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Star Wars Astromech R2-D2 project:

My new project is underway – to build an unknown amount of Astromech droids based on R2-D2 and friends.

I will be starting with one droid based on R2-D2, but as I develop a process to build parts along the way, I should have various spares and other things I find that ‘aren’t quite right’ to use on another one or two droids.

Check out the build progress pictures below which will be updated, newest at the bottom, as I buy or build parts.

Last updated: 3rd Feb '08 and 99% finished

First I picked up this dome which is designed to go over bird food to keep the squirrels off:



It has a hole in the top where a pole is supposed to go, which I have filled and smoothed off:



Then I had a look around for spare parts on eBay and struck gold. I feel a bit lazy not to build everything myself, but I will be doing at least one other droid from scratch so I talked myself into buying the following.

Basically, it's a half completed project consisting of the body frame and a dome:







There's a bit more finishing to do on the dome to add the extra blue areas, but it a fantastic light show built in already:



The logic displays have fading/flickering lights controlled by a sequencer:





The head rotating frame is also built and supported by wheels under and all around it:



I have also aquired some resin cast pieces including two coin slot strips, which is enough for two droids, and also some batery box ends - which aren't that good, but will do for something:





I found this cluster of spot lights which I will use a holoprojectors on one of the droids. The lights come off the plate individually and can be moved to point in any direction:



My original intention was to use this 12" lazy susan bearing to rotate the head, this will do for one of the other droids too:

22nd Dec '07

I bought some fiberglass feet off eBay which look great. I was originally going to make my own from MDF but these are probably much better. The legs however I will be scratch building:





29th Dec '07

I've cut a template for the leg pieces from 6mm MDF. It is 5mm smaller all the way around than the leg needs to be as it will be cut around with a router making the actual pieces slightly larger. This will eventually make several layers of plywood and MDF to make up the thickness of the legs as they should be. Up to five layers will be used for the thickest parts of the legs.





6th Jan '08

I have cut most of the outer leg pieces using the router template:





And glued them together:





I've cut the shoulder shim parts to make the 'horse shoe' shape, although these are solid and not layered parts of different sizes as they should be. I have also roughly made the shoulder hub parts out of the discs that were left over and a some bottle tops:



A little go on the end of the belt sander gives them their contours. I'll probably vacuum form over them to make the final parts and give them a shiny finish:

8th Jan '08

I vacuum formed over my wooden shoulder hubs to make plastic versions:



I also vacuum formed over my shoulder shims to plastic coat them, the wood parts will be left inside:



Here are the leg parts so far together. I'm planning to stick a plastic strip around the edge of the legs and then prime, paint and laquer them all over:

9th Jan '08

The booster covers have been made from MDF. Some details are missing - mainly the channel along the centre where the leg strut fits, but this part will be made from half-rod and stuck on top:



Again, I have vacuum formed over them and left the wood inside:



...and painted them blue:



10th Jan '08

Here is (small) R2 with big R2:



When I bought my 'half droid' project on eBay, it came with extra skin material as well as the flat plans for the skins drawn out on paper. So I stuck it all down to a bit of wood and started to cut them out:





Here are the front skins - all the bits cut out. The cut-outs have been kept to be trimmied down and stuck back in the gaps where appropriate:



And the rear skins:



A quick test fit, they wil need adjusting around the shoulders where the legs fit on later:

12th Jan '08

I have cut many discs from MDF with a hole cutting saw. Some will be stacked up to make the shoulder hubs - where the legs fix to the body:



...some have been cut up and stacked up to make the rounded parts of the outer-ankles:



After a lot of sanding, here are the pieces:



Here is the piece in place on the ankle. Like the other parts, they will be vacuum formed over to coat them in plastic:



The skirt piece which is under the bottom of the body is made from more routed MDF stacked up:



I still need to sort out the curved ends and the slats:



The centre foot has also been cut out - but needs trimming a little shorter. There are some other details to add to it too:



I made the front 'large data port' from more routed MDF stacked up in layers. This piece goes right at the top front of the body:



These are the struts that will fit on the booster covers on each leg. I've glued all the pieces down and I'll vacuum form over them before painting them silver. Unlike the other pieces the wood will not be left inside the plastic versions:



16th Jan '08

I've aligned bolt holes for the legs that pass through the shoulder hubs and all the way inside the body. These are 15cm bolts and only just reach.



The heads will be recessed on the outside - and hidden by the shoulder shims etc.



Here is the test assembly with all three legs:

The extra detail has been added to the skirt part...



...and a hole routed out for the centre leg to slot into:



I've vacuum formed over the skirt piece, the curved ankle sections and the large data slot piece. All the wooden bits will remain inside the plastic parts:



After using about 5 tubes of superglue the outer skins are attached. There are still more sections to be added that fit back in the gaps:

17th Jan '08

All the white sections of the legs have been assembled and painted with white primer so they all come out with the same finish. The edges of the wooden parts that were not vacuum formed over had styrene strip stuck all around them beforehand. There will be a little sanding before the propper white coats and laquer are applied:



I've also stuck a few bits back in the gaps and cut all the way through the skins where various ports and vents will be installed. Still a few bits left to do:



The utility arms will just be flat bits cut out from the skins, painted blue, and stuck back on:



The shoulder hubs have been painted silver:



19th Jan '08

Amazing what a few bits of blue can do... looks a lot more like R2:



I have built an MDF support structure for the fiberglass feet that I got from another builder on eBay. The feet are quite strong, but mainly I need an internal frame to hold the wheels inside:



An M8 bolt will hold the centre fot in place, it wil be trimmed down, and the detachable side plate will cover the hole:



All three feet will be on castors, but the outer legs will have three wheels under them each for stability:



21st Jan '08

This is a test assembly of all the parts to far:



Still a few details parts to make, but looking pretty good:





22nd Jan '08

My MDF 'battery box' ends. They are layered to allow a sheet of styrene to be wrapped around them and come flush with the end panels:



The tops of the pieces, the right hand ones are the fronts:



All primed up, a bit of sanding to do before the gloss coat. I'll be using flexible tap connectors for the 'power cables':



24th Jan '08

I have wrapped Stryrene around the battery box ends and sprayed them all one shade of white:



Here is one attached to the foot, with the hose in place too:



26th Jan '08

I am using PVC pipe to make the ankle cylinders. I've made the ends from MDF which are tacked on to short sections of pipe with glue. the short piece of pipe will be removed once I have vacuum formed over them to make push-fit ends for the actual cylinders (made from the same pipe):



Here are the vacuum formed ends. The wood remains inside each of them, the short pipe sections were pulled out:



I also vacuum formed over the leg struts which go on the outside of each leg's booster cover (the blue sections):



27th Jan '08

Here are the recently vacuum formed parts sprayed up silver and placed on the leg. Still a few bits to add to the ankle cylinder assembly:



I thought I should have a think about the dome detail. The person that I bought the dome from, which is as pictured up to now, had not yet added the blue sections to it which give R2 it's famous look.

As the other details are attached already and the surface is curved, which makes it very hard to stick things to, I had to think of a way to colour these sections in accurately. So, I stretched another piece of plastic over the spare dome, and marked the sections out on that:


 

This has been trimmed to fit around the rear holo-projector. The sections will be cut out, painted blue, and stuck back on the right place:



All the pieces cut out - the blue paint is drying overnight...



28th Jan '08

All the 'pie-panel' parts are painted up blue:



...and stuck on the dome:



I just have to make the other blue pieces that go around the outer edge too:

I have also stuck the ankle cylinders on with their wedges. The blue part around the cylinder is a strip of styrene with a wedge of wood at the top:



29th Jan '08

The rest of the dome is mostly done:







3rd Feb '08

R2-D2 is now 99% finished, and this will be as much as I do for now. I will still be collecting parts and thinking about another droid or another replica project to build, so watch out for more. Here are the mostly finished pics of R2:

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So What's Next?

Check out my full size prop Star Wars C-3PO and Jabba the Hut projects too !