R2-D2 Kid's Room Decoration / Toy

(January 2005)

My oldest son wanted me to make him an R2-D2 robot.  While this is a little outside my budget and would take a long time (there are websites dedicated to this; you can order blue prints, parts, etc.), I didn't want to disappoint him.

So we purchased the following materials:

• (1) small dome trashcan ($7)
• (2) PVC toilet pedestal mounts ($6)
• (2) PVC 3" to 2" reducers ($4)
• (2) PVC 2" "T" joints ($4)
• (2) PVC 2" rounded caps ($3)
• (1) can of quick drying silver spray paint ($2)
• (1) roll of 2" wide masking tape ($1)
• (1) bundle of 1/4" flexible water pipe ($3)
• (1) nightlight ($2)

Total bill $32.  I didn't need to buy any PVC pipe or PVC cement since I already had some from a plumbing job I had done.

The first thing was to get the dome to look right.  So we cut a hole in the front and mounted a faucet ball and socket joint that my dad had as the front "holo-eye".  Then I cut two slots in the back of the dome for the nightlight to plug into for the rear "holo-eye".  Then we cut two holes in the trashcan for the shoulder joint to go through and put a piece of PVC pipe through the hole.

To construct the legs, I cemented in the 3"-2" reducers into the pedestal mounts, then put cut the PVC pipe for the main part of the legs and cemented that in.  Then the "T" was cemented to the leg pipe.  A small piece of PVC was then cut and put in the top of the "T" and the cap was cemented to that.  Then I drilled 4 1/4" holes in the pedestal mounts and put the 1/4" water pipe in forming two half loops in the feet.  After completing both legs, they were both glued to the shoulder pipe.  I made the shoulder pipe a little shorter than the width of the body so that the interference at the shoulders would keep R2's body in position if it were tilted.

At this point, I drew the patterns of the various markings on the body using a pencil and ruler, and then traced the lines with a Sharpie permanent marker.  When that was completed, R2 looked like the top picture.

After that, I finished coloring in the body markings with a blue Sharpie marker for the "utility arms" and the "vents".  Finally, I removed the "holo-eyes", and using masking tape, I covered the dome where I wanted the blue rectangles and painted the dome with silver paint.  Once the paint was dry, I removed the tape and put the "holo-eyes" back on.  At this point, he is done, as shown in the last two pictures.

An extension cord can be run up through the leg into the body and plug in the night-light which has a daylight sensor, so R2 can serve as a night light as well.