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Family build life-sized replica of Star Wars' Millennium Falcon and mount it on the roof of their house

It’s not your usual Christmas decoration, but one family has embraced Star Wars fever by building a life-sized Millennium Falcon – on their ROOF.

Colby Powell and his four children built the 28ft replica of Han Solo’s spaceship complete with hundreds of LED lights and Han, Chewbacca, Leia and C3P0 in the cockpit.

The creation took around 400 hours to build, with family and friends helping, and needed a 70ft crane using cable-supported cantilevers to hoist it on to the top of their two-storey house in Lafayette, California.

It’s not the first time the family has built a Star Wars-inspired creation – two years ago Colby and children Isabel, 13, Drew, 12, Cameron, ten, and Ian, six, made a 23-foot replica of the Death Star to mark the release of Episode 7, The Force Awakens.

They decided not to make any models for standalone movie Rogue One, released last year, instead waiting for this month’s The Last Jedi to launch their next masterpiece.

<em>Impressive – the life-sized Millennium Falcon is 28ft long, 20ft around and 5ft thick (Pictures: SWNS)</em>
Impressive – the life-sized Millennium Falcon is 28ft long, 20ft around and 5ft thick (Pictures: SWNS)

Colby, who works as a contractor for a family-owned company in his area, says daughter Isabel managed to save the project after coming up with a way to safely connect the ship to its base while on the roof.

“In fact, without her idea we may have wound up leaving the falcon parked in the driveway,” he said.

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The 46-year-old said they started their Star Wars-themed tradition two years ago when the Force Awakens was due to be released.

“We decided over the summer to build a giant Death Star, and continued the tradition with each new release which Disney said would be every two years. The Death Star in 2015, and now the Millennium Falcon this year, are essentially Halloween decorations which we leave up until the movie is debuted.”

<em>Family affair – Colby and his four children built the life-sized replica of the Star Wars-inspired spaceship</em>
Family affair – Colby and his four children built the life-sized replica of the Star Wars-inspired spaceship

He said: “It was a surprise when Disney released Rogue One and we chose not to do a decoration for that inter-story in 2016 but rather wait for Episode 8 to be released.

“So here we are, in 2017 with Episode 8 out and another spaceship is on our roof.”

<em>Community – neighbours even got involved in the project</em>
Community – neighbours even got involved in the project

Neighbours and passers-by stop and take selfies of the impressive structures and neighbours have got involved in the ambitious project.

“Our family had a blast building the Falcon this year, and it was fun keeping people guessing as to what it might be while construction was ongoing.

“Many neighbours have pitched in to get the projects built, and we’ve given them credit with each video of the construction. Even more neighbours helped this time around with the Falcon build.

“Many people drive by and I’ve heard from a lot of friends and more distant neighbours that they look forward to seeing it in person. Each night there are more and more cars that drive by, pause and take photos. A few remark how cool they think it is.”

<em>Positive – Colby said it was exciting to see so much positive come out of the homemade replica</em>
Positive – Colby said it was exciting to see so much positive come out of the homemade replica

He added: “For us, it is just exciting to see so much positive energy coming out of a homemade replica of this iconic spaceship and what it represents for lots of kids and parents alike.”

“For me, it is a wonderful thing to see this very memorable element of my childhood come back in vogue and span to the next generation creating new Star Wars fans. “