My R2-D2 Build: Legs

I have been working on the legs for a while but finally getting some pictures up. Here is some datails of one of the legs. Many thanks to Victor Franco and Edwardo for the information I gathered from their builds.

Here is the view of the outside of each part. The outer part of the leg is on the top and the inner part with the shoulder hub attached is on the bottom.

Here is the view of the inside parts. The top part has the 3/4" plywood layer around the perimeter (already glued). This creates the channel for the wiring to reach the feet, while reducing weight at the same time.

The shoulder hub connects to the outside of the inner leg and the holes allow the nuts to clear. I decided not to make a very large hole for this as I wanted to keep as much material as possible for strength. The hole with the burn marks is to route the wires to the motors in the feet and into the body.

Here you can see the interior of the inner side with the t-nuts. I used a forstner bit to recess the t-nuts. I banged them in place as best I could with a rubber mallet and then pulled them flush by putting in a bolt and tightening it down.

A little glue and a bunch of clamps. The wood pegs make sure that everything stays lined up.

All glued up. Next I will scratch build the beefy ankles from styrene before painting.

I scratch built a beefy ankle part from styrene. I plan to make up a mold box and make a silicon mold of the part and then cast 4 copies in resin.

I cut the ankle bracelet part from some extra thick plastic I had leftover from my A&A foot shells. I test fit the location of the booster cover and leg strut and made the approriate cuts to the ankle bacelet.

On the underside of the ankle bracelet I added a scrap of styrene to keep the leg strut from falling through. Since I will be using a solid resin beefy ankle part instead of the hollow one, this scrap piece really isn't needed.

Here is the leg with most of the parts laid out.

Shoulders

The layered MDF shoulders are numbered on the back first to make sure I keep them in order. The ones on the right are going to be glued first. The others will be done seperately.

I cut a 1/2" wood dowel to use for lining up the layers.

Then some wood glue is spread on and the next layer laid down on top.

Rinse and repeat and then add copious amounts of clamps.

I decided to 'square' the inside corners. A small hobby saw blade was used on each corner to remove most of the material. Then I used a small square piece of wood with some sandpaper to keep it at a right angle and then a finer grade to finish it smooth.