Droid Building - Because It's Awesome

Star Wars

Oct 27

Let’s face it, everyone loves Star Wars. For some fans, their favourite part is the nifty technology, in particular machines like the droids.

Hello, World!

People love the droids so much that they want to build the;re own and share them with the world; the following are some points on how a person can go about doing that.

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Getting Started in Droid Building

Well, maybe you see one in the wild at a convention, maybe ask some questions, and then get inspired. Maybe you see a video of someone building a droid. The first step is always to conduct extensive research. You have to determine what you think you want to do, and then match that with your tools, talents, budget, contracts, and modes of transportation. You don’t start out knowing everything about the process, but you can just start simply with wanting to do it. And then learn along the way. Luckily, droid builders are a friendly, open community, and there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

Types of Materials Used

People use all sorts of materials to create droids. Some droids are 3D-printed, and some are aluminium. People have even been known to use products like wood, styrene, resin, and even fibreglass.

Builders also make use of specs. For example, the R2-D2 droid has two specs- CS:R and CS:L. CS:L stand for club spec: legacy, and refers to the old specification used by R2 builders. It’s used as a spec for standardizing parts so that pieces created in different places can effectively be used together no matter where they are. They come from a variety of sources, and in some cases are modified to aid in making production easier or more efficient.

On the other hand, CS:R refers to club spec: revised, and was developed in 2014 as a result of hands-on access with screen-used droids. This is the standard used by most droid-builders today.

Droid Building Groups and Other Resources

You can get information from a number of sources. You could join a group like the R2-D2 Builders’ Club, check out resources like Mr. Battle ES3D printed droids or Droid Division, or even make use of YouTube videos done by people who have built droids in the past. Droid Division, aka a guy named Dave Moog, has 3D printer STL files for people to use, to make things easier.

How Realistic Are They?

The Builders’ Club is a fan organization, and the droids are built by fans. Sometimes, the droids built by club members can actually outperform the film droids, both in terms of their functionality and their general appearance. Some members of the club have actually been tapped for official work, including building a real-life Trapper replica, or the R2D2 used for The Force Awakens.

Can I Buy A Kit?

Technically, yes, you can buy a kit, but the kits you can buy aren’t very good. Disney licenses the club for purposes like education, red carpet events, charity events, and more. However, the completed droids can’t be sold unless there are special circumstances. One notable exception is the $25,000 US R2-D2 sold at Galaxy’s Edge at Disney World.

And, of course, if you’re looking online, beware of any online vendor selling droids, because they’re unusually not accurate or worth the price that the vendor is asking.

And of course if you're looking online beware of any online vendor selling droids because they're usually not accurate or worth the price that the vendor is asking.

How Much Does Building a Droid Cost?

First of all, it depends on what materials you use, what skills you have, and how much of the work you intend to do yourself. A nice-looking, full-size droid can be built for a few thousand dollars, and some people have built static or scaled-down versions for less. A droid can also be built with all the bells and whistles, but that’s more likely to cost anywhere up to $20K Canadian.

How Long Does It Take To Build A Droid?

It depends on the amount of time you have to put into it each day, week, or month. Time span can be affected by the availability of parts, whether or not you’re building them yourself, and whether or not you use processes such a 3D printing. Building times can range anywhere from six months to about four years.

Where Do I Go to See More Droids?

There are a number of places you can go. There are Stars Wars droid conventions, like DroidCon in Indianapolis, Indiana, yearly unless it’s a Star Wars Celebration year. And then there’s the Droid Builders United Kingdom or DB UK, with the same sort of time frame.

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