R2-D2 Mark II Begins!!!

[MattMunson]

Greetings all!

Well, you'd think I don't have enough on my plate already, but I've decided to build another R2.

Long story short, my first one didn't quite meet all of my goals. In retrospect, my PRIME goal was to have a droid that I could walk around with. That's it. The secondary goal was to make it look absolutely perfect/beautiful. Third was to have it made out of metal.

Turns out, those goals are almost mutually exclusive. It's VERY hard to have an all metal droid that is easy to transport and is maneuverable. Even worse, I have an absolute heart attack any time my pristine droid gets ding'd or dented. And the little kids just LOVE to ding and dent R2.

So my plan for the second one is to have as its PRIMARY purpose to be a walk around droid. That means I have to make him light, nimble, and most of all NOT perfect. This will be my "beater" droid, that will not cause pulminary distress if he gets beaten up. I'm going to use a wooden frame, fiberglass feet, and almost entirely resin parts. So he should be much cheaper, much lighter, and able to sustain damage without trouble.

I'm going to gut the drive system from my beauty R2, but I"ll leave the dome lights and electronics in him.

Just like last time, I'll be blogging about the making of him the entire way. I've already got a few days worth of it done, so check it out!

http://www.mattmunson.com/r2/index.html

 

[MooCriket]

Very nice, cant wait to see updated pics:thumbsup

 

[DivineHeresy]

I love it when people put together these astro droids. Can't wait to see how he turns out. :thumbsup

 

[mverta]

I might you recommend taking a page from the real R2 and take a hammer to him, push him down the stairs, never clean him, and otherwise abuse his exterior. He's a mess, in reality, and it's the lack of that which makes so many of the club-built ones look fake.


_Mike

 

[synasp]

Damn you Matt, you're making me want to build one... Looking forward to the new build!

 

[GINO]

Madness.

This will be fun to watch.
I think you'll find it is quite liberating to make some dings/scratches.
And it will look more real, credible.

.

 

[zorg]

i take it you already have a lot of resin detail parts left over from your first build?

the stuff you replaced with shiney alu jobs.

your first droid is very nice.

z

 

[MattMunson]

Thanks Zorg, and thanks to everyone else for the well-wishes.

And don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy with the way my first R2 turned out. To me, he looks absolutely great. Nice and shiny, and clean! I love it. BUT, he's just not the walk-around-town droid that I want now.

I'm even planning on weathering Mark II, so that should definitely make him look more real, and will hide any damage or imperfections that he picks up along the way.

 

[BATS]

I have always wanted to build an R2 and put my webserver inside of him
so that he's more then just a pretty hunk of junk

so I look forward to your walk about version

 

[ColeHorton]

Your first droid was a work of art, but I love your plan. Having a droid you don't plan on babying makes events so much more fun. I've got a setup somewhat like yours that is very utilitarian. The kids can beat on him, bump him, and otherwise abuse him. More dings and dirt shows up everytime I take him out. He works well on tile and thick carpet and most of all.... the battery lasts forever.

I'm using an Optima Blue top marine battery that gives me all sorts of battery life. Ran the droid at a con for 8 hours almost constantly; when we took the battery back to the room it still had 63% left.

Can't wait to see your progress! And its good to see you over on the all new Astromech.net too. :thumbsup

 

[artoo77]

Long story short, my first one didn't quite meet all of my goals. In retrospect, my PRIME goal was to have a droid that I could walk around with. That's it. The secondary goal was to make it look absolutely perfect/beautiful. Third was to have it made out of metal.

Turns out, those goals are almost mutually exclusive. It's VERY hard to have an all metal droid that is easy to transport and is maneuverable. Even worse, I have an absolute heart attack any time my pristine droid gets ding'd or dented. And the little kids just LOVE to ding and dent R2.

So my plan for the second one is to have as its PRIMARY purpose to be a walk around droid. That means I have to make him light, nimble, and most of all NOT perfect. This will be my "beater" droid, that will not cause pulminary distress if he gets beaten up. I'm going to use a wooden frame, fiberglass feet, and almost entirely resin parts. So he should be much cheaper, much lighter, and able to sustain damage without trouble.

http://www.mattmunson.com/r2/index.html

Obviously, you've already set down this path, but in my opinion those goals are not mutually exclusive. An all metal droid doesn't have to weigh more than a fiberglass one, unless you're building it out of steel. Wooden frames and resin parts add up to a lot of weight. And if you want it to look perfect, then it won't be accurate to the screen used variety. As Mike Verta accurately pointed out, R2's character comes from it's rough finish...if you can't handle some dings, perhaps you need to build a different robot.

Personally, I've never had problems with kids damaging an R2; usually it's the adults or those darn walls that get in the way.

--Don Bies

P.S. In keeping with the spelling correction discussion buried deep within the thread found here, it's "dinged" and "pulmonary".

 

[PHArchivist]

In south Orange County, CA today (Lake Forest, to be exact) we had the Annual Snow Fest. For three years running now the guest of honor was a Star Wars character (Grant was there in 2007).

Today, it was green R2 unit. It was nicely done; metal dome, aluminum parts, electronics, sounds - the works. But it was too clean. Anyone we know?

And Matt we all know you just want a "walk-around" R2 to pick up chicks.

 

[CTF]

R2's character comes from it's rough finish...if you can't handle some dings, perhaps you need to build a different robot.

I was lucky enough to see an R2† that you weathered, Don. And it was totally awesome -- completely authentic!

But I'd never seen an R2 before, so I was already excited. :lol

†Mike Senna's.

 

[wannab]

Greetings all!

Well, you'd think I don't have enough on my plate already, but I've decided to build another R2.

Long story short, my first one didn't quite meet all of my goals. In retrospect, my PRIME goal was to have a droid that I could walk around with. That's it. The secondary goal was to make it look absolutely perfect/beautiful. Third was to have it made out of metal.

Turns out, those goals are almost mutually exclusive. It's VERY hard to have an all metal droid that is easy to transport and is maneuverable. Even worse, I have an absolute heart attack any time my pristine droid gets ding'd or dented. And the little kids just LOVE to ding and dent R2.

So my plan for the second one is to have as its PRIMARY purpose to be a walk around droid. That means I have to make him light, nimble, and most of all NOT perfect. This will be my "beater" droid, that will not cause pulminary distress if he gets beaten up. I'm going to use a wooden frame, fiberglass feet, and almost entirely resin parts. So he should be much cheaper, much lighter, and able to sustain damage without trouble.

I'm going to gut the drive system from my beauty R2, but I"ll leave the dome lights and electronics in him.

Just like last time, I'll be blogging about the making of him the entire way. I've already got a few days worth of it done, so check it out!

http://www.mattmunson.com/r2/index.html

Cool, but what ever happend with 3PO?


Doug

 

[CTF]

(Grant was there in 2007)

Grant McCune? Grant Imahara? Grant...?

 

[Lear60man]

Tough call. What could be wrong with two R2s? Mine is about 85% finished. I think he needs to be pristine for a while then water based weathering. come to think of it I have a few props that are this way (one pristine and another weathered).

 

[ColeHorton]

In south Orange County, CA today (Lake Forest, to be exact) we had the Annual Snow Fest. For three years running now the guest of honor was a Star Wars character (Grant was there in 2007).

Today, it was green R2 unit. It was nicely done; metal dome, aluminum parts, electronics, sounds - the works. But it was too clean. Anyone we know?

Green R2 in Cali? :confused

I don't know off the top of my head who that would be.... might be a question for the folks on Astro. I know there was a pristine green droid in the room at CIV, but I don't know that I met the owner (or linked the owner to the droid).

 

[PHArchivist]

Grant McCune? Grant Imahara? Grant...?

No... Our Grant (The Wook), dressed as Chewie. Sorry for not being more clear! :$

Green R2 in Cali?

I don't know off the top of my head who that would be.... might be a question for the folks on Astro. I know there was a pristine green droid in the room at CIV, but I don't know that I met the owner (or linked the owner to the droid).

Yeah it was nice. Again, metal dome, a tad shiny though; dome didn't have that brushed look. Front wheels in the center foot stood the foot about two to four inches off the ground (sort of high). But overall a very nice droid.

 

[MattMunson]

Thanks for all the tips, tricks, spelling corrections, and notes!! I'll try to respond to a few:


1. Yes, it is all about the ladies.
2. Mine has steel feet, which really add a lot of weight. I believe that an all metal can be done right, I just didn't do it But like I said, I'm still really happy with the way my guy LOOKS. I think the factors that are mutually exclusive are having a pristine droid and a heavy droid. Because he's so heavy, I have to disassemble him to move him, and every time I do this, he gets a ding. Me no likey.
3. Yes, weathering will be fun, and I'm looking forward to it. I think there's even a DB tutorial movie on one of the R2 dvd's out there!!
4. Astromech.net is very cool, and I'm glad to see it taking shape. My experience with R2 builders is that they are all VERY generous, very kind, and very encouraging. I find the environment in the R2 club a little more easy going than that on the RPF and other prop dedicated forums. Not that I don't love it here, but the R2 folks are just a really good breed of people.
5. 3PO project is cancelled. I took a good look at it,a nd decided I just didn't want to spend a year sanding and puttying. I HATE that type of work, and knew I would just hate building that guy. I also realized that a 3PO is not something I've wanted since I was five years old. An awesome R2 is

 

[Al-]

it was green R2 unit. It was nicely done; metal dome, aluminum parts, electronics, sounds - the works. But it was too clean. Anyone we know?

I think you are talking about Gene and his R2-A6. I saw him at the 2009 SDCC and at Star Wars days at Frank and Sons.