ROGUE ONE K-2SO Puppet Build

Before I forget, here is a link to the public flickr album holding all of my images from these posts and a collection of reference images i've found. Might be useful.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8364521@N04/albums/72157666586188843

Today was about securing the pipe together. Lots of self tapping screws. This images shows the top of the left leg being secured to the 1-1/4" reduction piece and the 1" pipe inside it.

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Several screws were placed in the "T" joint at the neck. I also extended the arm pipe by 1" to a total of 7" from "T" coupler to the shoulder spider joint. This is to balance out his arm proportions some as his arms were hanging over his legs and should be more apart than that.
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Plugged 4 screws into the coupler and pipe for the hips, this piece cannot fail or his lower half would fall off. For the spider joint I put two screws in the side slots in such a way so it cannot turn. Repeated that for the shoulder joints and will do the same for the knees. Still deciding on the ankles as I may want his feet to be able to twist slightly but we will see.
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Here you can see the inner stop secured for the hip slip ring, and many screws in the hip "T" connector.
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I also made another Home Depot run, (shocker) for hand parts. Picked up 30 3/4" hinges and a metal carpet edge plate. I plan on cutting it into finger segments, encased in foam. Perhaps I will use my mini bungie cords for the open hand pulling force. The inner pulling force will come from the nylon cord running through 1/4" aquarium tubing down to my puppeteering hands.
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I'm guessing a little with the finger lengths but I will mock it up and draw it full size on paper first before making cuts.
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I calculated the size and quantity of the joint foam pucks I will need. And found someone who will let me use their bandsaw. The joints will be comprised of 3 slices each. The center puck is always 40mm as that matches the width of the spider joint. This one will be trimmed to different portions of a circle depending on the angle the joint needs to move.

All of my puck slices are devisable by 10mm increments as the foam I'm using to make them will be layers of 10mm foam.

The knee is the largest, I won't tell you how long I stared at images of K2 to determine if his elbow joint rings and knee joint rings were the same size or not. ..... (at least an hour). So now I just need to make my square blanks of the right thicknesses and then cut the pucks. Some will have the center cut out for the hollow illusion. Using 2" and 2.5" round mirrors to make them seem like the hole goes deeper (all the way through) than it really does.
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You can see in the lower left corner the trimming of the center puck will allow the joint to flex but not move too far. I plan on adding pairs of stoppers to the joints to make sure they don't exceed the angle I want them at. This will keep me from crushing the foam arms against themselves. I found 3/4" rubber ends that normally go under equipment to make them not slide on a table. These will be screwed to the spider joints, one on the flat part of the joint and the other on the end of the turning curve. (I know, an image would explain it better, I'll get one installed and photograph it soon.)
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Funds are a little dry at the moment but that won't stop progress as I have almost all of my materials already. My next step is to finalize the leg foam dimensions, make some paper templates, then cut the eva foam mounting disks for the leg pvc and glue it all together. I also need to finalize the foot.

I can't proceed on the arms until I dial in the hand dimensions and figure out how my puppeteering handles attach exactly.

Thank you everyone for taking a look at my build. Ask me any questions you like, I do plan on posting final dimensions and a parts list at the end.

-Darren
(K-2SO Maker)
 
This is incredible! I love the spider joint system. Also love watching your thought process and organization.


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I've been looking for a good solution for displaying an ewok I built. I'm excited to see that the spider joints come in a version for a 3' tall option.


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this is so thorough,thanks for putting up so many progress pics and build details. I feel like if i ever get the courage and free time then ill add this build to my growing list of projects for 2017
 
I've been looking for a good solution for displaying an ewok I built. I'm excited to see that the spider joints come in a version for a 3' tall option.


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Yeah! They are a great supplier. I could not do this project without those spider joints.
 
As you can imagine K-2SO is a big star around our household. I didn't know he was such a good dancer. My little girl calls the 31" big fig, baby K-2SO and the one i'm working on the Daddy K-2SO.
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My little boy is not quite as tall as the 31" big fig but he's getting there.
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I found a new source of K2 images from an ABC story on the making of Rogue One. Watch Here

But it has great images of the texture, color and weathering of the droid. This picture shows how the base of his neck cone is much wider than I first though.
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As well as a one tone cg model.
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Which is animated to show some joint movement.
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This close up on a elbow joint is very helpful.
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There are also clips of Alan using robotic hand extensions while on set. These hand details are great!
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It's going to be ok.
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So I started work on the feet and ankles, working from the ground up as it were. I had a roll of this transparent cover but the best part was the half inch grid on the back. I can put my foam templates right on it, cut the out and transfer to the foam for cutting.
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I also redid some of my dimensions based off of the 31" big fig as it feels more balanced and accurate. K2's foot is 11.5" long.
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Cut out the template.
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Transferred to some leftover shop floor foam. This has diamond plate on the bottom for some extra wear and tear on the bottom of his feet. This is 1/2" foam.
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Marked drill points. Be careful as a drill goes through foam like butter.
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Remember that this is just the main base of the foot, the forward toe shell will add a few inches and width to the foot.
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I trimmed some of my diving fin to let the future foam layers fit.
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I also cut out some of the fin. Only a little bit for now, I want to wait until the whole thing is walking before removing more to be safe.
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The ankle joint fits well and is the correct hight off the floor.
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I made templates for the layer above and below the ankle joint puck. These will be made out of 2 layers of 8mm foam each. I'll cut a hole in the middle and glue them onto the pipe/spider joint directly.
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I also went over a lot of my dimensions again. I needed to take 4" total out of the legs and add it to the torso. Basically move his hips lower.
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I reworked the puck joint dimensions a little and am happy with there proportion to each-other now.
I hope to get the feet finished this weekend and perhaps all of my joint pucks in the next few days. Then I'll skin the legs and be ready to work on the torso.

Keep on building

-Darren
 
I'm really loving this build and can't wait to see how it looks when it's done. Thank you for that link, and all the details that you're putting into this. It's very interesting, and will be a huge help if I ever end up making something like this (it's on my list, but I have other stuff that needs to get done first!).
 
Awesome build. What PVC parts did you use to make the knee and elbow joints?

Glad your enjoying the build.
Here's a link to the kit I bought. http://www.spiderhillpropworks.com/S...-Kit_p_19.html

I got one kit from the Halloween store I posted about. 9 total spider joints.
2x shoulders
2x elbows
2x knees
2x ankles
1x connection point


Perhaps I should keep a parts list in the first post to help people out.
 
How's the build coming along?


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He's still coming along. This was a long work week but I'm excited to continue on the feet/legs this weekend. I'm usually doing some image research each night to find new angles and details. Turbosquid has a great 3D model of K2. Almost perfect and lots of detail. https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-x-star-wars-k-2so-droid/1096528

I watched jechts twitch stream where he built his pvc pipe hands. Asked a lot of questions. May use the same concept for K2.

Here's a video of him flexing the fingers: https://www.instagram.com/p/BPdW2V7D6qM/?taken-by=jechts

It's raining a lot here in CA so may be harder to do foam glue on the weekend but we will see. I'm starting to count weekends instead of days until my deadline as they will be my main building times. 12 weekends left
 
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:) just went through a hundred posts on tumbler celebrating K-2SO. I'm all pumped to get him finished and start having fun.

Photo shoots, smart ass lines and some great puppeteering. I can't wait!
 
Glad your enjoying the build.
Here's a link to the kit I bought. http://www.spiderhillpropworks.com/S...-Kit_p_19.html

I got one kit from the Halloween store I posted about. 9 total spider joints.
2x shoulders
2x elbows
2x knees
2x ankleso
1x connection point


Perhaps I should keep a parts list in the first post to help people out.
Thanks for sharing that info. A kit like that makes building a robot easy. I should try to build the Proxy Droid from the Force Unleashed. Since I wear the Galen Marek costume at RL appearances.
 
This is my favourite build right now, keep up the great work! I think a puppet is a fantastic idea and you don't see a lot of cosplay puppets either. I think that's what makes this such a unique build besides the fact that I've yet to come across another K2-SO. I wouldn't mind trying my hand at this or something similar!
 
This is my favourite build right now, keep up the great work! I think a puppet is a fantastic idea and you don't see a lot of cosplay puppets either. I think that's what makes this such a unique build besides the fact that I've yet to come across another K2-SO. I wouldn't mind trying my hand at this or something similar!

Thanks!

Here in California i've seen a Grevious puppet done before, using his cloak to hide the puppeteer. K-2SO is so new we have yet to see him done anywhere. But that doesn't stop some of us from trying to make him a reality.
 
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