The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.8 - UPDATE 2026

image of R5-D4's head and his holoprojector
protruding from one of his pie panels

I picked up a visual directory book for the Mandalorian the other day, and obviously, searched up in it for pics of R5. They had a full page spread which included a much clearer quality of his Holoprojector, seen in season 2. [I've not watched the film yet, so I don't know if it appears in it.]

I was happy to see that most of my original idea of how it looked was close to the original design. But having the front view gave me a more detailed vison of the lens housing with it's ridges.

From this I was able to redo my original design, back in 2020.

click link here for Blog post:

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.0

So I have now created a version 2, this one has an independent arm which can be pivoted so the head can move down for easy storage/deployment from R5's dome.

There is a hole up through the arm which allows LED cabling for illuminating the green holoprojector lens.

The lens housing was design around the size for an actual cabochon!

I’ve included two ‘lens’ versions, one for printing out of a translucent filament or a solid one for non illumination, just painted.

Holoprojector in it's folded state
for easier operation from dome pie opening

The holoprojector is printed in parts.

• 2 arm halves
• 2 body halves
• 1 front ring
• 1 lens (solid for painting)
• 1 thin (for clear filament printing)

Or of course you could use a real cabochon.

I have been away and didn't get time to upload the files before hand. This is now all in place and you can find the files here on my Prusa account [FREE].

R2-D2 Teeces dome LED’s

September 2023

Mike wanted to reinstall his Teeces LED’s in his R2 dome again. This was after his last set of logic’s from DP, got ripped out when wires dropped and got caught in the dome gear.

So I uninstalled the DP set and made a start on cleaning things up. I made up some cardboard templates for the holes, marked the position and drilled into the resin DJ Design components using a manual hand drill and a 3.5mm drill bit. I cut down some 20mm long M3 threads and screwed on a nut to depth required. I then fitted them through the cardboard template into the pre filled holes with Araldite epoxy glue. I then fitted the screens to help with alignment.

The three Holoprojectors required new location holders, so they were sent to the printer.

I also needed to print two new PSI board holders, after a slight design modification for a better fit.

Whilst these were printing, i made a start on connecting up the cables and wiring the switches back in.

Cables and switches done. Second switch is now for controlling the holoprojectors independently.

Just waiting on them being delivered.

Another happy customer 🙂👍🏽

More 3D Star Wars stuff

Made some design changes to the panel I drew up and printed for my GOUD-4 mouse droid.

Changed the grill panel to a bank of buttons for this first one.

Then for the second panel I swapped the holoprojector for a square panel that a meshed grill can be installed as an intercom.

Working on making the buttons functional.

These will be uploaded to my Prusa account page after some minor updates.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.7

Eventually 👍 got round to uploading not one but two versions of the front part of the holoprojector.

One with a 'lens' and one without, so that a cabochon lens can be fitted. See pictures below 👍

I've added these to my PRUSA account.

https://www.printables.com/model/139667-r5-d4-holoprojector-the-mandalorian-season-2

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.6

 Finished painting up the two half sections.

Liked how the spray came out on this, couldn't of achieved this finish if I'd tried lol. The can was probably cold, it was cold in the garage. Once dry, I scrapped off the indent panel, masked it off and applied blue paint as on the first test piece. I did some light scrapping off of the silver to reveal the matt black underneath, weathering look.

~~~

The changes I had made to the front lens holder, worked a little to well, so that the lens would only partially click into place. Back to the design and changed back a few dimensions and am awaiting a test of a small section to see if these are correct. Then I can hopefully print the final lens holder.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.5

After the primer had dried, I applied a coat of matt black.

I left this to dry as I masked off the next component that needed spraying.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.4

Cabochons arrived and on test fitting in the half sections, found that some 3D material was needed to be removed at the inside edges to make the opening round.

After a bit of sanding, the fit was better. But..... I opened up Inventor and started updating the model.

I then decided to convert the design into three sections, with the front piece being the third allowing easier access inside and for installation of LED’s.

I put in some location points, but these need repositioning again lol. A recess was added for the cabochon, so it pushes into its location (to be modified, for better fit). Feel that this is almost finished, design wise.

Test printed updated the front piece again to make lens recess a tighter fit. There’s now a reassuring ‘snap’ when pushing the lens in. It can be pushed out easily tho, will have to re-test once everything is painted.

Which I started....

Applied few coats of filler primer, Halfords product (here in the UK). And utilised a heater to speed up the drying process. No point in spraying the front part as it will be being re-printed again.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.3

As mentioned in the previous post, I added the lower arm to the base of the now slightly modified holoprojector base. I then sectioned it into two halves for printing.

Here it is being printed.

And the finished prints below.

I’ll leave this for now, until the other parts arrive. I will tho look at activating it up out of the dome.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.2

Yesterday I masked off the silver ready to spray up with blue.

It’s been a while since I’ve used this silver, and I wasn’t happy with how it was looking applying the blue over it caused the silver to come off when I wiped it.

Resprayed the blue over the black & this time it stuck. Removing the old masking tape, took off some of the silver paint, but I’d weather it anyway and this just adds to the effect. Lastly I applied a clear coat.

As can be seen in the above picture, I had printed off the lower arm & glued it on. This was part of the test fitting. Decided to just add the arm to the 3D holoprojector and print in two halves. More in next post.

The Mandalorian - R5D4 Holoprojector - 1.0

So, season 2 of The Mandalorian and we get to see R5 again. This time tho he shows us something new......for him and R5 units.

He has his own holoprojector!

I was a little disappointed that the above two images were the only ones able to help, the second image the camera had defocused to focus on the cast. But I guessed what the rest of the projector could look like based on the first picture (above).

Hoping this is a real prop!

So I got to drawing this up. The first design incorporated a lens, and was 3D printed quickly as a test. I used dimensions for the pie hole to act as a size guide. Useful to actually have something to use for scale.

Next, I modified the design to version 2, this had slight changes and also no front lens, the intention, to illuminate an actual ‘lens’.

I added some colour to these images to help with the visual. I also added the rear ‘notched’ ring, tho it might actually be a straight knurl looking at the first picture.

And here is half a print of version 2.

Version 3 update, has had the rear shortened and a few other details altered. This time I also printed both half’s.

I’ve ordered some lenses, so will post again once I’ve progressed a bit further.

I’ve posted threads up on:

Astromech.net

Astromech.info

The Replica Prop forum.