Thanks again, everyone. I just fixed a couple more picture links in the above posts...the RPF keeps timing out on me and I lose the uploads. Anyway, as promised, here's a fun video of the Gonk in action:
That is too awesome! I've been wanting to make one just as a prop for conventions and stuff but I've never had the mind to do it, not sure if it's out of my skill range... Still, I suppose it's the easier of the droid builds, eh?
Hey, Mark! Well, the candy drop didn't work out so well. I didn't have time to figure out any kind of mechanism or pulley system to have the side hatch open and close "automatically" so I just told people to open the lid and drop candy inside---kind of like you have to open the door for fueling a vehicle. On top of that, it filled up very quickly and my son didn't have the time or interior space to remove the candy from the inside. After a while, I just took the candy on his behalf. If I could do it again, I'd make the hatch on top and have some sort of pipe leading down into a catch basin. Maybe something metallic so it sounds like the interior is all steel. Then I'd tell my son to shoot some steam whenever he hears a piece of candy drop in.
We also bought a $2 "robot arm" from Wal-Mart that has a simple gripping action when you squeeze the handle, but it was too long to realistically maneuver it through the side hatch nor could my son control it well enough to grab something as small as a piece of candy.
I know this thread is way old but Amazing stuff. I have a starwars themed birthday party coming up n this is wot I'm gonna build n wear. My sons who's 8 is goin as a young obiwan n my daughter who's 6 is goin as Rey. I asked both to wear it but no go so stuff it I'll do one for myself. It's gonna have a lot longer legs tho. Thanks esp for the sound effects. I'm gonna use this for sure.