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The project has taken four years so far, but Baz estimates he’ll need at least one more to finish it. Photo: Builds by Baz.
Most people will leave their backyard projects at a slash and burn of the periwinkle, a new retaining wall, vegetable plot, and maybe even a pizza oven in their most ambitious moments.
Not so for Baz Am. The 52-year-old is constructing a life-size spaceship in his Canberra backyard, measuring 8.4 metres long and weighing close to a tonne.
Science-fiction buffs will recognise it as the Colonial Viper Mark II from the Battlestar Galactica series, the primary fighter spacecraft for the ‘good guys’.
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“It’s not really heavy; it’s just really big,” Baz says.
“You can sit in it, and there’s some interaction in the form of some buttons, lights and switches. There are turbine noises piped through big subwoofers to simulate the engine noise, and there are landing lights on the front.”
Baz started the build four years ago, and he estimates there is another year to go. He’s a busy man, with a full-time job and three kids, but he’s out in the shed whenever there’s a spare moment in the evening.
“It has to be skinned in fibreglass and then sanded and painted,” he says.
“I’m also thinking about putting a reaction-control system in it, which is what modern spacecraft use for changing direction and attitude, where there is a little burst coming out of a pressure tank somewhere.”
Like many big projects, Baz says it’s the finishing that takes the time, not the main bulk of the building. And he should know. The Colonial Viper MKII is far from his first project.
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Baz is probably most famous for his Ironman suit. He dons the astonishingly accurate metal clothes to bring smiles to charity fundraisers for Starlight Children’s Foundation, Rise Above Cancer Convoy and Ronald McDonald House.
“I’ve always been arty,” he says.
It all began when he worked as a ranger at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.
“During inclement weather, when everybody else would duck inside and hide, I would go into the workshop and weld together scrap bits of metal.”
Baz Am at the helm of his Colonial Viper MKII. Photo: Builds by Baz.
Baz is responsible for a lot of the steel artworks now erected around the national park.
“I did some wallabies, a large platypus, a snake, and a couple of chainsaw carvings around the place.”
Back at home, he would make knives as thank-you presents for those supporting his Ironman pursuits. This later landed him a job at a forge in Tharwa, making knives for a living. But he was ready for another project in his spare moments, and he turned to his youth for inspiration.
“We all grew up with certain things as kids, and I grew up with Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars,” he says.
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The challenging technical aspects of the Ironman suit attracted Baz to the project, and it was the same with the Colonial Viper.
“When the new series of Battlestar Galactica arrived in 2003, I was really impressed by the modern take on the Colonial Viper and the fact they had employed actual physics in space flight instead of the aerodynamic rubbish in Star Wars.”
It started as cardboard before Baz realised he needed something more serious and turned to his favourite building material – scraps.
“I welded together a metal frame, with plywood formers spaced to give shape and proportion,” he says.
The engine is an industrial BBQ rotisserie, hooked up to some bicycle gearing via homemade drive shafts, pulleys and belts.
“I’ve slowly been fitting out the inside with electronics screens and aircraft instruments after aviators from all over Australia have sent me broken and uncalibrated instruments.”
So, after all this, will it fly?
“That’s the number one question I get,” Baz laughs.
“Sure, in the real world, if you put enough propulsion in it, it would actually work.”
Ironman was on a mission to support sick kids, while Baz says the Colonial Viper is more a “52-year-old bloke in a shed being a nerd and having a good time”.
That said, between work and family commitments, he hopes it can make an appearance at children’s charities. But for this, he needs a trailer that can take the finished product.
Aviation companies from across Australia donated the switchgear. Photo: Builds by Baz.
“It could be someone’s old car trailer that’s no good anymore,” he says.
“I can fix it and modify it and put sides and a roof on it and all that.”
Come the day when it rolls out of the shed on three heavy-duty steel-framed dollies, Baz says he’ll settle down to smaller projects.
“You see people doing plastic model kits of cars, planes, and ships. I much prefer to build stuff from whatever I can find and do stuff that’s a little larger in scale,” he says.
“I was thinking about building a life-size Stargate out the front of the house, but my wife wouldn’t have it.”
Follow ‘Builds by Baz’ on Facebook or online.
Klynton Stephens thought this might have been you at first- you better up your game 🙂
is this you Ben Kirk ?
Canberra man gets bored. Gets a hobby. David Caton Nick Crossley
My son would love this. Where can we see this ?
Is he making the Number 6 too?
Adam Scott I can see you doing this in retirement lol
Daniel Zammit who said I’d wait for retirement?
Glen Nimmo: perhaps up your alley bud?
Matthew Marshall Archer would lose his mind if he got to see this
Thank you everyone, for your kind comments. The main reason I agreed to this interview, was to appeal to the masses, in search of a long car trailer. If I can find one long enough, (8.5metres), then I can modify it to carry the Viper.
Bugger Baz, now I’m going to have to binge watch Battlestar Galactica. 😂
Baz Arm great job, i love that show back when I was a kid 🙂
I’d love to go and have a look
Harry Olivier Travis Munier. Me too. One of my favourite TV series growing up.
Carla I knew as soon as I saw the headline that this had to be Baz. Lol what a legend!
Good on him for having a passion
Katherine Rae Glenda Lloyd Caitlin Launt Casey Smyth I don’t know why but I feel like all of you would appreciate this coolness!
Don’t give my husband ideas!
Cameron Heath better put the Audi and the wine fridge on the lawn.
Elsa Sengstock, Owen Evans, Canberra never fails to impress me.
I grew up in the age of superpower space agencies with budgets of billions. So good to see the days of not just commercial but personal space flight.
“Boomer” isn’t quite the awesome callsign it used to be
Maximiliano Wolters As a June 1963 baby, I don’t know whether to find your comment funny or offensive.
So I’ll default to it being wickedly funny and wondering why no one is picked up on it 👍😆
why not, everyone has to have a hobby
Almost finished! Stay on target
Off to find affordable housing on a different planet
Can it do the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs?
Canberra is full of different people lol
Amazing Baz!! If you ever want to grab a beer and chat just PM me! ☺️
Sarah McFaul – please don’t show dad 😂😂
Public servants have way too much time on their hands..
I love this. We need more news like this
must be nice to have a shed
To all you mob who say the invaders have no culture I say look a dis tho, look a dis.
Nice work. is the Bike next?
Say it with me….”Iron Man”. Not “Ironman”.
I hope it is capable of seeking out and destroying drones delivering lattes.
Very Interesting. Also interesting – there was a ‘90s science fiction show called Space Above and Beyond. Some scenes were filmed at RAAF Williamtown. Trivia item from IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112173/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt
Full-scale models of the “Hammerhead” fighters used in the series were created in Australia at RAAF Base Williamtown. During an interview show runner Glen Morgan claimed that while they were being stored on board the freighter before shipping, crewmen from a Russian freighter were caught taking pictures of them after mistakenly thinking they were a new kind of advanced U.S. tactical fighter.
Dani Devine the interior 😍 View
Mitchell Smith when are we moving haha View
Nathan Lissing goulburn looks like a good option… View
Jin Ping Goh HAHAA omg ded View
Mengge Kyu this one View
I’m so happy to hear the outcome ..… my niece and I saw it ..… I was hoping there would be a… View
Cass Proudfoot If they are in their nineties, a very old, non-insulated 3 bedroom housing commision… View
I really feel for older people who moved to Canberra for a job that came with a house, and are now… View
Onelia Herriot some of them are in their nineties. Moving will be too much for them at this age. View
Geoffrey I’m pretty sure the one in my street hasn’t had an inspection in the entire time the… View
Jarryd Moore i did read the article, and I am very conversant with government consultation… View
ACTCOSS really has lost the plot. For anyone who’s didn’t read the article, tenants were given… View
Should the ACT release all cabinet papers within 30 days?
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