Imperial Probe Droid studio scale model help

[darthbooth1978]

Hi all.

After building a few off the shelf kits my confidence is up to getting started on something a bit more challenging and studio accurate.
Have been wanting to build a probe droid for a while now but as its my first studio scale I literally have no idea where to start.

Any help with kit parts, painting, sourcing stuff and reference info would be a great help and hopefully helpful to others too.

 

[JimmyB]

These RPF threads should help.

Probe Droid ID archive
1:1 scale imperial probe droid
Imperial probe droid
probe droid help
Probe droid, bigger, better, faster, stronger and lasts much longer

Also... Reference: Imperial probe droid

 

[darthbooth1978]

These RPF threads should help.

Probe Droid ID archive
1:1 scale imperial probe droid
Imperial probe droid
probe droid help
Probe droid, bigger, better, faster, stronger and lasts much longer

Also... Reference: Imperial probe droid

Ah thanks man, that’s really appreciated. Looking forward to digging into this.

 

[darthbooth1978]

Was the head and body originally scratch built by ILM or were they something else?

 

[Duncanator]

The body and head shells were custom vacuformed parts, if I'm understanding your question.

 

[darthbooth1978]

The body and head shells were custom vacuformed parts, if I'm understanding your question.

Yes you understood my question . Thanks very much for confirming this. I literally had no idea if it was something they converted or something they created fresh.

It can be a bit daunting getting into this hobby for a beginner as you don’t want to sound silly asking certain questions but obviously if you don’t know it’s better to ask.

 

[Duncanator]

Asking questions is the right way to learn. With any luck, there will be someone with a good answer.

 

[Duncanator]

I've been gearing up for a probe droid build as well, but I have a question about the Airfix Saturn V kit.
I'm told the old tooling is what is needed, but I need to know how to identify the old vs new tooling.
What is the difference? What changed? and how old is "old"?

 

[darthbooth1978]

I've been gearing up for a probe droid build as well, but I have a question about the Airfix Saturn V kit.
I'm told the old tooling is what is needed, but I need to know how to identify the old vs new tooling.
What is the difference? What changed? and how old is "old"?

Looking forward to your build, hopefully you will share the ride and give inspiration to myself and others

Does anybody make the head and body shells here on the forum? I think this is where I’m gonna struggle before I’ve even bolted.

 

[jcoffman99]

I've been gearing up for a probe droid build as well, but I have a question about the Airfix Saturn V kit.
I'm told the old tooling is what is needed, but I need to know how to identify the old vs new tooling.
What is the difference? What changed? and how old is "old"?

Check here. Timeline for Apollo Saturn V, Airfix 09170 (2000) - Timeline
You want the ones pre 1978 version. I believe the white box will also work. You can get some of the earlier Smithsonian versions too.

 

[Duncanator]

Looking forward to your build, hopefully you will share the ride and give inspiration to myself and others

Does anybody make the head and body shells here on the forum? I think this is where I’m gonna struggle before I’ve even bolted.

..... well actually,

I'm working on that.

 

[Boxcar Bret]

Woof! Most of us start out with the probe droid pod as our entry level studio scale build. Good for you for jumping right in neck deep.

 

[darthbooth1978]

Woof! Most of us start out with the probe droid pod as our entry level studio scale build. Good for you for jumping right in neck deep.

Hoping to get stuck into the pod too simultaneously as don’t they share a few of the same parts?

 

[Boxcar Bret]

I haven’t studied the parts map but it wouldn’t surprise me if they did. There were a lot of go to kits in the ILM stash. I know that there’s was overlap for me going from the probe pod to the TIE bomber.

 

[Duncanator]

Looking forward to your build, hopefully you will share the ride and give inspiration to myself and others

Does anybody make the head and body shells here on the forum? I think this is where I’m gonna struggle before I’ve even bolted.

I am working on some body and head shells for the Probe Droid, but it is taking a while. The patterns are made, but untested, and Adam just got his vacuformer out of storage so we haven't had a chance to pull a set of shells yet. Hopefully I'll have an update in the next week or two.