faithful replica of the original costume Mark Hamill wore in the film.

In all, our studio worked on 11 hyper-realistic silicone characters and 2 additional custom mannequins. One was created to fit an original Imperial Scout Trooper costume and securely “ride” a speederbike.

The final figure was a complex custom mannequin, made to properly support and allow safe dressing of the fragile, heavy and valuable original Bert Lahr Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz.

In addition to that figurative and costume work, our crew also created a 1/3rd scale Darth Maul with billowing cloak to integrate with a Sith Speeder model built by ILM model-maker, John Goodson.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime project for our studio and we’re thrilled to finally share this work.

Project Credits

Tom Spina Designs in-house studio leads:

Tom Spina – Project Lead
Robb De Nicola – Character and Likeness Supervisor
Christine Richter – Lead Project Coordinator, specialty crating.

Custom Mannequins and figures:

Christian Maggi – Lead digital sculptor and digital molds
Philip Robinson – Darth Maul head sculpt
Nick Marra – Additional traditional sculpting

Rich Krusell – Lead head and hand painter, silicone casting and seaming
Melissa Ocampo – lead painter life-sized Darth Maul

Samantha Martino – Lead stylist and finishing, hair punching, additional silicone casting, seaming and paint.
Cate Broomhead – Custom wig fabrication
Maria Teran Medina – Hair punching

Patrick Louie – Custom mannequin and specialty fabrication
Pierre Briel – Custom mannequin, fabrication and welding
Matthew Beagan – Fiberglass mannequin fabrication, additional silicone casting and seaming

Gordon Tarpley – Cockpit and speederbike 1:1 mockups, mannequin fabrication
Daniel Flaherty and Max Frey – Mold preparation, 3D printing, prep and clean-up.

Scaled Darth Maul Model:
Sculpt by Christian Maggi, 3D print and prep by Daniel Flaherty. Assembly by Patrick Louie, Matthew Beagan, Max Frey and Gordon Tarpley. Paint by Sam Martino.

Luke Skywalker costume reproduction:
Costume, belt and boots patterns and fabrication by Adam Karolian. Distressing and aging by Patrick Louie and Max Frey.

Special thanks to additional TSD team members Mykaleah Young, Daisy Julca, Katie Batho, Ross Raniere, Tracey Halfpenny. As well as the teams at Tech Optics for their wonderful eyes and Marshall Fine Arts for their secure art storage, delivery and support through this project!

Contact Us Today!

Need custom statues, mannequins or costumes for your displays? Email or call today and let’s discuss your project!

 

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