My Lifesize 1:1 R2-D2 - 1st Attempt

About a year and a half ago I was put in contact with a gentlemen from Phoenix who had a kit that he never got around to building. I passed on it at the time. I called him last week and he still had the kit, so today I somehow got my wife to agree to spend a little of our upcoming tax return!

I met with him tonight and purchased the kit. He said it was put together by someone he knows in the R2 community. Not sure what it's origins are, or if there were other kits, but he said he purchased this from the guy a few years ago. I apologize if any of this kit is a recast of someone's hard work, but I was told it was not.

I don't know much about the R2 builders community other than they are one dedicated, loyal, and intensive bunch. I know they frown on kits like this, but from my point of view I don't have 1) the money (in the thousands), 2) the time (sometimes several years), and 3) the skill, to make this one of those incredible units you see scooting around the conventions. I wish I did, but I don't.

This kit cost me $500, and I can live with that. No big plans, no motors or turning head, maybe just a few lights. Needs lots of cleanup, but for my first attempt, I think I can make it work.

Would love to see how this turns out

Awesome!
I'm trying something like this myself but I did a drawing of the skin myself and had a friend at work transfer it to a router file to be cut soon.
I got a tube of the right dimension there also to wrap it on and will be making the legs myself.
It's very early-stage project for me at this point. I will be watching this build for ideas...

Great looking kit...we have a couple of people in our garrison making them up at the moment. Yours looks like such an easy way to do it compared to theirs. Wouldn't mind getting something like that myself.

Here's my scratchbuilt leg so far. Still needs lots of tweaking but it'll be good enough for me.
And hey, free materials is a win-win!

looks like a long project best of luck..

Well, since I'm waiting for supplies, I decided to move on from my son's room and get going on my R2. I've wanted one for years, one of my all time most desirable props, but this thing is going to take a lot of work! Not the best unit, but I am sure glad I had a chance to snatch up this kit.

I first needed to shorten the Sono tube, it was about an inch and a half in diameter too big. So I cut it down the back and pulled it together. I glued the strip I cut out to the inside to reenforce it. It's not pretty, but will do.





My biggest dilemma was how to attach the styrene body sheets to the tube. Someone recommended Liquid Nails, but I didn't want to use something that thick. After working with this for a while I had no idea how difficult this step would be. The styrene wasn't as flexible as I had hoped. I heated it up some and was able to wrap it a little better. I decided to use a combination of glue and rivets. I will cover the rivets with a small strip of extra styrene later.

I left a small portion exposed on the top of the tube, which worked out excellent. It allows the dome to sit seamlessly without any extra work. It'll just sit it on top and the lip of the styrene body sheets hold it perfectly. No need to attach it, especially since this will be a static display piece, and one day I may want to add a motor to make it move.







Tomorrow I want to mount the legs, but I first have a ton of sanding to do.

I spent some time sanding the main pieces so I could mock this up and start test fitting. I will tell you it won't look pretty on the inside, but for what I paid, I think it will look decent enough on the outside.

The legs are being attached with a simple 5/8 hex bolt, fender washer, locking washer, and wing nut.



I also added a piece of 1 x 3 to the bottom to support the body and center foot. For the center foot, I added two pronged tee nuts which will allow me to attach the foot with two machine screws.



I'll add washers to these when I do the final build.



Made sure everything was level and I'm finally starting to see an R2.

It looks good with the mounted legs!

I don't know how I missed this looking good.

Ahh, lovely looking little R2 unit my friend!

I was able to do a little work on the feet. I was actually able to get a set of feet from a guy on Astromech at a real decent price. The ones that came with this kit just were going to work without some serious skill and time, both of which I am short on right now.

I did some sanding, mounted the side details to all 3 feet, and added some small styrene pieces to the front. I also put the first coat of primer on the center foot and ankles. I'm itching to start painting.





I also did a test color for the blue. I think I'll probably stick to this one, the others were either too light or too dark. The horseshoe pieces on top aren't attached yet, I didn't want to do that until I decided on color (I'll hand paint the center sections silver).

Great looking project... Looking forward to the updates

Keep up the good work. Can't wait for some updates, makes me wanna give it a try.

That's a lovely project you've got yourself there - I'm dead jealous.
Although you say it's going to be a static prop, it might be worth your while to consider cable runs now while you build otherwise you could end up have to do some major surgery on the little guy later on if you ever want to add motors.

Originally Posted by NikonD80

That's a lovely project you've got yourself there - I'm dead jealous.
Although you say it's going to be a static prop, it might be worth your while to consider cable runs now while you build otherwise you could end up have to do some major surgery on the little guy later on if you ever want to add motors.

Thanks, but I am about 99.9% sure this little guy won't ever be RC / motorized. I am 100% sure it won't be RC / motorized by me! As this is my first attempt, with economy pieces, I don't want to go the motorized route on this one. Don't have the time or money right now. I think down the road I'd like too, but that is way down the road and most likely with better parts.

I was able to get the holes cut for some of the detail pieces. This was a real SOB, trying to get clean cuts through that Sonotube was pretty difficult. I have some unwanted gaps, but oh well, I may or may not fill them later. I have a little more work to do on that bottom center piece (needs to come out a bit more) and these should be good to go.





I also got the legs assembled and added the horseshoe pieces. I have some paint touch up on these and want to get that center strut piece painted silver.



It's getting there!

Nice job man!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ahh, I see. Well have fun with this project. It's a nice and tidy build. I'mm looking forward to seeing your progress.

I'd buy a kit for $500 just to have it sitting there would be an awesome prop!

This is very cool...Keep the photos coming!

Originally Posted by Man of War Studios

This is very cool...Keep the photos coming!

Thanks brother! By the way, I'll probably be contacting you in the future, going to redo my Fett and I definitely want to get my hands on one of your jetpacks and a set of gauntlets.

Did some work yesterday and this morning. I was happy to be able to finally primer and paint him white! One of the most nerve racking things for me was painting the blue panels on the front. I only had a few very minor tape slip ups, but for the most part I am real happy with how it turned out.

I need to do some detail work on the legs and feet today.

Once I completely finish the body, I'll tackle the head.

Cool project!
more information and images
thanks

I was able to mostly finish up the feet and legs, save a few details. Painted the front strip silver on the feet.



Used silver paint for the center strut on the legs, the grooves by the ankles, the inner ring where they attach to the body, and the horseshoe greeblies.





Just a little bit of touch up left on the feet and legs, once I mount the battery boxes I'll add the power cables to the feet and call these done.

I also painted 5 of the body panels silver metallic. I have some blue inlay to do on these and they should be good.

This project is getting better and better with each post. Excellent build!

Waaaaaaaaay Sweet!!

Wow! That looks amazing!!! I've always wanted to do a life size R2 unit. I joined the R2 builders group on yahoo a few years ago but never got around to building it. I can't wait to see your final build. It looks awesome. How much do you think you'll have in the final project?

- Warpcell

Nice work...I admire your tenacity on such an involved project. I have just joined TDH and saw your thread. Keep the updates coming.

Originally Posted by Warpcell

Wow! That looks amazing!!! I've always wanted to do a life size R2 unit. I joined the R2 builders group on yahoo a few years ago but never got around to building it. I can't wait to see your final build. It looks awesome. How much do you think you'll have in the final project?

- Warpcell

I purchased the entire kit for $500.00. Then I spent another $120 on all 3 feet because the ones that came with the kit just weren't going to cut it. Then I bought two audio pucks for $8 each, and about $35.00 in paint. I don't really have anything else to buy, I have some LEDs on hand which only cost a few dollars. So right now I am at about $671.00, and that should most likely do it.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Did some more work today. First I painted the blue details on the center bottom piece.



Then I worked on the vents where the audio pucks will go. I took an old black sock, cut it into two small pieces, and hot glued it to the back of the two center vent ports. After trimming the socks I glued the audio pucks in place. I wired these to two separate switches on the left side top, towards the rear of the unit. The third switch will activate the LEDs in the eye when I start working on the head. I still need to paint the buttons.







Then I installed a few of the other body detail pieces.



Here's the video of the audio.

R2-D2 with Sound.MPG - YouTube

I still have several other detail pieces to finish, like the coin slots for the front of the body, the battery boxes, a few other leg greeblies, and then it's time to start on the head.

This is such a cool project. I joined the R2 builders site and got put off building a droid because everyone made it look so fiddly and complicated so I ended up building a Dalek. Seeing your build here though makes me think that maybe I should dust off those old plans and take another look now my skills have improved. If I could build one half as good as this I'd be well pleased.

Looks great! Can't wait to see finished pictures. Keep up the good work.

Thats awesome!

Slow progress this week.......I debated even posting updates, considering I am not really "making" anything. I guess this thread is kind of useless because all I am doing is assembling / painting pieces I didn't create. But a few people, myself included, enjoy seeing build threads so I guess I'll keep with it.

I worked on the ankle cylinders, I used some schedule 40 pipe and cut it to length. I was also able to start on some of the detail pieces. The flash makes the texture look a little screwy, but the silver flake paint I am using it not too bad.





I also painted some of the blue into the vents. I decided not to cover the rivets either, I cut a piece of styrene but didn't like how bulky it looked. I guess this gives R2 a bit of an industrial look.

Looking great man! Please do update....Love the progress

Got some more work done yesterday and today, I'll start on the head in a few days. I am so close to finishing!

I worked on the power cables for the feet, and keeping with my desire to save money regardless of accuracy, I bought these little plastic plugs. I primed and painted them silver.



I also bought some refrigerator water line and cut it into 4 lengths of 12" each. I glued the ends into the plugs.






To keep them from popping off, I epoxied some machine screws into each end, drilled a hole in the feet, and fastened them with a nut.



Needs some minor paint touch-up, but here are the finished feet.



Did a quick test fit of everything.





Then disassembled and moved him to his final place. I am slowly running out of room!

WOW! This looks fantastic. Great job with the audio and you're moving along WAY FASTER than I would expect someone to on an R2 Keep up the great work. Just a suggestion: You might want to add the ability of a rotating head. Make manually rotatable for now, with the option of adding a servo later. Just a suggestion. Looks GREAT!!

Originally Posted by OBrotherRacing

WOW! This looks fantastic. Great job with the audio and you're moving along WAY FASTER than I would expect someone to on an R2 Keep up the great work. Just a suggestion: You might want to add the ability of a rotating head. Make manually rotatable for now, with the option of adding a servo later. Just a suggestion. Looks GREAT!!

Thanks, I am looking into making the head rotate. I found a real cheap lazy susan that may work, still thinking about it though.

Lookin' Crazy good, Brotha!

Very cool build. You never cease to amaze me with your talents.

Don't stop with the posts / updates I really enjoy them. It gives some of us out here with limited skills the confidence to try .That alone makes it worth it. Plus I gotta say this is soooooo cool!

Excellent build! Keep us posted with your updates. This will help a lot of people with similar builds.

I love it! Are you going to try and have it done by celebration to show it off?? (assuming you are going of course)

WowWoW

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by Katzybugz

I love it! Are you going to try and have it done by celebration to show it off?? (assuming you are going of course)

I am working on going to Celebration, but I don't think I want to hall this to Florida from Arizona. Also, mine will pale in comparison to the ones already going, so why bother! I don't think my static R2 will be much of a draw.

I don't blame you for not wanting the hassle of gettin it to celebration. But, to say it wouldn't be as good as the other ones. I just don't agree with that. Yours looks awesome. I wouldn't know it was your first attempt by any means. You shouldn't sell yourself short. You should def be proud of how it's turning out. I can't wait to see the next step personally. I'm amazed by people who can build props

Yesterday and today were a real pain, I was about to take this head and toss it down the street. It was one of the things I was dreading the most. I got so irritated with it I had to detach for several hours.

I went back and forth with how to do this. One thing I did know was that I was not going to do an inner and outer dome like most builders. This project is going to cost me under $700, so buying an inner dome was not an option.

I tossed around the idea of using styrene to cut out the blue head parts, then attaching them to the dome. The problem was the styrene just couldn't conform to the curvature of the head. I tried to heat them up, but it just wasn't working for me. I think it would have looked great, giving it a 3D effect, but I just couldn't get it to go.

Then I thought about using decals, the easy way out. I actually decided on that but said I would consider paint one more time. I just wasn't comfortable masking the head. Anyway, I thought I would give it a shot.





I took a few liberties with the blue, but overall I am very satisfied with how this came out. It actually looks better than I expected! There were a few mistakes, mostly notable at the top of the head, I didn't pay attention in a few areas and some of the top panels are bigger than others. I temporarily taped some of the head parts just to get an idea of how it looked. I have a few other pieces I need to clean up, along with these, paint, add some LEDs, and then it's done!











Now that he is coming together and actually looks like an R2, I am very pleased with it.

Wow that is amazing and you have every right to be pleased.

I really like that. I've seen other builds that have cost the builder a fortune as they make it remote controlled and add all the whizz-bang gizmos under sun to their creation that work beautifully but don't seem to have the character of Artoo. Even uncompleted, yours has the cheeky look about it. I'd be very proud to have a build of this quality in my collection so don't knock yourself when comparing it to others - it's a beaut.
Looking forward to seeing the next part of the build.

makes me envious, keep going i just wish i had the money to have another project like that, but i need time too, top job once again.

I came to get my R2 fix aaawwhhh, but I guess I'll have to wait . Hopefully not too long ,I look forward to your next update!

Looks great man!!!

You’re doing a fantastic job! It already looks like it costs a lot more that what you’ve paid for.

Thanks!

Just a real quick update. I wired and tested up some LEDs today. I really like how it's turning out. I have a few adjustments to make to the large center blue eye and to the two small sets of blinking LEDs, I just wanted to get everything in place. I also have a small lens I am making for the little blinking red / blue eye up front.

Here's a video, more pictures to follow:

Test of R2-D2 Lights

Here's a couple shots of the head with all the projector details and the main eye surround finally in place.





Because I didn't want to do any cutting at all on this metal head, I cheated a little and cut about the last 1/4" off these side details and mounted them directly to the dome with resin. Then I drilled holes for the LEDs, I put six in each one. They aren't straight (drilling into metal is not my strong suit), but you won't see them when I finish the insert I am making for these. These blinking blue / red LEDs were something I had left over from another project, so I figured I would use them.



I then bought a couple of those capsules from the coin operated toy dispensers you see at the front of the grocery store. I used three small ones for each projector. They fit perfectly, didn't even need to cut them.



For the other large eye on the bottom, I wasn't sure what to do. So I took the largest toy capsule and cut about 3/4" off the bottom. Then I bought this really cheap tire gauge from the dollar store:





I pulled off the plastic front piece, turned it upside down, mounted the remaining 1/4" of the toy capsule on to it, and sanded the whole thing to make it look a bit frosted. I then took a small top portion of one of the capsules, filled it with hot glue, and mounted it inside this eye. That will help diffuse the light a little. I then mounted the eye over the LED.



Here's how it looks lit up. I have a solid white LED in the front projector, 5 solid blue LEDs in the main eye, one blinking red / blue in the lower eye, and 12 blinking red / blue in the left side pieces.



I have an idea for the 12 red / blue LEDs and just need to finish the main eye and I think it's done!

Love it

Perfect! You did an excellent job with that R2 D2!

Looks excellent!

Today I finished up the details on the two lower left light boxes on the dome. I created a simple pattern, printed it out on a piece of transparency, backed it with a piece of frosted velum paper, and used some self laminating sheets to cover everything. I cut and mounted them into the boxes.





With that, I think I can finally call this done! (Well, 99%, I am waiting on a piece of tint for the main eye.) This took me a little over 5 weeks, and came in just under $700.00.

I wish this thread were more realistic about how to build an R2-D2, but it's not. I cheated and was lucky enough to find all the parts from one source, just needed lots of work! I wish I were talented enough to do something like this completely from scratch, but I'm not. But no worries, I am very happy with how this turned out.

I plan on selling this one down the road and using the funds to make another one, but with better, more accurate parts. I still won't be dropping $5000 plus into one of these, but I wouldn't mind increasing the budget some to get it looking more accurate and a bit cleaner.

Here's a quick video:

Final R2-D2

And some final photos









Thanks for all the kind words!

You mentioned "cleaner" and I'm sure you mean in the execution of the build but if you don't mind me saying, I think weathering of this one would go a LONG way in it's overall appearance.
It would definitely cover up some of the aspects you're less fond of. Mis-cuts, not so straight detailing, and other small goofs be hidden well behind a layer of dirt and oil build up. The panel lines are a bit lost in the main body with it so "new".

Just a suggesty but a great success either way on a first try!

This turned out great! Let me know when you go for the upgrade...may be interested...excellent work!

Looks fantastic I agree with Muad'Dib weathering would go a long way for overall appearance , but you did a great job plus the price was right . I look forward to any future builds this was a total joy to watch.

Look awesome. It's an inspiration to those of us who would love to build an R2, but can't afford thousands on one. Your build proves you can build a beautiful and cost effective droid.

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by Muad'Dib

You mentioned "cleaner" and I'm sure you mean in the execution of the build but if you don't mind me saying, I think weathering of this one would go a LONG way in it's overall appearance.
It would definitely cover up some of the aspects you're less fond of. Mis-cuts, not so straight detailing, and other small goofs be hidden well behind a layer of dirt and oil build up. The panel lines are a bit lost in the main body with it so "new".

Just a suggesty but a great success either way on a first try!

Funny thing was I had planned on making this a battle damaged R2 or a Dagobah one, but it actually turned out a bit better than I expected! I do agree though, weathering would look good. I think I'll wait to see if I can sell this one first before I mess with weathering. And by cleaner I do mean I want some nicer parts; metal projectors and vents, etc. The parts on this one were just resin and real rough.

Incredible build. Your attention to detail is nothing short of amazing.

Amazing R2 unit!! Well done!

AWESOME!! Congratulations on the build.

That looks great, just goes to show you there are more than one way to do a project and on any budget too.
I finished my artoo that i have been building for years last summer and I realized if you make the time you can achive outstanding results if you are determined enough.
mine is made completely scratch built from timber and perspex with the vents on the front being the only bought resin parts. i'm sure its the cheapest artoo build on the planet with nearly everything made with junk off cuts from where i work (i'm a carpenter) heres a pic

WOW...Great work to the both of you!!!.... Simply AMAZING work!

Outstanding work! Sometimes less is most certainly more, and in this case you did an awesome job within budget. I can easily see this on display at the local comic book shop for everyone to enjoy ! kudos !