R2-D2 is a fictional robot character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas, who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, and Rogue One. A small astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character and appears in all Star Wars films to date. Throughout the course of the films, he joins or supports Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga.

Step 1: Parts and Knowledge

Right, will you be able to make one your no doubt asking yourself, I know I did! So the following skills will be handy, but not essential to know before starting, after all this is about learning too:

Basic electronics
understanding of parts
uses, components and the simple formula P = IV and the V I R triangle, ohm's law
Motors
stepper motors
servo motors
differences
cables and wiring
Motor control concepts
stepper control
power requirements
communication etc.
- Computers (choice 1) - Installation of apps and connecting up (basic), ebay for parts !
- Computers (choice 2) - Programming in C#, - speech recognition, vision processing, control systems.
- I will give you the R2-D2 software if you ask.
- Metalwork - how to use of a lathe and milling machine.
- Woodwork - mdf, routing - tools: router, jig saw, scroll saw.
- Car body painting
- wet sanding
- filling etc
A budding artistImagination
common sense and to be a Star Wars Fan!

Step 2: Wood Working

I know you can't wait, but first download as many R2-D2 pictures as you can from the Internet but taken from the actual movies. Be careful of a few things that caught me out:

R2-D2's varied across films!; other builder's pictures are not all accurate. You will notice small detail changes in different movies. Try and get a perfect face on shot as well, that way you can you only need one measurement and you can scale the rest using a ruler. For example, if your dome is 360mm wide, measure it in you picture and if its say 72mm wide then every 1mm on your picture is 5mm in real life ! (360/72mm or what ever your measurements are). You now know how to work out / scale your robot from any picture. In case your wondering R2-D2 in episode 1 diameter was about 18.3 inches or about 460mm.

Step 3: Choosing the Dome

The dome is the limiting factor as it is tricky to find in metal. Ikea do a blanda bowl or a steel kitchen lamp in either 360mm (stainless for Â£9.99) or 450mm (mild steel for Â£35). I used the 360mm, so mine is slightly under-sized but this helps with weight, power requirements, cost and realism as his head is real steel. You can buy a dome on ebay for about Â£100 in resin if your feeling lazy. Once you've chosen your dome blank, go buy a big sheet of 6mm MDF and some no-more-nails tackle.

TIP: Before you cut anything, label everything — many parts look similar once they’re all over the workbench. Also, use all the reference materials available on the Astromech.net wiki and forums. Read everything. Ask questions.

Step 4: Trim the Dome Support Rings

The dome base needs internal support, and a pair of floral rings from your local craft store work perfectly. For now, just trim them to fit in the bottom of the dome, on top of the dome ring. You’ll glue them later.

Step 5: Cut Holes for Dome Components

Mate the outer and inner dome and mark where you need to cut the holes for the 3 Holoprojectors. These can be stationary or servo-controlled. The front projector is what we see R2 use for the “Help me, Obi-Wan” hologram.

Next, cut out the holes for the Front Processor State Indicator (PSI), the Rear PSI, the Front Logic Displays, and the Rear Logic Displays.

Finally, make a cutout for the Magic Panel. This panel looks like it’s made of metal, but it lights up in some scenes and it opens in others. Because it does things that defy engineering, it has been dubbed “magic.”

Step 6: Test Mount the Radar Eye

R2’s Radar Eye is the focal feature of R2’s “face.” If you compare movie to movie, that Radar Eye moves around quite a bit! Almost all builders will end up placing it by eye — pun intended. If it looks good to you, that’s where it goes. I placed mine in different locations for a week before settling on what looked good to me.

If desired, make a hole now in the dome underneath the radar lens, so later you can place sensors or a camera.

Step 7: Body Work

Do your scaling and based on your diameter. Then you need to make a tube from MDF of that diameter. If you google bending MDF you will see many experts say that it can't be done...really? look above and you'll see it's a piece of cake if done slowly.

To make the tube you need to make a rectangle that you can roll up, so take you diameter and times it by PI, so in my case 360mm X 3.142 (PI) and that's the length of the rectangle. Now get a router with a circle cutting pivot rod and some 12mm MDF sheet so that you can cut 2 circles of the inner diameter of the body then rolled.

If you not sure what this is, it's the diameter of your head less twice the thickness of your body mdf so...DIA - (2x 6mm) = 348mm. Cut the two circles and the make one into a polo shape with the polo being about 6cm wide and a big hole in it.

Okay, now to steam it into a circle...go boil the kettle and lay the rectangle on the lawn glossy side DOWN. Tip hot water all over it EXCEPT for the last 2 inches (1 inch each side) where the ends will meet.

Using your two circles, roll the MDF around it very slowly. If it's stiff, put more hot water on it and leave it for a few minutes. It will soon go around. When it does, get some tacks and tack around it in a few places. Now stand it up and leave it in the sun to dry. 2 hours later you'll have a nice glossy MDF cylinder that is apparently impossible. When dry, glue the bottom flush and the top polo one about 20mm down from the top, like the picture here. (painted white) Some builders choose to build a skeleton and then a white skin, but the skin here is structural and more like the way cars are built today, rather than a sub-frame from back in the day. There are pros and cons to both, but this method is light, cheap and quick.

Step 8: Test Fit All the Components

Once the skins are attached, trial-fit all your external components and adjust them if needed for final fit. For example, in the front of R2 are his two Utility Arms. If you’re going to make these arms move, they have a tendency to rub the skin as they arc outward. This can be fixed by sanding the backside of the arms at an angle. If you’re not making them movable, there’s a 3D-printed static arm and box set available in Astromech.net’s 3D file section.

Don’t glue any components in place yet.

Step 9: Painting

You will have to study the picture of R2 to work out all of his ports, doors and markings. Once you've drawn them on with pencil, cut out the openings with a hole saw. Remember that R2 has a recess line around almost all openings as in the picture with the soldering iron. I used the soldering iron because it kind of melts into MDF like a branding iron and leaves a smooth groove. I tried a dremel, but not good.

Now for the painting. MDF can be a bit fluffy and tricky to paint so you need to kind of glue it. The best way is to use normal household primer for wood work. Put it on with a brush, nice and think. No when you rub it down, spray paint will still and finish ok. I spray with a different colour primer each time so I can see and undulations or "highs and lows".

The picture in grey shows just how fine some dents are and this is kind of like you would re-spraying a classic car. When there are no colour differences showing when sanding, you will have a very smooth finish.
Keep priming and rubbing (wet sand if needs be with wet and dry) because it's all in the finish! ask any custom car builder and they will tell you it's all in the prep. Once your happy, you can spray with white and apply at least two coats of clear / gloss. I use cellulose paints as they are very hard.

There you have it, one super smooth glossy white body that feels as smooth as a car. Obviously you will have had to make the skirt and side flat cuts, but you and do that easy enough.

Painting effects / ageing the body - being a special effects artist.... I don't know if your like me but I want a real looking R2-D2 robot, and robots don't take showers so I went for the "used" look, covered in oil and fake rust (well real rust in glue). Once you have your nice new body, think to yourself...."imagine if i covered it completely in oil and wiped off when I could in a hurry, where would I wipe." only the easy bits is the answer, a bit like never cleaning between the spokes on your alloy wheels!.

So step is to get some kids black and rust coloured paints and paint into all the groves etc. Once you've done this, get a packet of baby wipes (because they have some cleaner in them) and rub off the paint, but not in the grooves. See the pictures. Apply rust colours in the the way, wipe on and wipe of, spodge etc.

See the finished feet to see how real it looks.

Step 10: Assemble Your Fully Operational Droid!

After all the paint is dry, you can begin final assembly of R2. Welcome to the fleet! You have joined an elite few who have a showable, operational droid. We have thousands of members, but there are less than 500 operational droids, and less than 200 screen-showable droids worldwide.

Your Droid is ready . Check wether it is working?

If yes prefer to show in exhibitions and fairs

Thanks

Team HRzero