Over on the R2 Discord chat, OpenR2 member raised the question about R5’s eye sensor not being like the ‘club spec standard’ design but actually being conical. As with lots of items used in the original
trilogy, unusual looking things from everyday items were used in different
ways. OpenR2 showed a high resolution image of R5’s eye
and the shape/shadows showed it to be conical and not the stepped look us club
members have been using all these years. As stated above, a lot of the droid
greeblies & even Boba Fett's costume and jet pack, in fact came off
vinyl record decks, specifically a Transcriptor
Hydraulic Reference Turntable . He posted up the high res
pictures and the turntable, similar to the one below.
Items also
(possibly) used that match is the vinyl sweep brush which resembles R5’s
antenna.
I have
always found the search for these found items to be of great interest, so this
was something that I had to follow up on. Online searches revealed the
record deck's history and more [see Transcriptor link above].
So using the 3D CAD model I had already drawn up
years ago, I started on modifying a version to match that of the image supplied
by OpenR2.
I also had
to find out how to draw up a knurled effect. Previous jobs have only required
the superimposed image of a knurl, but I needed the actual knurl for 3D
printing. I found a quick tutorial on YouTube which helped put me in the right
direction as to which creative option to use, 'coil'. Once one groove was
created, I then copied in 'circular' to multiply around the diameter. Next was
to create a new 'work plane', and offset it half the distance of the knurled
with. I then mirrored the original 'circular' grouping and this created the
opposite grooves to create the knurled effect.
The above
image was version (attempt) 'd' or 'e' lol.
Eventually
settled on version 'F'
Throwback
to 2013:
Wow…..10
years ago I had finished machining up two of the three eye pieces that
would have the spy holes lens units fitted.
Here’s the
link: R5-D4’s
Eyes - update
Back
to 2023 and here are the new more realistic eye pieces.
And here they are being painted.
Next up was to cut out some opaque plastic that I had salvaged from a flat screen monitor. This was placed in the recess after the rear part of the original eye piece was fitted through from the front. Then I pushed in a cabochon into each one.
These were
then re-fitted back into the dome, and secured in place. I then hot glued the
original LED’s back behind them.
Really happy with the new look.
Check
these out at #celebrationeurope2023 next week 😎👍🏽
