Starship Modeler: Gallery (Star Wars)

Pit Droid

This model is ENTIRELY scratch built. I thought the confused little Pit Droids were a nice size for a model, so using several Star Wars: Episode One books I collected some good pictures. They seemed to be about two to three feet tall, so I decided twelve inches was a manageable size (roughly 1/3 scale).

My personal preference for scratch building is resin and/or fiberglass. First I sculpted the head, chest and feet out of Sculpey Clay. Once they were to my liking I made a mold of each using Plaster Of Paris. The molds were sprayed with Krylon Matte Clear Coat. After the clear coat was dry I coated the molds with petroleum jelly, and poured the resin.

After the resin had cured I removed the pieces from the mold. They were cleaned thoroughly, and wet sanded to remove resin imperfections. I drilled a hole in the head and body for a wire to act as the neck. After that I made the arms, legs, and hands from wood. I coated the wood with a thin layer of resin to conceal the grain, and then I affixed them to the body. I gave the whole thing one more coat of resin to make it stronger.

I noticed that there were several paint schemes that appeared in the movie and magazines I had seen, so I chose red. I gave the whole thing a coat of Red Krylon spray paint. The next step was the colored bands on the arms. It seemed the best way to achieve this was colored electrical tape.

I noticed that there were several paint schemes that appeared in the movie and magazines I had seen, so I chose red. I gave the whole thing a coat of Red Krylon spray paint. The next step was the colored bands on the arms. It seemed the best way to achieve this was colored electrical tape. After that came the interesting part, weathering. I first dry-brushed Testors Steel all over the model. That was good for the bare metal, but I also wanted sand and grease stains. These I created with ground-up colored conte sticks. After finishing that, I gave the model a couple of coats of Krylon Matte Clear Coat to seal it all in.

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