Bandai Star Wars droids

[typ44q]

I have been a very inactive member of this forum for many years but wanted to change that by posting some pics of a few Bandai kits I built a few years ago (10 ish).
Maybe I will even get motivated to build a few more that have been sitting on the shelves!
R2-D2 was my first Bandai kit.
I have plans to do a clean version with better aluminum paint and better attention to the seam line on the dome.

 

[Edbert]

Right outta the movie! How tall is R2?

 

[typ44q]

Right outta the movie! How tall is R2?

Thank! It is 1/12th scale so about 3.5" tall

 

[typ44q]

Up next was C3PO that I tried a similar amount of weathering. Again I have plans for a clean version and would love to be able to light his eyes up.

 

[BarleyBop]

Those look great!
Weathering works really well.
Ignoring the background, it is difficult to judge the scale!

 

[typ44q]

Those look great!
Weathering works really well.
Ignoring the background, it is difficult to judge the scale!

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words!

 

[TimM63]

Up next was C3PO that I tried a similar amount of weathering. Again I have plans for a clean version and would love to be able to light his eyes up.

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Well done on the droids.
And that is a very clean paint booth.

 

[jwt708]

They look great!

 

[BOATMAN]

HI to light up the eyes very easy just fit two orange 5mm leds in his eyesocket an run wires down through his body an out of his feet on to a 3 v batt an both of your models look great well done sir
chrisb

 

[typ44q]

Well done on the droids.
And that is a very clean paint booth.

Thank you! And the booth was brand new at the time lol

 

[typ44q]

HI to light up the eyes very easy just fit two orange 5mm leds in his eyesocket an run wires down through his body an out of his feet on to a 3 v batt an both of your models look great well done sir
chrisb

I have seen light kits that use much smaller LED's they look more like surface mouth LED's with wires connected to them. 5mm seems like it would be a tight fit?

 

[duck]

The great thing about Bandais kits, is the variety. We got R2-D2, R5-D4, R4-I9, giving us three distinct droid heads and a huge number of droids to build straight from canon. Plus with C-3PO and third party creators, more options. The power droids are fromJPG Productions, https://www.facebook.com/JPG.Modelkits/
There are seven protocol droids in the second picture. Lighting never cooperates.

 

[Jakko]

I have seen light kits that use much smaller LED's they look more like surface mouth LED's with wires connected to them. 5mm seems like it would be a tight fit?

How big is the head? You may be able to fit just one LED inside it and let the light shine out through both eyes.

 

[typ44q]

I am not sure of the dimensions of just the head but the entire model is only about 6" tall 15.2cm

How big is the head? You may be able to fit just one LED inside it and let the light shine out through both eyes.

I am not sure of the dimensions of just the head but the entire model is only about 6" tall 15.2cm. A single LED might work but you might not be able to get it back far enough in the head to evenly illuminate both eyes. Most people seem to use individual ones.

 

[typ44q]

The great thing about Bandais kits, is the variety. We got R2-D2, R5-D4, R4-I9, giving us three distinct droid heads and a huge number of droids to build straight from canon. Plus with C-3PO and third party creators, more options. The power droids are fromJPG Productions, https://www.facebook.com/JPG.Modelkits/
There are seven protocol droids in the second picture. Lighting never cooperates.
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Love that collection! And thanks for the heads up on the Facebook group, I just joined it.

 

[BOATMAN]

you say 5 mm led s to big well you can get 3 mm or 2mm leds an fitted with their restior s so i cant see a problem as ive used all these sizes on my warships an in my enterprise movie vershion
chrisb

 

[blakeh1]

Excellent work

Love the metallic blue on R2 and just the right amount of weathering

I did the "clean" versions as might be seen during the medal ceremony etc, but really, they look a lot more interesting with a bit of weathering

 

[typ44q]

Excellent work

Love the metallic blue on R2 and just the right amount of weathering

I did the "clean" versions as might be seen during the medal ceremony etc, but really, they look a lot more interesting with a bit of weathering

Thanks! After priming everything I did a base coat of aluminum and then painted the white or blue on top of that. This way I could chip away at the paint and reveal the "metal" underneath. For the blue I did a fairly light coat so more of the aluminum would show through.
I know the actual blue is darker and is not even paint but machinest marking dye which did not seem like it would look as good on a smaller scale.
I also took a lot of liberties with the paint colors for his tools and accessories.
I plan on doing medal ceremony fresh out of the oil bath clean versions as well!

 

[stevethefish]

How big is the head? You may be able to fit just one LED inside it and let the light shine out through both eyes.

My friend Scale Model Kit Review on YouTube used a single 3mm LED to light both eyes. the clear plastic parts form a sort of light pipe, IIRC.
I spoofed the "I Feel Fantastic" viral video from the earliest days of YouTube with my C-3PO.