HANDS! So in my research I've found two designs for K-2SO's hands. The first I'll call the prop hand and you see this design in the arm extensions Alan had on set. You will also see this on the black series toy and the big figs. It has a more sharp angle wrist area with a boxy palm. This also has the oversized thumb coming up from way in the back of the palm.
The other version you see I'll call the CG hand and is what K-2SO has in the actual film. His fingers are a little more proportional.
You can also see that his thumb is a more realistic length with the wrist area being curved and less boxy. There is also a rectangular panel on the back of the hand with an oval towards the wrist. This is the version I will be making for the puppet.
I sketched out the dimensions on my gridded paper. You can see how I started with the prop hand design before switching to the CG hand design. A 1" pipe T will be the base of the fingers.
The fingers are made up of nested PVC pipe. It is called sharkbite pipe at Home Depot and is very thin. I didn't know HD carried pipe this thin until researching it. It's a little hard to find but found on the same aisle as the bigger PVC pipe. The fingers uses 1/2" finger spans with 1/4" knuckle pieces. Now this is the measurement of the inner diameter, so the overall size is not what is printed. They ended up being the following dimensions.
1/4" pipe .24" inner / .375" outer
1/2" pipe .84" inner / .608" outer
The 1/2" pipe gets a 45*ish cut on both ends to allow the 1/4" pipe to pivot.
I cut out the finger spans. Here are the measurements of each segment. The thumb will be 2" pieces, plus the longer mounting base that connects it back to the wrist pipe.
I labeled everything by Letter/Number to keep it all organized.
I first made the "C" middle finger as it was the longest. All cuts are just eyeballed.
A bacon cooking tray works great to keep the parts from rolling away on me.
I picked up a spool of 16 Gauge wire to act as the hinge points.
This was a thrown together test digit. With the elastic down the back to open the finger and nylon cord down the inside to pull it closed.
When you have to make a lot of something, make a jig. This helped me stay consistent on the cuts.
After fitting one half of the 1/4" pipe I trimmed it to size and took the corner off to let it pivot more.
Everything is temporary as I won't be able to do final assembly until the whole arm is pieced together. The reason for this is when I cut the tendon cord It will need to reach all the way from K2's fingertips to my control glove fingertips. And I don't know that exact distance yet.
1 finger down, 9 to go.
I've finished the 4 main digits of the right hand. I've learned a lot. It's very difficult to keep the fingers straight and not crooked. I need to remake some of digit "C" to keep it straight. I also shortened the 1/4" pieces a little to make sure the fingers don't over extend open or curl up. But I'm overall very happy with how it's coming.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a fellow cosplayer and maker for introducing me to this design.
https://www.instagram.com/jechts/ is using this technique for a giant pair of videogame character hands.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPYgDzGDkyZ/?taken-by=jechts He also pointed me to a youtube video by Indy Mogul of a prop build he did for the hands. These sources were very helpful in designing K2's digits.
I'm 35 days out at this point and i've started to set some deadlines for each remaining weekend to keep myself on track. I only have 5 weekends and I can't use all of them to finish K-2SO. I'll be focusing on his feet and legs this first weekend as they don't require much innovation, just patterns, cutting and gluing. Now that my joint pucks are done I can keep those dimensions in line.
I've been patient as I work along, doing things well and not rushing. But I need to step it up like I did while working on my Star Wars Stormtrooper armor. I worked 2 solid months doing at least SOMETHING every night to get that done. This project will require the same dedication to complete.
So expect more posts here on the RPF and more livestreams on twitch.tv/drscifi as I work to finish K-2SO.
Oh, and go check out my friend @
GEEK1138 K-2SO statue.
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=271894It looks AMAZING! Oh what I wouldn't give for a 3D printer.
Also, this build thread has reached over 10,000 views! We could buy our own ship for that!
Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement.
-Darren