Eventually came up with a solution for the rear "bent" pipes:
The white sections of pipe still need to be cut down. The finished thing will not be as long as the screen-used prop - I have to go for display-ability over screen accuracy. So this will have to be it's contracted form.
Have also been trying to figure out a wall mounting system (the "eye" part containing the beads is much heavier than the rest of the prop, so can't have the pipes extend too far anyway for stability) and came up with this. Round hatch still to add, etc obviously, and I haven't cut off the extra white sections of pipe yet.
Been working on the wall mounting point today. While I would like it to be accurate, there's no way I can do a meter long pole sticking out of a hole in the wall, so the pole has to be shortened and the "hole in the wall/door" must be mounted ON the wall. So cut down some oven hob vent duct pipe, split it open and reduced it to a diameter to match the hole I already had and stuck it in place. Also worked on the actual hatch - dremelled out some plastic circles and eventually managed to get them attached to the hinge so that it actually works.
I used a 170 degree cupboard hinge. It's not an exact match to what is seen on film (for literally about 1 frame!), but it's the closest I could find locally....
Paint still to do obviously. Not sure on achieving that texture though. Looks like rough plaster work to me - not something I want to be applying to the plastic box. May have to go with textured spray paint - not the same kind of texture at all, but adds something at least.
I want one! I've long thought about making one of these and using a linear actuator as the main rod for the in and out movement. Would probably be slow but still mechanical. Love the progress so far. Can't wait to see more.
Thanks. Now that I know the term I was able to look it up online. And while searching around I found links to 3D relief wallpaper that mimics it. Went to my local B&Q yesterday and searched the wallpaper isle and came away with two free "samples" that I will decide upon the best of and glue that to the the front for texture then paint. Got to love anything free!
This is so great.
Your work is outstanding.
You must be so pleased.
That wall is definitely stuccoed as Mara Jade's Father had said.
May I suggest you try replicating the stucco look with something like plumbers epoxy putty.
Would adhere great to the plastic, won't chip of and with alittle sand mixed in, should give you great results.
Just a suggestion though.
Cant wait to see more.
Looks like stucco to me as well. IMO, avoid the texture paint and practice achieving the stucco texture on a few scrap pieces of wood. It will DEF be worth it in the end!
On the stucco texture, you could easily achieve this using Bondo. As it kicks off its pretty moldable for a few seconds and it will stick to the plastic. Awesom project, looks really good!
Got a lot of work done on this guy over the past two weekends. He's slowly getting there. The side-by-side comparisons show that some of the proportions are a bit off, butconsidering it's all from scratch from PVC pipe and acrylic sheet and domes, I think it's coming along pretty well. Curved side greeblies to make next....
You can't see it in the photo very well, but he lights up in a pretty accurate slow blink from one set of orange LED's to another. Will try to get a decent video and upload it sometime later.
Spent the day yesterday turning long bits of plastic into short bits of plastic, then gluing them together into big hunks of plastic....
Still need two more little pearl buttons to cover two of the brown buttons and am waiting for the spikes I ordered to arrive. Also thinking about making the ends of the curves (where they meet the hinges) a little chunkier. Getting there though....
Not great lighting as it's now too dark, so I'll upload better photos (and possibly video) tomorrow. But wanted to get this up as Jabba's Door Droid is now finished! [though I may try to fit a small blu-tooth speaker inside it later for sound]