Battle Droid

[PhantomMajor]

wow you're really progressing well with the adaptations of this kit. i cant wait to see the finished product.

[db]

Looks great!
I like it.

[tomkat364]

Long overdue update.

So I began to work on the arms two months ago. The kit articulation was very simplified and inaccurate. I'm actually very impressed with the thought that ILM put into this cgi model in that regard, although there are lots of "mistakes" I noticed when looking at reference in slo mo.
So the Kit allows the shoulder only one range of motion - forward flexion in a 360 degree range parallel to the torso. There is no abduction/adduction, or internal/external rotation.
Studying the reference, I noticed that ILM incorporates three separate "shoulder" joints to provide all three motions, diagrammed here...

I cut the tops of the pieces off as shown...

I also cut off the Round shoulder pieces molded onto the torso, and passed a brass rod through the area to form the pivot point for the Forward Flexion joint...


Then the "drums" were cut and a rectangular stud was placed in the middle, from which the "abduction/adduction" joint will articulate...

The female portion of this joint was made as a "u" shaped rectangle of laminated styrene. This connected with the upper arm stubs with a single piece of floral wire through the center, which acts like a pivot for the Internal/External Rotation range of motion...
I also removed the "piston" that was premolded, since it had a bad mold line and was not quite accurate, replacing it with a piece made from brass rods...


And that completes the UPPER ARMS...

The Lower arms were slightly less complicated, but I had to replace both the elbow joints and the wrist joints. I removed this section from the wrist...

and replaced it with a spherical bead.
The elbow joint was filled, and a brass rod was added. Where the elbow connects to the upper arm, I made a new disc of laminated styrene, into which the pivot passed, allowing the forearm to rotate (pronate/supinate), and the disc rotated allowing elbow flexion/extension. A "junction" piece was also added to fill the separation of upper arm/forearm, as seen here on the "real" model.

The fingers were all replaced with sheet styrene and brass rod, molded into the necessary poses to grip the blaster. The hand was then reattached to the wrist with wire, to allow posability.

Final results of the forearm/hand....



And the whole piece thus far, just need to pose the right shoulder and then its pretty much time to paint all the subassemblies...

[tomkat364]

I've been working a bit on the base for this guy, sewing halloween costumes for the kids, and working an awful lot, so slow progress...
I finished the base coat on the entire model along with some metallic highlights (not done with those, but ready for the next step...)


Next I plan to mask off and paint the red for the security markings. I'm fairly fond of the red in the upper left corner of my styrene test strip.

And finally, the painted, weathered, and completed blaster rifle.

[youngtiger1]

Tomkat, this is good work you are doing on this droid. I sure will love to see if you have any new update for us?

Mike

[tomkat364]

Well, it's been a while, and I had taken some time away from the droid to work on the base. Having gotten that ready for paint, I went back and did some weathering. Here are the final results...






I tried to make the weathering subtle, and as with all photos I take some of it is lost to lighting, but I'm satisfied with the result viewed in person.
Just have to paint the base, then I'm ready to start scratching the next member of the Confederate family.

[Peagis]

Nice!

[ChrisMac]

Great work and I'm gonna add one of these guys to my "gotta do" list.

[tomkat364]

Finally finished the base.




It is based on the tiled floor on which Anakin duels Dooku aboard the Invisible Hand.


The center light will be on a serial circuit with the two red LEDs necessary to light his future buddies, but works and will be lit in good time.

So final shots... should be plenty of room for the others when I get around to them.

[JediPuju]

very very nice! Glad to see it all come together!