DIY Life-Size Phone Controlled BB8 Droid (Part II)

Part I
Part III
Part IV

Step 13: Sand BB8's Body

  



Once the putty dries. Sand the surface of BB8's body. Use a coarse grit (100-400 grit) of sand paper. I used my Makita electric sander to make the job easier.

Step 14: Draw Details and Outlines On BB8's Body

Download the file package below. I have included a template of BB8's detailed artwork. I had help from my dad to put this up. I'm very bad at drawing. We used videos and images from the net as our reference.

Circular shapes can be achieved by using a compass. While straight lines which falls on the curved surface of the body can be traced with a tailor's tape measure.

 

Step 15: Mask The Body

Use lots of masking tape to mask the areas that you don't wan't to get paint on. 'The art of masking'.

Step 16: Paint BB8's Body

 



We painted BB8's body with 3 different colors of spray paint: white, grey and orange.
 

Step 17: Peel The Mask

Once the paint dries, peel the masking tape. Just be careful in peeling! Sometimes, the paint tends to go with the tape.
 

Step 18: Let's Make The BB8's Head

 


BB8's head masures 30cm in diameter. Basically it's a semi-circular head with a beveled edge, a little off from the median. Use a trash bin as a stencil, then use a marker to mark your cutout. Use a hacksaw to cut the Styrofoam ball in half (nearly half).
 

Step 19: Build A Styrofoam Bevel Cutter

 

The beveled edge can be achieved by building a makeshift styrofoam hot-wire cutter. I did that by recycling a piece of wood from an old picture frame, which I then used as the base of the stryo cutter. I mounted a metal stand-off at the middle as the pivot for the stryofoam. I mounted another metal stand-off for the hot-wire. The hot-wire can be stripped from a thick insulated wire. I then connected a switch and a 3.7v (18650) lithium-ion battery in series with the hot-wire. Whenever I press the push button switch, the wire heats up. Clean styro cuts for me!

Step 20: Hollow-out The Head Using Heat/ Fire

 

You can reduce weight by hollowing-out the inner portion of the styro ball. You can do that by melting/ burning the styrofoam using a blowtorch or a lighter.
 

Step 21: Apply Putty on BB8's Head

Then again, apply a layer of wood putty on BB8's head, then sand it with sandpaper.
 

Step 22: Draw The Details On BB8's Head

 

 

Step 23: Paint BB8's Head

We painted BB8's head with 3 different colors of spray paint: white, grey and orange.
 

Step 24: Make BB8's Eye

 


It was Christmas when I reached this step. I grabbed a frosted Christmas ball from our Christmas tree and used it as BB8's eye. I cleared the frosting by wiping it out with Acetone. I painted the inner portion of the ball with black spray paint, leaving the outer portion with a little luster.


That's all for the Part.II. Stay tuned and the next part is coming soon!