There's an old saying in the movie industry that a film is never done, it's released. Which basically means, most directors could keep tweaking a movie and never finish the film (just look at George Lucas!). Well, I could keep tweaking on this battle droid but I think I'm done. When last we left off, the basic build was complete. I ended up putting a lot of work into the head. I should have used bondo to coat the whole thing but in my quest to do it all on a $0 budget, I coated the whole thing in ceiling mud (plaster). I know not the smartest thing to do but I was actually hoping it would crack and break off to create a worn effect. The problem was the head because it had the most mud, big pieces started falling off. I went back and coated the whole head in carpenter's glue, mud and all. I know, again, not the smartest thing to do but it held. The eye were the thing I feel didn't come out right because I ended up having to use a default hole saw for the size and I think they're too big.
I spray painted the whole thing with silver paint so that when I sanded the edges, it would reveal the silver creating a metal effect. Next I did something that I'm probably most proud of, you know that generic interior house paint color, tan (or Navajo Sand to be exact)? I had just enough left over from painting the dining room to coat the whole droid. Then I taped off some lines to look like body seams, and dusted the whole thing with flat black paint, just enough to create an effect. Next I took stain and squished it into areas where grease would leak out of the droid to create the effect of oil leaking out of joints. And finally sanded to reveal the silver and create a weathered effect.
So I finished the droid and the plan was to go buy a generic blaster at Toys-R-Us. I was cleaning up the garage and I picked up a broom handle that I used for the pistons, the lobes on the back of the head and for fake bolt heads. It was about 14" long and I thought, maybe I could make a blaster out of it. I literally just picked up scraps off the floor of the garage and two days later, blaster!
It's not perfect but I love the way it turned out and now it stands guard at the end of my kid's bed. Hope you enjoy the journey as much as me.