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Adam Savage Stunned By This Metal AT-AT Walker Stop-Motion Armature!
Technology
Adam Savage’s Tested

Adam Savage Stunned By This Metal AT-AT Walker Stop-Motion Armature!

⏱ 20 min video · 2 min read29 May 2026Worth watching
TL;DR
Adam Savage meets Felix and Bjorn, who have spent roughly 10 years building a studio-scale metal armature replica of the ILM AT-AT walker from The Empire Strikes Back. The video covers their photogrammetry-based research process, manufacturing challenges, and a hands-on examination of the replica with Adam.
Key points
1
The team used photogrammetry to generate a 3D reference model from archival photos, ultimately landing within 1mm of the original dimensions confirmed by ILM machinist Tom, who still had an original leg.
2
The replica is all imperial measurements — once the team realized this, standard nominal imperial dimensions (1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, 3/16 inch) made everything fall into place.
3
The original ILM armatures had secondary motion built in: pistons and hip-break elements move automatically as the leg is posed, so animators did not have to set every joint independently per frame.
4
The neck joint design traces back to Willis O'Brien's King Kong armature from the 1920s and is still used by Phil Tippett today — a over-100-year-old engineering solution still in active use.
5
Only three full AT-AT walker armatures were built for The Empire Strikes Back (plus one prototype), with ILM machinist Tom spending approximately three months machining all the parts.
Actionable insights
When reverse-engineering vintage practical effects models, research the historical context of where they were built — ILM working in the US in the late 1970s means imperial measurements, and matching nominal imperial standards unlocks accurate dimensions quickly.
Photogrammetry software can generate a usable 3D reference model from a quality set of archival photos, removing the need for direct physical access to the original object.
If you need two of something in a fabrication project, start by making five — attrition from errors and breakage is predictable, and having spares protects the group from total loss.
Notable quotes

I often think sometimes when I meet the people who made the things I have spent a ton of time replicating, the first thing I want them to understand is just how nuts I am.

You are crazy, and I mean that as a high compliment.

No one would take the amount of time for either of those movies to do those effects in those ludicrously expensive ways.

Worth watching?
Worth watching the full video?
Watch if you want to see the actual replica up close and hear Adam and the builders discuss the engineering details — the hands-on inspection and the story of meeting the original ILM machinist are genuinely compelling moments not fully captured in text.
Topics
TechnologyStar Wars

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