Nick Hamon Builds Bacon-Coated Homage to 'Star Wars'

(April 15) -- An Arkansas man constructed a sculpture that has science fiction nerds and foodies licking their chops.

Nick Hamon combined two of his greatest passions -- "Star Wars" and bacon -- to build a 3-foot-tall model of a vehicle used by Darth Vader's forces in the classic films. And he coated it with greasy goodness.

It took Hamon 21 hours and 40 pounds of bacon to assemble a pork-covered replica of an "AT-AT Walker," a four-legged war machine that appears in the 1980 classic "The Empire Strikes Back." But the Fayetteville resident says the bacon-coated creation was well worth the time and money.

Nick Hamon

Nick Hamon shows off his bacon-coated "Star Wars" sculpture.

"I've always been a big fan of 'Star Wars' and always thought the AT-AT was one of the cooler vehicles from the movie," Hamon said.

This isn't the first time the pork lover has used bacon in creative ways. Last year, Hamon earned praise for crafting a mock AK-47 assault rifle wrapped in bacon.

But even though he has experienced building things from bacon, Hamon -- who works as a creative director and spends his spare time running a Web site called "This Is Freaking Ridiculous" -- says mistakes were made.

After searching the Internet for photos and drawings of AT-AT walkers, Hamon says he spent hours constructing a foam model that would serve as the skeleton for the bacon creation.

"The foam model turned out being way too elaborate," said Hamon, who admits it's "pretty funny" that he has gained notoriety for covering things in bacon, considering his last name consists of the words "Ham" and "On."

"I was trying to get all of the angles correct; it looked pretty cool. Then I put the bacon on and it covered up all of the details," he said.

Though the sculpture didn't turn out to be as intricate as Hamon had hoped, it earned him the adoration of bacon fanatics (and "Star Wars" fans) around the globe. But Hamon says there's also been backlash from people angry at him for wasting food.

Though Hamon denies that his sculpture was a misuse of bacon, he, too, was disappointed that so much tasty meat couldn't be eaten.

"Unfortunately, the fact that it was placed on Styrofoam made it a little unsafe to eat," he said. "It's something I regret."