V: The R2-D2 Detail Catalogue
Down the rabbit hole
Making a replica of R2-D2 takes a lot of research. But, as you go over different photos from different movies, you'll suddenly realize how many droidy variations there were.
I was surprised that nobody had recorded this before, and so decided to boldly go down that rabbit hole. And make this information freely available for anybody else.
So. This is an exhaustive catalogue of the visual details of the various R2-D2 robots used in the Star Wars movies.
Not just exhaustive - I'm exhausted having done it! It's based on extensive photographic research, and mostly avoids conjecture.
counting rivets (perhaps literally)
This catalogue focuses mostly on first-generation R2-D2 droids built for 1977's Star Wars/A New Hope and the second-generation droids constructed for 1980's the Empire Strikes Back.
For convenience I refer to first gen droids as “ANH” and second gen as “ESB”. I touch upon the “prequel” droids for Episodes I-III and the “sequel” droids for Episodes VII-IX, but I go into less detail on those, since I have less photographic material on them.
NO Dimensions
I describe the appearance of the various droids in this catalogue, but not dimensions, physical data, or implementation details. This is not a full-on guide for building your own droid.
BLUEPRINTS AND PLANS
The Original Movie Droids
Various books have published some of the original ANH-era blueprints that were drawn up to guide Peteric and the EMI team. Those first all-metal droids were built by skilled metalworkers, and so were pretty accurate to those blueprints. They deviate primarily in details, when decisions were made to alter the design after the blueprints had been drawn up.
The subsequent fibreglass ESB-era copies are slightly different since they were moulded from a new pattern made for the film. The pattern makers were given the ANH blueprints to work from, but there were certain differences in the final droids.
Working on the RC R2 at ILM, probably late 1976/early 1977. From left to right: Miki Herman, Grant McCune, William Shourt.
One of the original R2 blueprints, drawn up in 1976 by draftsman Peter Childs.
The Astromech Club plans
There are also hobbyist plans, particularly the Astromech club's CS-L (Club Specifications-Legacy), and the more recent CS-R (Club Specifications-Revisited; formerly R2.0) plans.
These differ in many ways from the production-built movie droids, since they're a compromise between the various R2 versions. In other words the hobbyist plans are a reverse-engineered idealized composite, rather than a blueprint accurate to one specific droid from one film.
The club specifications are very popular, since if you buy club spec parts from someone else then they should actually fit your robot! This avoids the expensive problem of parts from one maker not fitting another's.
Michael Baddeley's 3D Printed Droids
Michael Baddeley has built a bunch of 3D droid models based on the CS:R specs for your home printing enjoyment. A lively online community has arisen around these models. It's now possible to create your own Star Wars robot using a home printer. How science fiction is that?
OpenR2
Finally, if you're interested in the original ANH RC R2, check out OpenR2 and their discussion group. This team takes an engineering-oriented approach to replicating the very first RC R2 from 1976/77, drawing on data from the original blueprints and extensive research. OpenR2 is not working on the ESB-era droids, and does not follow the composite club spec.
Which gen was best?
Well, that's the real matter of opinion, isn't it?
Personally I think there's a rough and ready charm about the first gen droids. They clearly were made by hand, had a definite all-metal solidity (well most of them did), had the crazy Heath Robinson/ Rube Goldberg mechanical light assemblies, were all beaten and dented, had that incredible richness and reflective transparency to their blue panels, and basically looked genuine.
But they must have been just hell for the filmmakers. Between the continuity problems and general lack of reliability of the first robots, the second gen droids must have been a real relief! And, sure, the fact that they were all moulded does make them look a bit more mass-manufactured than handmade.
There's also a real coolness about the way the second gen RC droids could move - the rapid motion seen especially on Bespin, and the way the head could rotate in the opposite direction from the body as it spun around. The ANH droids simply couldn't do anything like that at all!
This shot from the making of the Phantom Menace shows two body shells being revamped for use in the prequels. Left: the stripped-down core of the original ANH RC R2. Right: one of the fibreglass bodies built for ESB.
Still. In the end, I personally prefer the first gen Star Wars droids for the simple reason that they're the first ones I saw, back in 1979 or so when I finally saw the movie. And if wallowing in childhood nostalgia isn't what this is all about, then what is it?
Why care about this nonsense?
Finally, some opinionated rambling.
The reactions to this catalogue have surprised me. I expected most people would ignore it, some would make snide remarks about how nerdy it is, and a handful would find it useful.
But some folks seem to get weirdly worked up about the issue of accuracy, as though they're being personally attacked. I occasionally hear comments like, “why do you care about this? It’s not like the R2-D2s used in the films were all the same!” or “the little kids at the children’s hospital don’t care about accuracy. I just care about their beaming faces!” or whatever.
My thoughts boil down to the following.
First, droid screen accuracy is a mostly attainable goal – for those who want it. It’s true that the props varied from from film to film and sometimes from scene to scene. But there is a historical record, and most of it can be verified through photos. Personally I find this historical research kind of fun.
Second, everyone makes personal choices. Some people want to work towards screen accuracy. Others are happy with something just close enough. Still others want to carve their droids out of yams and spraypaint them bronze. Regardless it's all fine, and you should build whatever robot you like. The point of any hobby is to make you happy.
Finally, nobody has the right to attack anybody else for their choice of hobbies. Whether you like building replica robots, collecting plastic dolls, building log cabins, sewing cosplay outfits – whatever... everyone has the right to spend their time the way they wish! And a catalogue of droid facts is in no way a criticism of someone else's droid replica.
Copyright
This text was written entirely by and for 3Dsf.info. Feel free to make copies for your own use, but I ask that you not repost it for download elsewhere. The reason is I'm updating these pages all the time for accuracy and development purposes. So the most up to date page should always be available at 3Dsf.info!
The majority of the photos are copyright their respective owners. They're either the property of Lucasfilm or of various people who have posted images online; specific provenance is mostly not known. They're reproduced here for the purpose of criticism and research.
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