Watch: RC helicopter converted into Millennium Falcon drone

Powered by a remote controlled carbon fiber quadcopter, the ship's hull is made from lightweight foam fitted with custom bow and aft lights. As the device's pilot and builder points out, it's not technically a drone, rather a "remote controlled helicopter that happens to have 4 motors." However once the foam frame has been hollowed out to fit the four sets of propellers, it's difficult to deny the miniature Millennium Falcon's resemblance to commercially available drones.

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"It's normally flying [camera] and carries a Gopro," describes the man behind the homemade Millennium Falcon, known only as Oliver C of Grenoble, France.

"For this project I'll remove the camera, the video transmitter and the GPS antenna to gain some weight ... I fly it line-of-sight only, since it's not fitted with FPV (first person viewing) gear. With my usual FPV modules I could fly it out like 500 meters, but that's not its purpose, and also it's not a very efficient flier at all."

Despite limitations to its recording capabilities, Oliver's Millennium Falcon still proves an impressive piece of amateur engineering, as it's not only able to confidently fly around outdoors, it can even scoop up bits of snow and maintain its ability to stay aloft.

Still, the foam hull severely limits its motors ability to perform.

"Top speed is barely 35 percent of what the naked quadcopter can do (90km/h+)," according to Oliver.

"And battery time is reduced from eight minutes to about five."

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