Tom Servo build, now with pretty lights

I'm nearly finished with my Tom Servo replica just in time for Dragoncon. I added a small set of lights inside the bottom of his head globe, so in the dark it'll glow red when I push a hidden switch. Just about everything is ready, I just have to get the black vacuformed train bits attached to the hoverskirt, and I'm ready to go!

Here he is, awaiting the final attachments


With his dome light ablaze


A close-up of the section where the dome attaches. I used a stack of red gels to get a solid red hue, which gave me the added advantage that it's very hard to see the LEDs when they're not lit.


In the future I'd like to add a small smoke machine to fill his head globe with mist and THEN light up the red LED. Tom definitely needs to head to a few parties.

Very nice. The smoke would look really cool all lit up.

I told my sister I'd build her a Tom for her Christmas present this year. I need to get started on that.

Best Christmas present ever.

I've done a little searching around for small smoke machines, it looks like there's a range of options, from a retrofitted e-cig to a $1600 professional tiny fogger. I'm gonna have to try the cheap option, methinks.

I hope it is. I'm planning to add an MP3 trigger and sounds like my Space Core. She'll be able to push buttons and make him speak.

My friend Mark has an R2 that he's trying to adapt and ecig for smoke effects. It seems to generate a lot of smoke. The only issue I can see with an ecig is getting oil vapor all over the inside of the sphere.

Is that the MS3KBots kit? If so, how is it? Really tempted to buy one.

KennyZ - That would be a bummer, getting crud all over the inner dome.

Nixon - It is indeed from the kit, and it was pretty awesome. I took my time and made sure to "measure twice, cut once" when drilling or gluing things together, but the parts are all well-made (as far as i can tell, I'm no expert). I wound up doing my own thing in terms of assembly for a lot of the parts, like attaching the barrel to the hoverskirt with screws and wingnuts. The hardest thing was getting the mouth painted and the head attached to the PVC spine, and that just takes care and patience. DO IT.

Yeah, you'd have to use some sort of detergent like Dawn to remove an oil based mess.

I submitted an order for the MS3Kbots kit on the 25th and he shipped it yesterday. I've heard very good things about it. It might be awhile before I start a build thread. I've got so many other projects going and I do not want to finish too far before Christmas. I'm terrible at waiting to give people presents that I know they'll love. I can send photos of what I unbox if you want detail on the quality of the parts before I tinker with them, Nixon.