5D6-RA7 - Death Star Droid

This is the RA-7 droid from A New Hope, and was sculpted by GT Props. Rather than go for the more familiar chrome version that most people paint this up as, I decided to go for the gloss black version seen on the Death Star.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, man, I HATE working with gold chrome spray paint!

 

I kinda wondered why everyone called the Chrome version the "Death Star Droid" because it really first appeared inside the Sandcrawler. I wonder why the Jawas never brought that one out to try and sell to Owen Lars.

This looks great. From the picture, the eyes look more of a chrome silver though, but it is from a distance and the reflectivity does depend on the surroundings.

TazMan2000

 

I think that's a black and white photo on the right.

Fantastic job. Looks great!

 

Killer.

 

excellent job !!

It's rare tot see this kind of droid. I have the same kind of helmet painted in silver for the jawa sandcrawler version.

If I had more place, this version would be in my collection too.

 

This looks fantastic. What's the problem with gold chrome? Looks like you handled it very well.

 

I'm not 100% sure on the gold colour of the eyes as there is EXTREMELY little reference for this version. The newer figures all have him with gold eyes though, and from what I can make out by freeze framing the movie, it appears gold.

Gold chrome spray paint has a bad habit of not drying properly as you can't put it on in very thin layers, otherwise you don't get the reflective surface. This can mean that if you touch it - even after WEEKS of applying it - you can leave dents or fingerprints in the surface. Even just removing the masking tape and newspaper from around eyes meant that I ended up leaving marks on the eyes at least three different times, and had to respray each time.

 

I was unaware of that. That does sound like a serious pain. Considering that you've done a phenomenal job.

This probably won't help you out now, but I did see some special chrome spray paint (it's a two step process; two sprays) that is available in gold chrome. I think it's called Candy Chrome. It's supposed to be great, but it is expensive.