weathering

I’m so close to the finish, I can smell it!

So, these last days of core building is nearing its end.

More and more small fixes are taken care of, and the droid is getting more and more finished!

Construction wise, all that is left is filing 3 pieces of metal for the foot strips, building two end caps for my ankle cylinder, and dress those in aluminium tape!

After that’s done.. well . I need to file down my battery box harnesses a bit, glue them in place, and also glue in the under shoulder details at my left leg!

Once those small things are done.. construction of “phase 1” as Valisk_61 put it… is finished!

Naturally, I’ll need to weather the legs and skirt..

So: What has happened since last time then?

[box type=”info”] I can’t believe it’s not aluminium![/box]

Wrapping aluminium tape around something, working hard with a glove (or you’ll cut yourself, I know) to smoothen it out, then finally sanding with 400 grit sand paper, gets you a pretty good looking solid aluminium look!

This is actually one of two resin ankle cylinders that I had, and these were used for my center foot, where they are so close that any minor discrepancy is a lot easier to notice! =)

Center foot construction is 100% complete!

I just need to add a bit of weathering to the cylinders and the wedges and it is a done deal!

The wedges are scratch built from styrene, if you wonder.

Here’s an example of one of my PVC/styrene ankle cylinders in action:

Looks fairly decent as well, I think!

My, after weathering the droid’s body and the center foot, the main foot and leg looks so plastic and fake without any grime! This cannot do!

Foot strips are also on the way.. I got pre-cut 3mm aluminium strips from the Mighty Sigge

[tm] (Thank you, much obliged!) and started to drill and file and all. Once done, it looks like quite an improvement from what I started with, or what do you think?

It takes a little while, but end results are really good! =)

Once this was done, it was time to reattach the hoses..

Now where do this one go? top or bottom hole, I can never remember..

There… All done!

There’s been more bits and pieces done today as well, small tidbits, painting of the second booster cover took place (Why don’t I paint them both at the same time to begin with?), built and painted the rest of the ankle wedges, mounted the ankle cylinders, the holders, well .. in fact, most things!

I did glue then ankle details in with E-6000. First I planned to use double stick tape for them, as it really seems to hold up well, but… why not. They’re not going to be removed anytime soon anyway =)

Stuff to do:

  • file 3 foot strips
  • attach foot strips
  • attach hoses on second foot
  • glue under shoulder details on second leg
  • weather both main legs
  • weather skirt
  • weather cylinders in main leg
  • double check wiring
  • charge battery
  • have fun!

So close.

SO close!

By |2016-12-06T00:00:47+01:00November 8th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on I’m so close to the finish, I can smell it!

Weathering the body

I know my fiancée wanted the droid to look clean and brand new, but a weathered droid looks a lot more real!

So, I calculated the odds of she liking the weathered look as opposed to me doing something totally stupid…. and went ahead and did it anyway!

I started with the pristine, clear coated body, now with all pieces mounted..

..and then started greasing up the body.

(the droid’s, not mine!)

So, without further ado, this is my weathered droid!

… got you!

This was only part of phase one. To get the colour and nuances where I wanted them. Next step was to go over the droid with rubbing alcohol (T-Röd for the Swedes reading this) and basically cleaning the droid up.

Not too much, since I still wanted it to look a bit worn, but enough to not look pristine and a bit used!

This is more like it, eh?

I haven’t done the skirt yet, I will flip the droid upside down when going over the skirt..

This is the back…

And finally.. a side detail!

So: two legs left to weather, and some light weathering on the dome!

Comments, please? =)

By |2016-12-06T00:00:50+01:00November 5th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Weathering the body

Brand new droid no more…

Since most of the things I can do on the droid is more or less finished, I’ve done some first attempts at weathering!

As you know R2 should have a little dirt under his fingernails, even when he is all fixed up and looks nice!

So: what do you guys think? Too much or just perfect? =)

These are both sides of the same foot..

I went for the used and slightly dirty, but cleaned up by a farm boy who rather wanted to pick up some power converters with his friends kinda look

Other side of the same foot, will get a little more work done tomorrow!

By |2016-12-06T00:00:55+01:00November 4th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Brand new droid no more…
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