Encore! Building C-3P0

Hello there

Right, if you heard yesterday's abomination of a Harping On Podcast, you will know that I am currently plunged into disability.  Also, well done if you made it through that podcast.  You are hardcore.

So, as I am currently "whacked out" on painkillers, writhing about (literally) with my knackered hip, and got myself very flustered going to the doctors today (scans imminent), I have been looking at the easiest route to completing Patreon this week (whilst still making it good).

It's been a long while since I did an Encore post, and this situation is exactly what they are for really.  I've also got a post scheduled for Thursday which could technically be described as an Encore post, but it's more amending an oversight.

As my last Encore post was the R2-D2 build all in one place, I have decided to provide an all-in-one-place collection of pics from the build of his counterpart. Some of this build is missing in picture form as I did a few videos of building him, but you'll get the overall idea of the ordeal.  

I thought I would find this one easier, especially after stumbling my way blindly through the R2 build, but the reality was it was a very different build (primary on account of it being humanoid in stature).  Like the R2 build though, it was also a revelation to see quite how many parts and greeblies these - seemingly simple looking - droids actually have.  

I'd got the parts on an impulse buy from somebody in Wigan, and was assured it had everything I needed in the box.  Which was a lie.  There was a lot missing.  It was also in tremendously bad nick - proper broken and smashed up and ill-fitting. I totally understand why these sorts of fibre-glass parts pop up on eBay, half-built, so often.  If it wasn't for sheer stubbornness I'd have quit. I still dream about going to that Wigan blokes house and plonking this outside it smugly.

I was trying everything as I started on the head.  One of those things is a wall light that I got years ago, that I was genuinely considering attempting to integrate into it.  I did finally work out a fix for it though.

I stretched out the faceplate with a reverse clamp and managed to get the trim sealed around the front and back (with the help of a lot of filler and remoulding)

The whole thing was like that though.  Look at the state of the feet...

This wasn't just a build, it was a repair job as I went.

Let's have a look through the epitome of "polishing a turd"...

The chest plate was missing a lot of little bits.  I eventually resorted to paying a visit to Phil Fletcher who has one of the Sideshow busts of Threepio, and we cast directly from it with makeshift plasticine moulds and resin.

I decided to paint this as I went along.  There were way too many opportunities for disastrous overspray.

You can see there were a fair few tiny crack lines through it, so the decision was made for me that this would be a weathered droid rather than pristine. R2 is weathered too, so it was always going to be the case in all honesty.

I even added my own blemishes to it on the smoother parts.

I was determined that this wouldn't be a case of getting all the parts done and then put together in one go, so I constructed on the hoof. 

I used a lot of sealant on this.  The neck join was really tidy and the makeshift greeblies cast from Phil's bust (not like that) were added too.  In fact, at this point I was so carried away with seeing it take shape that I started doing some weathering as well.

It was actually quite exciting, but there was hell to come...

To this day I'm not happy with these hands.  I've spoken with Stuart Bray about potentially making some replacements for these chunky things, so hopefully we'll get that sorted at some point.  They really are rubbish.  And I needed more greeblies for them, so went about casting more bits from the casts we'd done off Phil's bust (I said, not like that). There were also not enough pistons and "buttons" so I had to make casts of those too (this was the day I accidentally poured leaking resin down my sink in a panic, but let's not go over that again).

A quick word about the arms, as they appeared to be just a couple of tubes.  On Threepio there is a relatively intricate design on there, and I only had one moulded piece for the centre.  I've searched for ages for the pictures and then remembered I did it as a really long and frustrating video on Patreon at the time.  

Here's what I ended up with though...

The trim part of that was thin foam strips cut to size.  It was actually rather satisfying in the end.

Can't wait for summer.

Onto the legs.  The damned, knackered legs, that had to be rebuilt and repaired SO much...

The state of these...

As you can see I had to rebuild much of them with resin in little plasticine reservoirs.

Which I then filed and sculpted by hand.  However, we did start getting something like on the legs then...

Everything was almost ready to put together, but I needed to measure out the midriff, which was made from a cut black ribbed rubber.

The innards of this model are actually completely solid.  I built everything around a skeleton made of plumbing pipes (which I don't appear to have a picture of), and then filled around them with expanding foam.

That was about halfway through the process and you can see that the top is still hollow but the legs are filled.  The dried expanding foam on the floor is where I cut it off from the side of the knee joint before putting the knee discs on.

Everything else just got cobbled together the same way (with some difficulty).  I now really wish it wasn't solid as I really need to make some amendments to it, and am going to one day take the Dremel and chop it all to pieces to rebuild, but I'm not quite there yet.  I mean, I can't even walk at the moment so it's not going to be anytime soon.

Here I am taking the masking tape off the final piece on it...

Ironically the happiness was short-lived as this was right before leaving for Saints at Wembley where we got unexpectedly beat in the final...

That was the first pic I took of him finished (they were placeholder temporary eyes which have since been replaced with amazing USB powered ones by Ben "Electro-Wizard" Horton).

And on my return from the disappointing Wembley trip I was finally able to introduce the little guy to the big guy...

To this day I wish I could have left them out the front of my house, but they are now safely up in my office, besides me as I type this, and it would take some persistent burglary to get them out of this room safely, let alone negotiate the stairs.

I mean, they're alright huh?  

That's how I made C-3PO...think it was about six months or so that it took.  Bonkers really. The "C-3PO Build" tag below will take you back to the video posts if you're in the mood for it, but no pressure.

Hope you're having a lovely week over there so far

Sending love as always

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