My Lifesize 1:1 R2-D2 Build - 1st Attempt

[pandatrooper]

Looking good! One piece of advice: you might want to consider cutting a plywood circle for the top and bottom of the body to fit inside the sonotube. This will keep it nice and round. The single 1x3 you have on the bottom might warp the body over time.

 

[azheat]

Thanks guys!

I was able to get the holes cut for some of the detail pieces. This was a real SOB, trying to get clean cuts through that Sonotube was pretty difficult. I have some unwanted gaps, but oh well, I may or may not fill them later. I have a little more work to do on that bottom center piece (needs to come out a bit more) and these should be good to go.





I also got the legs assembled and added the horseshoe pieces. I have some paint touch up on these and want to get that center strut piece painted silver.



It's getting there!

 

[stromo]

Looking good! :thumbsup

 

[azheat]

Did some work yesterday and this morning. I was happy to be able to finally primer and paint him white! One of the most nerve racking things for me was painting the blue panels on the front. I only had a few very minor tape slip ups, but for the most part I am real happy with how it turned out.

I need to do some detail work on the legs and feet today.

Once I completely finish the body, I'll tackle the head.

 

[azheat]

I was able to mostly finish up the feet and legs, save a few details. Painted the front strip silver on the feet.



Used silver paint for the center strut on the legs, the grooves by the ankles, the inner ring where they attach to the body, and the horseshoe greeblies.





Just a little bit of touch up left on the feet and legs, once I mount the battery boxes I'll add the power cables to the feet and call these done.

I also painted 5 of the body panels silver metallic. I have some blue inlay to do on these and they should be good.

 

[azheat]

Did some more work today. First I painted the blue details on the center bottom piece.



Then I worked on the vents where the audio pucks will go. I took an old black sock, cut it into two small pieces, and hot glued it to the back of the two center vent ports. After trimming the socks I glued the audio pucks in place. I wired these to two separate switches on the left side top, towards the rear of the unit. The third switch will activate the LEDs in the eye when I start working on the head. I still need to paint the buttons.







Then I installed a few of the other body detail pieces.



Here's the video of the audio.

R2-D2 with Sound.MPG - YouTube

I still have several other detail pieces to finish, like the coin slots for the front of the body, the battery boxes, a few other leg greeblies, and then it's time to start on the head.

 

[azheat]

Slow progress this week.......I debated even posting updates, considering I am not really "making" anything. I guess this thread is kind of useless because all I am doing is assembling / painting pieces I didn't create. But a few people, myself included, enjoy seeing build threads so I guess I'll keep with it.

I worked on the ankle cylinders, I used some schedule 40 pipe and cut it to length. I was also able to start on some of the detail pieces. The flash makes the texture look a little screwy, but the silver flake paint I am using it not too bad.





I also painted some of the blue into the vents. I decided not to cover the rivets either, I cut a piece of styrene but didn't like how bulky it looked. I guess this gives R2 a bit of an industrial look.

 

[azheat]

Got some more work done yesterday and today, I'll start on the head in a few days. I am so close to finishing!

I worked on the power cables for the feet, and keeping with my desire to save money regardless of accuracy, I bought these little plastic plugs. They were about .60 each. I primed and painted them silver.



I also bought some refrigerator water line and cut it into 4 lengths of 12" each. I glued the ends into the plugs.





To keep them from popping off, I epoxied some machine screws into each end, drilled a hole in the feet, and fastened them with a nut.



Needs some minor paint touch-up, but here are the finished feet.



Did a quick test fit of everything.





Then disassembled and moved him to his final place. I am slowly running out of room!

 

[BoboFatt]

I can almost see Kenny popping out. Nice work.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Awesome finish work on this guy! Just because you didn't actually create any of the pieces doesn't mean anything... You're still putting in some serious work here! :thumbsup

 

[Cbstudios]

This is looking Freaking sweet, especially as a somewhat Budget R2 Kit, Phenominal to see the build as you go

 

[vaderdarth]

spray those hoses in metallic copper and they'll be perfect.

 

[azheat]

Yesterday and today were a real pain, I was about to take this head and toss it down the street. It was one of the things I was dreading the most. I got so irritated with it I had to detach for several hours.

I went back and forth with how to do this. One thing I did know was that I was not going to do an inner and outer dome like most builders. This project is going to cost me under $700, so buying an inner dome was not an option.

I tossed around the idea of using styrene to cut out the blue head parts, then attaching them to the dome. The problem was the styrene just couldn't conform to the curvature of the head. I tried to heat them up, but it just wasn't working for me. I think it would have looked great, giving it a 3D effect, but I just couldn't get it to go.

Then I thought about using decals, the easy way out. I actually decided on that but said I would consider paint one more time. I just wasn't comfortable masking the head. Anyway, I thought I would give it a shot.





I took a few liberties with the blue, but overall I am very satisfied with how this came out. It actually looks better than I expected! There were a few mistakes, mostly notable at the top of the head, I didn't pay attention in a few areas and some of the top panels are bigger than others. I temporarily taped some of the head parts just to get an idea of how it looked. I have a few other pieces I need to clean up, along with these, paint, add some LEDs, and then it's done!











Now that he is coming together and actually looks like an R2, I am very pleased with it.

 

[azheat]

spray those hoses in metallic copper and they'll be perfect.

For some reason the one reference photo I was using when I did the feet showed them silver, I wish I had paid attention before I attached them! Maybe next time I disassemble the feet I'll blast 'em with some copper.

 

[azheat]

Just a real quick update. I wired and tested up some LEDs today. I really like how it's turning out. I have a few adjustments to make to the large center blue eye and to the two small sets of blinking LEDs, I just wanted to get everything in place. I also have a small lens I am making for the little blinking red / blue eye up front.

If there is something I learned today, it's that I suck at working with metal!

Here's a video, more pictures to follow:

Test of R2-D2 Lights

 

[azheat]

Here's a couple shots of the head with all the projector details and the main eye surround finally in place.





Because I didn't want to do any cutting at all on this metal head, I cheated a little and cut about the last 1/4" off these side details and mounted them directly to the dome with resin. Then I drilled holes for the LEDs, I put six in each one. They aren't straight (drilling into metal is not my strong suit), but you won't see them when I finish the insert I am making for these. These blinking blue / red LEDs were something I had left over from another project, so I figured I would use them.



I then bought a couple of those capsules from the coin operated toy dispensers you see at the front of the grocery store. I used three small ones for each projector. They fit perfectly, didn't even need to cut them.



For the other large eye on the bottom, I wasn't sure what to do. So I took the largest toy capsule and cut about 3/4" off the bottom. Then I bought this really cheap tire gauge from the dollar store:





I pulled off the plastic front piece, turned it upside down, mounted the remaining 1/4" of the toy capsule on to it, and sanded the whole thing to make it look a bit frosted. I then took a small top portion of one of the capsules, filled it with hot glue, and mounted it inside this eye. That will help diffuse the light a little. I then mounted the eye over the LED.



Here's how it looks lit up. I have a solid white LED in the front projector, 5 solid blue LEDs in the main eye, one blinking red / blue in the lower eye, and 12 blinking red / blue in the left side pieces.



I have an idea for the 12 red / blue LEDs and just need to finish the main eye and I think it's done!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

That is one beautiful droid.

 

[azheat]

Today I finished up the details on the two lower left light boxes on the dome. I created a simple pattern, printed it out on a piece of transparency, backed it with a piece of frosted velum paper, and used some self laminating sheets to cover everything. I cut and mounted them into the boxes.





With that, I think I can finally call this done! (Well, 99%, I am waiting on a piece of tint for the main eye.) This took me a little over 5 weeks, and came in just under $700.00.

I wish this thread were more realistic about how to build an R2-D2, but it's not. I cheated and was lucky enough to find all the parts from one source, just needed lots of work! I wish I were talented enough to do something like this completely from scratch, but I'm not. But no worries, I am very happy with how this turned out.

I plan on selling this one down the road and using the funds to make another one, but with better, more accurate parts. I still won't be dropping $5000 plus into one of these, but I wouldn't mind increasing the budget some to get it looking more accurate and a bit cleaner.

Here's a quick video:

Final R2-D2

And some final photos









Thanks for all the kind words!

 

[stromo]

That looks killer.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

You did a great job on this!