Lego Scaled Empire Strikes Back Probe Droid

[icemann]

hey everyone

I'm new here, but I'm an old Star Wars fan.
I'm so looking forward to ep7! Because I can now watch it with my daughter and it's going to be so special, to have watched Star Wars as a kid and now to watch the next generation of Star Wars movies with my own kid! =) woooohooo!

Besides collecting Star Wars stuff , I also dabble in a bit of scale modelling, and lately, Lego MOCs.
One of my favourites from the original trilogy is the Probe Droid from Empire Strikes Back. It's menacing, it's mysterious but it doesn't seem to get enough attention =( . So I decided I had to try making a detailed and scaled Lego Probot.

It's challenging and I pretty much threw in the towel many times, but well, do or do not, there is no try.
With Lego, there are challenges and limitations to getting the perfect proportions spot on. But do let me share the final result.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/92233

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/92233

I hope fellow fans will approve of the build! =)
Design is never ending, and with the Lego pieces, I'm still refining it as and when inspirations of different and better build techniques hit me. I will post up more images here and in the meanwjile, I look forward to feedback and comments on the project! =)
You can also find images this flickr album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/105135...7650561075318/

FYI, I also submitted the project to the Lego Ideas Crowdsourcing site. In Lego Ideas, if a project gets enough "Support", Lego actually considers turning this into a proper Lego product.
I'm hoping some of fellow builders will like what you see, and that you would like the idea of this potentially becoming a toy, so it can be bought off the shelf for fans to assemble.

So I humbly look forward to getting much needed support from builders in here.
If you do wish to do so, you will need to head over to the link, create a Lego account and click support.
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/92233

YEs, I know... it can be a hassle to create that account.. So to all the kind strangers who help out, I am very very grateful.

may the force be with you all!
regards

clement
aka Dark Grey Matters
aka Icemann

ps. I moved it from the star wars section, i think that one is specially for studio scale models?

 

[Victor3]

Nicely done! Supporting your project. It would make an awesome UCS kit.

And hooray for starting your daughter on SW! I started mine with ANH in the fall. She's made it through AOTC so far. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to go for ROTS next, or let her watch some Clone Wars first... Then again, after ROTS, she can watch Rebels to bring the fun back. I think she's nervous because I've let her know ROTS has a sad ending, and she mainly wants to see some kickass SW girl action with Ahsoka or Hera & Sabine.

 

[Albertese]

Best Lego probot ever.

Hands down.

--Alex

 

[icemann]

hi there victor3!

thank you for the encouragement with the Probeject! It's always cool to hear reassurances.
But the more exciting thing is, yeah, I am super duper psyched about introducing my daughter to the star wars universe. she's still very young, but i cant wait till shes older and i can watch all the cartoons with her, and make her all the cool halloween costumes!! =)
And currently, Ahsoka is leading the list of who i would like to dress her up as... lol

-

 

[Bogleo]

I'm a huge Lego fan. That's some nice SNOT building.

 

[icemann]

hi Alex!

thanks for the very generous compliment! =)
thank you thank you

Best Lego probot ever.

Hands down.

--Alex

- - - Updated - - -

hey there bogleo
great to catch fellow brick geeks in here!
and yes,, it was my intention to make it completely "snot-on"! the probot is a pure smooth metal surface droid.. any exposed studs would just kill the look immediately.
always good to know the Snot thing is appreciated =)
thanks again for the encouragement =)

I'm a huge Lego fan. That's some nice SNOT building.

 

[icemann]

for the Droid details, I refered alot to the SideShow one for reference. I didnt have the actual Sideshow model with me, my pre-order somehow didnt reach me. So I was working off visuals from the web. Here, I was trying my best to achieve maximum accuracy of each individual leg and its claws. This is one of the more fun parts of the build, as posable legs would make the droid so much more dynamic if they could be set in various positions.

 

[wibble6996]

Dude.... fantastic model, one which has already prompted a trip to ideas for a vote. I may even get the mrs to drop you a free one you seem like a man after my own heart, looking forward to sitting the kids down and watching 7. All the best with your crusade, you're tenacity must be rewarded. Failing that, do you have instructions for sale or in the works?

Wibble

 

[icemann]

hey wibble

thank you for the compliments! the great thing about forums like this is, I totally enjoy getting to meet new friends with similar interests and who are going through similar phases in life.

and the instructions, I'm definitely glad to share them with anyone who is also a fan of the droid. One thing though, I have no idea how to handle that LLD software... I'm kinda old school..lol.. which means its all in pencil sketches and then r&d with real bricks.. but I promise you i'm trying my best to see how I can knock out some simple instructions so that everyone can have a go at this =)[
thanks again man.. very encouraged by your message =)

QUOTE=wibble6996;3584234]Dude.... fantastic model, one which has already prompted a trip to ideas for a vote. I may even get the mrs to drop you a free one you seem like a man after my own heart, looking forward to sitting the kids down and watching 7. All the best with your crusade, you're tenacity must be rewarded. Failing that, do you have instructions for sale or in the works?

Wibble[/QUOTE]

 

[icemann]

The trickest part must be trying to achieve the various eyes and snouts on this bulbous head. In terms of scale, it really fits like a hamburger in your hands =) So anyway, back to the probot, the following shows the initial prototype model and it is compared against the finished more pristine model.

 

[icemann]

besides the head, the body comes with its assortment of detailing
This photo shows the conceptual studies undertaken, in trying to replica details of the movie model with lego

usually, during prototyping reserach stage, I like to work in Le50 shades of grey... it just makes everything look sexier =)

 

[Bogleo]

Nice!

 

[icemann]

thanks again bogleo !

Nice!

 

[icemann]

As mentioned earlier, the probot has numerous eyes and snouts that vary in profile and sizes. Spinning the head around on a stick, you will realise there are really quite a number of variants. I wanted to capture these individual details as close to the movie version as I could. Lucky me that the scale I was building in actually allowed me to capitalise on existing sizes in LEgo bricks, which equated to the neccessary s/m/l sizes I needed to differentiate the different eyes. In this photo, you can see the different unique eye and snout detailing that I tried to achieve

 

[icemann]

hey guys
its the Star Wars celebrations at Anaheim.. how I wish I am there now.... arrghhhhhhh...

Since I am holed up here at home, I thought of sharing more details of this scaled build.

HEADS-Up!The head presented the most complex challenges. Nestled amongst the chaos of eyes and snouts, you can find a framework that organised the random mess. Essentially, there are 3 main "big eyes" that anchored 3 main facades, and around the eyes are clustered numerous different profiles.

I had to create a triangular skeletal frame that is housed within a 4 cornered base. The individual faces are shown below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

thanks for reading!
those at the celebrations, have the most awesome adventure ever!!
=)