The Respirator

The main part that makes up the respirator unit of the Tusken Raider seems to be made from a 7.5 cm (3 inches) wide metal cylinder of some sort. Some people speculate that it's a 19070's aresol can (possibly two WD-40 cans stuck together.)
For our respirator we used a large fuel filter we found at our local Autoparts Store.

If you ever find out what the original Lucas part was created from... please email us and tell us. We'd really appreciate it.

We used some small brass water pipe fittings for the coupling links on the respirator. The original Lucas costume used aluminum looking ones... but I couldn't find any. Darn. Brass it is.

For the respirator tube I used a 1/4 inch solid aluminium rod from the hardware store. I used to use hollow Fuel Line from cars for the rod, but the hollow center caused "crimping" while bending the tube. Thank the guys from www.suessnavy.com/Monkeyinthedryer.com for the "solid rod" advice. (grin)

We'll push the rod through the center of the fuel filter. You'll need to drill a hole through the retaining wall of the filter.

OOOOOOOOooooo... Ahhhhh... Beautiful fuel filter......

... With a hole in it now! I guess it won't work to properly on an engine anymore.... guess we'll have to make a respirator out of it! (grin).

I cut my steel rod about 24 inches (28cm) long. The rod might need to be longer for you if you have a thick neck, but probably no longer than 28 inches.

Slide the rod through the fuel filter and then slide the brass couplings onto both ends of the filter. make sure the rod is of equal length coming out both ends and then bend one end of the rod to a 90 degree angle.

Now bend the other side of the rod at a 90 degree angle. Make sure both bends are facing the same direction when your finished.

Now lets bend the rod just slightly going away from the 90 degree bends we just made.

Come up a few inches and do another bend in the opposite direction of the other bends you just made. These bends will serve as the curve in the shoulders.

Now we'll bend the steel rod so that it wraps around the neck of the Tusken raider. Notice how I was bending to fast in showing you guys how to do this stuff and I crimped the rod in places. A smooth curve is desired over this crimped look.

Here's a shot of the neck curve versus the straight line before the bends were put in place.

The final product. Now all that is needed is to wrap a strip of leather around the fuel filter and cement/superglue it down.





   -end