Hey everyone!
First off,.. everyone is so awesome on this site, I hesitated posting my build for a long time.
This build is not meant to be screen accurate. I am having a Star Wars party at the end of July and got it in my head that a real life R2D2 would be awesome.
I found a build on Instructables - Make, How To, and DIY and the R2 Foam Build from familyman on this forum.
After a few weeks of research, I dove in.
GOAL: 1:1 Scale R2D2 with spinning dome and sound.
I've already been at it for several weeks,.. so... here are the pix.
Remember,.. this is a BUDGET BUILD!!!
So,.. I just moved into this place and had a ton of cardboard boxes. So thats what I started with. I also had some chicken wire and wrapped it so that the joint compound would have something to stick to.
I decided to create his eye using the botom of a red plastic cup and some other things I had lying around.
I wish I could have it alternate from Red to Blue,.. but oh well.
Trying out eye placement and seeing if it'll work.
Once I get the wiring figured out, I added a battery pack from an old digital camera I had that was broken.
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Looking back,... I should have put the eye lower,.. but I can't do anything about that now.
I thought I'd have a hard time at the joints.... so I bought fiberglass joint tape and went to town on the joints.
I figured I would make the dome removable, which meant I had to have an on/off switch on the dome for the eye. So I took apart an old light I had and used the switch.
Once all the wiring and wire mesh was done,... Joint Compound time.
Why did I use joint compound? Well,... cause its all I had in my garage. And since I'm on a major budget, thats what I used.
First Attempt Fail:
I ended up having to wrap the whole thing with the fiberglass tape.
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The tape kept popping up, so I used a blow dryer to soften it and have it stick to the wire mesh. Was actually surprised it worked.
Second Attempt Win:
After a few coats of joint compound,.. I came to the realization that the base was twisted. This was really bad because I decided I was going to try to make the dome spin.
I ended up having to go buy some particle board and recut a base and attached it to the bottom.
This made the dome a little longer, and unfortunately makes the eye seam a little higher.
Here is where I am at the moment with the dome.
And just today added the first coats of primer.
I am currently working on the body and Legs and will post my progress on those next.
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Great build. Looking forward to more posts.
