Costco forklift driver builds giant Star Wars TIE Fighter
Many people have something they are doing to pass the time to keep their sanity while in shut down mode for the COVID-19 pandemic. Some people go for long walks. Others are binge watching their favorite TV shows. For one Overland Park man, Star Wars is the inspiration for his distraction.
Building a giant TIE Fighter has helped to ease the stress and tensions created by the COVID-19 outbreak for Alan Godwin, 48, of Overland Park.
As an essential worker, Godwin, a forklift operator for Costco, works the 4 a.m. shift re-stocking the inventory at the wholesale club in Lenexa. After the doors open, he shifts to cashier, dealing with the public. “I think we are doing a pretty good job,” he added.
“By the time you get home, you are pretty stressed, you’re out in the public, you’re out in the higher risk areas and you just kind of need to breathe,” Godwin said.
After work and as weather permits, Godwin hauls the pieces of his craft to the driveway of his home in Northern Overland Park and works with his son, Micah, 15, building the TIE fighter, an icon from several Star Wars movies. Slowly, the pieces of lumber big are cut to size and the craft begins to take the shape of the fighter, sporting the eight-foot tall wings, which are painted black. The fighter is being built to be easily assembled or disassembled allowing for storage and moving.
“My way of dealing with this <the coronavirus> is cutting up big pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood,” Godwin said. He hopes the creation is recognizable and will bring smiles to people’s faces.
“It’s eight-feet tall, eight-feet long and and eight-and-a-half feet wide,” Godwin said. He came across a photo of the TIE fighter online and decided to take a shot at building one. “We made modifications to the plans, but it’s coming along,” he said.
For Godwin, constructing life-size replicas is becoming tradition and it is a way to create an attraction outside of his home on Halloween. Past builds include Boo’s door from Monsters Inc., and last year, a TARDIS, a British Police box from the television show Doctor Who.
With the stay-at-home orders in place, Godwin began this year’s creation much earlier than usual and now hopes to display the TIE fighter on Star Wars Day, May the Fourth on Monday, May 4.
“We are Star Wars fans, my wife and I are fans of the original trilogy,” Godwin said. “I don’t want to make enemies, so I won’t say how I feel about the later ones.”
With his son doing his classes virtually, Godwin is using the extra time at home to teach his son, a freshman at Shawnee Mission North, about tools, carpentry and painting.
“Building is a way to get your mind of everything that’s going on in the world,” said Godwin, who hopes to mostly finish the fighter this week.
“To be honest, I love this,” said Micah. “Too bad we can’t keep it fully assembled in the house.”
The building project has the pair interacting, at a socially safe distance, with a lot more people than they normally would as residents stroll up and down the 7100 block Horton Street enjoying the spring weather and getting some exercise.
“This is definitely drawing some attention,” Godwin said. He hopes to attract a hundred or more trick-or-treaters to his home for Halloween this year. “It would be a record for us.”
After Halloween, Godwin might need to find a new home for his TIE fighter. “My wife has told me, I’m not allowed to keep making large things,” Godwin said. “We have nowhere to store them.”
Godwin said he hopes to sell or auction off his TIE fighter with the proceeds going to benefit Whispering Willows Senior Dog Sanctuary in Hermitage, Missouri.