1:12
scale Custom Action Figure Gallery
By:
Net-Viper X
Back
to the Star Wars Customs Main Page
SUMMARY
This section is for droids of various types found
in the Star Wars universe. I have amassed so many droids that they needed their
own category so as not to overload the other pages. Many of these are model
kits with a few action figures mixed in.
GALLERY
Episode IV: A New Hope
1:12
Scale R2-D2 Kit by Bandai
I needed an R2-D2 droid that could be displayed
with the 6" Luke Skywalker in X-wing pilot outfit. Since the Black Series
R2 droid by Hasbro was too under-scaled to fit with the other 6" figures I
decided to use this model kit by Bandai. This kit actually comes with two
droids in the form of R2-D2 and R5-D4, both with a very high level of detail.
The R2 droid was rather simple to complete since
it came pre-molded in the appropriate colors. I wanted it to look highly
corroded so the details would really pop out, but without the heavy layer of
dirt that it had when seen on Tatooine. The silver plastic the head was made
from looked poor, so I gave it an overcoat of metallic silver paint for a
better appearance. The blue panels were given a coat of metallic dark blue to
better match the R2's appearance in the movies.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1:12
Scale R5-J2 Kit by Bandai
For the R5-D4 droid a bit more work was required
since I wanted to convert him into an Imperial version. I settled on the R5-J2
droid seen in the Death Star, and set about remodelling him to the proper look.
This involved repainting the entire droid black, and some brown accents added
to various body panels. The main conversion work was on the head; R5-D4 has
three small eye lenses across the front of his face, while the Imperial R5-J2
droid had a round recessed area on his face with two extended binocular style
eye lenses. The middle foot also required a small panel be added to the front
with a round knob mounted in the center of the panel. The chrome trim was made
using narrow strips of Bare Metal modeling foil applied directly to the
model.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1:12
Scale R5-L9 Kit by Bandai
After completing the first set of astromechs, I
was so impressed with the details of the models that I decided to make a few
more Imperial droids and picked up a couple more kits. The droids from this
second kit require very little modification, with only the R5 unit needing some
work where the head meets the body. The normal R5 units have a collar that goes
at the base of the head, but R5-L9 does not have this collar and its head sits
lower on the body. This collar had to be cut away and a new attachment point
added so his head could still rotate on the body.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1:12 Scale R2-Q5 Kit by Bandai
Of all the Imperial astromechs I have built,
R2-Q5 is the only one that is completely standard and required no modifications
to the kit. This droid is the most commonly seen of all the Imperial astromechs
from Return of the Jedi.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1:12 Scale R2-A9 Kit by Bandai
This Imperial R2 unit is called R2-A9, and he is
mainly seen in behind the scenes shots and a few glances in the Death Star
hangar bay. This droid has a number of differences from all
the other R2 droids seen in the trilogy and might be a specialty or budget
model of some type. The colored lense on the back of his head is missing, and
instead has two small red lights above where the other lense should be. The
narrow digital readout is missing on his rear head panel, along with the
grooves along its side and bottom . The third hologram projector lense that is
normally on top of the head is instead mounted on the left side. On his lower
body; instead of the odd component that resembles an intake fan, this one has a
simple cover with screw holes on the corners and a hole in the center. The
final difference is this one has only three of the small silver slots on his
torso, where as other astromechs have six.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
1:12 Scale R5-M4 Kit by Bandai
The last R5 from Return of the Jedi is the rarely
seen R5-M4; his only known appearance to my knowledge being a promotional photo
alongside R2-A9. This droid has a couple of modifications to the
head and is the only Imperial astromech droid to have no chrome stripes on the
shoulders. R5-M4 has no neck collar, so this had to be removed and a new
attachment added in the same way as R5-L9. In addition this droid has a
recessed digital readout on the forehead that had to be cut out and filled. The
red trim around the readout is the only instance of a color other than brown
being used on these Imperial droids.
Star Wars Fantasy Droid
1:12
Scale R3-H1 Kit by Bandai
After finishing the Imperial astromechs seen in
the movie, I decided to do another one to represent the R3 astromech design.
The head for this droid design is distinctly different, and would need to be
fabricated from scratch. The R3 model droid is basically an R2 droid with a
transparent head dome so you can see the components inside. To create the head,
I formed a piece of transparent plastic over a partially assembled R2 head,
then used a heated rod to press the eye indention into the dome. The neck
collar is from the standard R2 kit, with the internal assembly made from the
leftover parts of a variety of model kits and whatever else I could find. I
took care to place the parts so that a component lined up with each panel on
the head dome, and each eye piece and sensor has something connected to it from
the inside.
Episode IV: A New Hope
1:12 Scale R2-G4 Kit by Bandai
Once I had all the Imperial astromech droids finished,
I decided to do one in a more colorful style. The one I settled on was a rather
unique looking droid from a deleted scene in Episode 4. The only shot of this
one is found in the special features on the Star Wars Blu-Ray, from a deleted
scene on Tatooine. Its a rather interesting mixture of four different shades of
sea green that I thought looked very cool. The droid appears to have a smaller
black projector lens on the back of the head, so I substituted the normal lens
for one from the R5 droid head and painted it black. I named this one R2-G4 on
account of the four shades of green used on the droid.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
1:12 Scale
R2-BHD Kit by Bandai
This droid is from the Star Wars spin off movie
Rogue One. It belonged to the Y-Wing squadron Commander, and has an interesting
combination of dull silver, stainless steel, and chrome. I achieved the effect
by painting the droid in basic silver, then covering the various panels with
chrome modeling foil and stainless steel contact paper. A small amount of
Testors Model Master chrome paint was used in some of the tight spots where the
modeling foil would not work.
Episode II: Attack of the
Clones
1:12
Scale R2-L3 Kit by Bandai
This droid has one of the most detailed paint
jobs of any in the Star Wars saga. It comes from Episode 2 of the prequel
trilogy and can be seen in the background at Mos Espa. This one took a lot of
time to get it painted accurately with all its striping and colors. I used
masking tape to stencil off the lines where I could, but when overlapping the
black and white lines I had to freehand much of it since the masking tape would
pull the previous coat of paint off the surface.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
1:12
Scale R4-T8 Kit by Bandai
Here we have the other super detailed droid from
Episode 2, which appears on Coruscant near the diner. This one is easily the
most highly detailed droid from the entire saga, and was a hellish experience
getting all the thin black lines painted on. The head was custom built using a
plastic card frame covered in self hardening epoxy clay and sanded to shape.
Thin pieces of card were then used for the triangle panels on the upper half of
the head, and the panels on top of the head. The eye lens and holoprojector
lenses are from the standard R2 model kit.
Episode IV: A New Hope
1:12
Scale R5-B2 Kit by Bandai
Here we have the first Non-Imperial R5 droid that
I have painted. This guy can be seen in the background of a few shots on
Tatooine as Luke is first entering town. A relatively simple paint scheme that
is very similar to R2-D2 with some extra blue and black details on his panels
and legs. For some reason this droid has the side portions of his lower skirt
removed in the film, so I replicated that detail here by cutting away the
missing parts.
Episode IV: A New Hope
1:12
Scale R3-M3 Kit by Bandai
This is one of the Imperial droids seen on the
Death Star during Episode 4 while Obi Wan is sneaking around the hallways. The droids
from the first Death Star seemed to be randomly colored and did not have the
black and brown color scheme later seen in Return of the Jedi. The R3 model
droids from Episode 4 did not have any detailing on the outer dome like they
did in later movies, instead featuring a simple clear dome with no eye lenses
or other protruding hardware. The dome for this one was created in the same way
as R3-H1 without adding the indention for the eye lens.
Episode IV: A New Hope
1:12
Scale C-3P0 Protocol Droid Kit by Bandai
When Bandai released the model kit for C-3P0, I
knew that this would have to be added alongside R2-D2. This 3P0 kit has a
vac-metalized gold plating on the surface, something that few versions of C-3P0
have these days and does a much better job of accurately depicting the droid
from the films.
This droid kit allows you to build C-3P0 as he
appeared at virtually any time during Episode 4 of the Star Wars trilogy. The
kit comes with two breast plates so you can have him with or without a
restraining bolt, and also two faceplates so you can add the dent on the
forehead if you wish. I decided to do this one as he appeared at the beginning
of the movie before they arrive on Tatooine, so he would match up well with R2.
To this end he was given a good amount of corrosion, but none of the dust and
dirt he later aquired.
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
The BB-8 droid made by Bandai is much more
detailed than the Hasbro version, so I decided to build one for my collection.
The kit itself is rather simple to build compared to the other droids, and
paintwork was just a matter of adding a little weathering to the crevices and
painting in the tiny little red and blue lights on his body and head.
