R2D2 or C3P0 kits?

[leromero]

My one piece of free advice that I will stick to until I die is this: there's ZERO reason or benefit to making an all metal droid. Unless you consider saying "I have an all metal droid" reason to do it. There's just no advantage. Anyone that tells you that they are more structurally sound and robust are selling you a bill of good. To be precise, it is true that an all metal droid may be more structurally sound. HOWEVER, there are NO circumstances in the natural world where you will need a droid that rugged. in fact ,there's a counter argument to be made that the slight flexibility offered by a wood frame is advantageous, as it can manage stresses better than a metal one.

I couldn't agree with you more. I have a cousin who built two complete C-3POs in Brass. This is a wearable suit to boot. The expense was incredible, but damn does it look good.

Currently we do most of our units in fiberglass, plastics, and resin. definitely build depending on your skill set. Research the heck out of it.

 

[leromero]

C3po is the cheaper option for sure (yes even gold vac metalized), but it still isn't cheap. Warning, if you go the 3po route you can easily fall into the brass greeble money pit - similar affliction as the R2 aluminum junkie. lol



Doug

Aint that the truth. We will be showing off our brass C-3PO wearable suit at Celebration in August. Can't wait.

 

[vtswordfish]

I am by no means an expert either, but I started building my R2 a year after I got out of college (at the age of 23, I am 28 now) and my build is somewhere in the 90% completion. Here are some things a newb like me learned:

RESEARCH: As many of the others have said, take your time and decide what you want your R2 to do, how much you want to spend and where between those two will your parts and materials lie (i.e. aluminum, wood, etc.). I can tell you from experience that I didn't research nearly enough and just jumped right into things, looking back I wished I'd have done more research up front and started a binder earlier in my build than I ended up doing.

Do not get discouraged about what initially may seem like an overwhelming build to do. This isn't something that will come together over the course of a weekend or a month, many of the builders will tell you that R2 is never truly '100%' complete, you constantly will be repairing and adding to your droid and it is a timely build.

I'd echo what Master Munson said in that there really is no benefit to an 'all-metal' droid unless for the sake of wanting to brag about it (which is okay for those of you that do). Aluminum skins and dome for sure, the rest can easily be made from other materials without any noticeable difference. The nice thing about doing less metal is it allows for a budget drive system to be put in place instead of having to go with bigger motors to move around a 200lb+ droid.

Go over to astromech.net and check things out, it is a plethora of knowledge and you will learn so much just from digging through old threads. The builders community will help you in every step of the way, there were plenty of times I asked dumb questions (sometimes repeatedly) and there was always someone willing to help!

 

[mickpell]

Echoing what others have said research, research and research some more
i am currently building my second droid and have learnt tonnes of new skills over the past few years

My second droid is mostly aluminium and boy is it heavy - making it a real struggle to get into the back of the car. Infact i need my wife aka droid technician to accompany me to any event we go to

Next time i will go with the styrene build

Get yourself over to astromech.net and good luck with whatever you choose to do

Cheers
mick
www.r2inadelaide.com

 

[KrangPrime]

Re-activated my account over at astromech....and started browsing sale threads and info threads.. While I await for answers over there, a few Q's over here .

For example, if I wanted to start buying parts, something like this would be a good start for a basic aluminum dome, right? Astromech.net Forums

In the Proton Pack world, all the parts and part sizes are different due to the fact that they are made from different plans.. but I'm assuming that's not the case in the R2 world, and that all R2 parts will fit all others no matter who you buy it from, right?

 

[MattMunson]

The 300mm dome and the R&J dome are the way to go. The R&J are hard to come by, which makes the 300 the best solution. I haven't built on a 300, but have done two R&Js.

As for your question about all the parts fitting together, that is the hope ,but not always the reality. When you hear people talk about parts being "Built to club spec" that means that they used club designed and approved drawings to fabricate them. The idea was to eliminate guesswork, and creating a world just like you were describing. Where you can buy different parts from different vendors and not worry about if they are all going to fit together properly.

To come as close as possible to ensuring this, you might want to only go with Builders Council approved runs. In theory, these runs are of parts that are to club spec, and are made by reputable dealers. This is not ALWAYS the reality, but that is certainly the intent.

Avoid buying off ebay. This is where you will find non-spec parts that are of lower quality materials, and may not fit properly. If you find yourself in a situation saying "Yeah, but it's so cheap! For all the money I save, it'll be worth it even if I have to do some cleaning up!!!!"

This is the path to madness!!! :lol

 

[MattMunson]

Here's a faq I put together after finishing my first R2:

R2-D2 Building Blog

And whatever you do, no matter what, read victor franco's blog.

 

[MattMunson]

I forgot about this list of "Tips" I put together:

R2-D2 Building Blog

 

[KrangPrime]

The 300mm dome and the R&J dome are the way to go. The R&J are hard to come by, which makes the 300 the best solution. I haven't built on a 300, but have done two R&Js.

Hmm, so this seems like a good part to start buying with . I'll make a note to check out for Builders Spec mentions, and don't worry. I avoid ebay these days like the plauge ;o)!

 

[Lear60man]

I want to add in the metal VS wood VS xxx debate. I chose to use real aluminum parts on anything that is exposed metal on the real prop. Dome, center vents, coin returns etc. If you can afford the real deal on these parts do it. No matter how well its done spray painted 'silver' doesnt look and feel like the real thing.

I started mine 6 years ago. Metal skins, dome and misc parts on an ABS frame and legs. Metal feet and skirt. I need to finish the feet, source some battery boxes and shoulder flanges. Then my static R2 is done.

 

[KrangPrime]

That WAS my philosophy as well, untill I saw the price for three metal holoprojectors ;o).... I might be able to do one metal and two resin, but not three..

Here are the parts ordered so far...

1 - 300mm Aluminum Laser-Cut Dome Run
Put in an order, have not heard back from yet.... I am still not sure of the purpose of the inner dome. I assumed the outer dome would be thick enough to hold all electronics snugly. can someone explain the purpose of the outer and inner dome?

2 - Tecees V3 dome lighting kit


Now we need a resin radar eye, resin holo projector.....front and rear logic surrounds....

 

[shenphong]

I'm using a styrene laser cut dome on my office droid build and for the price, I'd definitely do it on a budget. You can paint it silver or whichever color you like and styrene is very easy to work with. Just an option if you are considering building on a budget.

 

[darth_myeek]

My recommended recipe:

Metal Dome
Metal Skins
Wood frame
Wood legs
Fiberglass or styrene feet.

Everything else, you can mix and match between resin, styrene, or aluminum.

Matt,
Nice to see that list. It's almost the exact direction I am heading. A metal frame although looovely is a kazillion bucks, and has to be significantly heavier than wood. Loved your original r2 blog for a long time. Thanks!

Neil,
I agree you don't need for every HP to be aluminum. I have three alu hp, and recently picked up a resin beater hp with the intent of using the resin holo for the anh damaged HP look.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[darth_myeek]

1 - 300mm Aluminum Laser-Cut Dome Run
Put in an order, have not heard back from yet.... I am still not sure of the purpose of the inner dome.

The inner dome structure allows you to screw hardware into the dome without having exposed heads. Like when mounting aluminum HPs for example. Builders drill & countersink mounting holes into inner dome and tack machine screws with a little glue to keep them in place. The inner dome also gives you a surface to glue panels on, and add hinges for servo controlled panels. Doing this makes it easier to remove/repair HPs or other components after completion versus gluing HPs on which would take more work, but doable.

Might PM Daren to make sure you are on that run, if you don't see your name in the list.

 

[shenphong]

There is also someone selling their 300mm Alu. dome in the Junkyard on the astromech forums as well...it appears that its still available.

 

[KrangPrime]

OK, confirmed through PM, payment sent . So we've got the dome and lights secured

it doesn't look like any resin holo projectors are out on the market now. There does seem to be a resin radar eye for $25's though....

 

[darth_myeek]

Yea, first rule of r2_builder club is patience. You can also post a want-to-buy.

Check out mcwhlr's "Aluminum PSI Housing set {OPEN}" It's about to ship, and he may have some extras. Neat way to hold the Teeces PSI boards, and as parts go pretty cheap.

 

[MattMunson]

I have an aluminum holo projector on mine, and regret it 100%. It cost a fortune, and is COMPLETELY covered in paint. There is not a single inch of it that is raw aluminum. So I paid a ton to have something that looks IDENTICAL to my resin holo projectors. Bad move on my part. Ah, to be new to the R2 building game again! lol

 

[wannab]

I have an aluminum holo projector on mine, and regret it 100%. It cost a fortune, and is COMPLETELY covered in paint. There is not a single inch of it that is raw aluminum. So I paid a ton to have something that looks IDENTICAL to my resin holo projectors. Bad move on my part. Ah, to be new to the R2 building game again! lol

Sound like you messed up there Matt. Even on the ANH R2 there are areas that are not painted.


Doug

 

[KrangPrime]

I thought all the HP's where silver?

OK, so I think I've got the radar eye settled on... costs about $25's. Just waiting on confirmation that it fits the dome OK...

Same goes for real and front surrounds. only thing left is the drive motor for the dome (not sure what it's called) and the HP's.