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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
Saved you some time? The creator still deserves a like.
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