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PROUD MEMBER OF....
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Here is the leg
with the resin detail parts
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Top and Bottom
views of my wooden legs.
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Not
affiliated with Lucasfilm Lt. R2-D2 is the conceptual propety of
Lucasfilms and used with out authorization.
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Ribbed Shoulders
(A How To Guide)
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Overview
The "ribbed
shoulders" appear on the two legged "Kenny Baker" R2 unit. This
detail is for the really picky. It is not on very many R2 units.
I first converted
the compleat
plans
into a format that the sign making software can use.
I then made a
series of template "stickers" for each layer. See diagram
You will need:
1. Enough 3 mm
thick material for 7 layers for each shoulder. I used 3 mm SINTRA.
2. Adhesive to
bond the layers together. I used all purpose plumbers glue.
3. Method of
cutting the material. I used a ruler and a XACTO knife
4. Plans /
Templates of the shoulder pieces.
5. Filler. I used
BONDO for the outer edge of the shoulders.
6. Sandpaper /
file. This is needed for the finishing of the filler of the outer
edge.
7. Paint. Even if
your material is white you will need to paint it due to the filled edge.
Step
One
Layout the
patterns on the plastic. Cut out all the outside shapes on the layers.
Then cut out the
squares and rectangles from 3 bigger pieces and 2 smaller pieces.
This will leave
you with 1 big layer and 1 small layer without any holes cut in it. See
Diagram
The 2 panels (one
big one small) are the bottom 2 layers of the shoulder. This
gives the detail pieces some where to mount to.
Step
two
Now that the
pieces are all cut out you can glue the layers together.
Start with the big
layer with no cut outs. This will be the bottom layer.
The next layer is
the smaller piece with no cut outs.
From there the
layers alternate ever other layer. Here is a simple example of the
layers:
Top
BIG CUTOUT
SMALL
CUT OUT
BIG CUTOUT
SMALL
CUT OUT
BIG CUTOUT
SMALL
NO CUTOUT
BIG NO CUTOUT
Bottom
Step
Three
Now that all the
layers are assembled the outer edge will need filling. Unless you had
each piece laser cut you will probably need this step. I used BONDO to
fill the edges. Next is to sand and file the edges smooth.
Step
Four
The last step is
to paint the shoulders. The inner ribbing is silver, the rest is white.
(unless you are doing a different color droid). The finished picture is
of my R3-B2 shoulder, hence the blue color shoulder.
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Pictured
above is a Half finished ribbed
shoulder. The red you see is my "sticker template".
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Here
is the finished right shoulder. The ribbing is painted silver in the
style of the Kenny Baker units.
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Main
Diagram
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There
are more pictures of the shoulder on the DETAILS page of this site.
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Here
is a picture showing the different layers of wood. Each color is a
different piece of wood.The pink layer is actually plastic shaped with
heat. The blue layer has two "bumps" made of wood to obtain the correct
shape.
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Legs
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When building my
R2 Unit, the greatest challenge, for me, was the legs. The legs are
very detailed, making them hard to make out of one solid piece of
material.
I decided to use
wood. It is cheap and easy to work with. The picture to the right is my
wooden leg with out the resin details that will be added later.I again
used the sticker templates of the legs to get the basic shapes cut out.
I used dowels and lots of wood glue to bond it all together.
I should have
skim-coated it with BONDO and sanded it smooth because the wood grain
is evident in many areas of the legs.
The ankles on this
droid are weak. Wood is not a good material in this area.
On my next droid
the legs will start as a 1 3/4" x 4" aluminum tube. I will build up the
rest of the details in PVC.
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