Member Tutorials
More Then One Way to Skin a
Droid – A Tutorial on Makings Skins
Kelly R. Krider
Note these
skin plans are not the official plans and will need to be modified by the
builder to suit their own needs.
They are
very close to the official plans currently being designed.
This is
how Kelly “Skinned” his droid
Here
is a tutorial of how I made my Droids skin.
Before reaching the point of "skinning" your droid, you must have the
frame of the body constructed.
Some
members have wood frames, some metal. The hottest quick start is the tape-ease
wood cylinder from
NOTE:
Their product can vary in size and thickness so be sure you are getting what
you are after.
The body frame must be prepared first otherwise the skin can't mount to
anything.
Next
is the skin plans. There is currently a full and accurate skin drawing in the
works that will match all the newer parts being made, however, if you already
have parts or are making the parts yourself the skins should be customised to
fit those parts.
Once
you have some skin plans worked out here is how I made my skins with the
recessed panels (the correct way of the skin look).
This
is a 2 layer method with opening doors.
You will need:
- 1 sheet 4 ft. x 8
ft. of .04 thick material.
I used SINTRA (a PVC
breed of sheet plastic). Styrene, Aluminum, Posterboard, can all be used. This will work with whatever
Route you are going to use.
- A method of cutting
out shapes in the material: In my case a simple XACTO knife and a ruler
were all that was needed.
- Glue: Something to
bond the layers of skin together. This will depend on your choice of
material. For SINTRA I used all purpose plumbers
glue for PVC pipes. This provides a great bond.
The
attached picture shows how my layers of skin looked before putting them on. You
will need to layout the skin pattern completely before cutting anything. Both layers
should fit on one 4ft. X 8ft. sheet.
I
used the older Robert Jackson prints as a starting point. Then I adjusted it to
fit my detail parts, and moved things around a bit from looking at photos. The
prints I used are not official, but rather a best guess. I made full size
stickers of each layer on my sign making computer at work. Then
used that to cut it with the knife.
As
long as you have a nice big flat working area it is easy. Set the body upright
with the bottom of the body flat on the table, while resting the bottom of the
skin (the materials thickness is what touches the table as you wrap the skin
around while on the table, line up the front of the skins the wrap around the
body. If the body is a true and "square" then the body will wrap around
flush with the bottom of the body. Do you understand? I am probably confusing
you. If you have the bottom skirt on already than flip the droid over and work
upside down.
|
LAYER 1 (THE SUB LAYER) This is the under layer, the first
layer you will attach to the body. I have 7 door cut outs shown. |
|
|
NOTE: These cutouts (1-7) should be smaller than the actual
door. This gives the door something to rest against when closed. If you are not planning on having
opening doors, than you don't need to cut out areas 1-7. |
|
|
LAYER 2 (OUTER LAYER) This is the outer layer that gives
R2 his look. This layer should look like the plan I have attached. The solid
black areas in the plan is what your layer should be
left with. This layer should be glued on to the first layer. Line it up in
the middle of R2's body. using the DATA SLOT
and the CONTROL ARM holes to make the alignment perfect. WARNING:
Be very careful handling this layer once it is cut out. It will be
very flimsy due to the thin areas of material that remain. |
|
|
LAYER 3 & 4 (Details and Doors) This is not another layer, it is just the left over pieces. Layer 4 shows the
backing skins for the doors. The "window frame" pieces glue on the
backing skins shown in layer 4. This is what gives the doors the proper
recessed look. The small solid panels just glue in
the appropriate cut-out on to layer 1. |
Well, That's it! I hope this makes sense. Let me know if
any of you have any add-on's, ideas, etc.
Happy Droid Skinning.
Kelly R. Krider
Redirk2@aol.com
NOTES:
Since first posting this
tutorial, I have had several requests as to which plans I used for my skins. I
used a hybrid plan of Robert Jacksons with my own
modifications.
For those who have read the
tutorial, and want to start, Here is a skin plan drawn
by Dave Buckley. Double click to open or right click to save -> skins.pdf
His is a 2 part wrap around
for each layer, this will work also. THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL PLANS, but good
enough that not even Don will give you guff about it. The plans I originally
used were set up as one piece, hence my one piece layers.
My tutorial will still work
with this plan. The critical info on my tutorial is the door openings being
smaller than the doors (if you are having doors open), and the fact that the
skins should be done in two layers. I believe if you blow up the print to 1:1
scale and print it, it should work just fine.
Before printing or cutting
your skins take a CLOTH measuring tape around your body for each layer. The
second layer will be slightly bigger than the first, so this is critical to
take into account when working on your second layer. I would cut and apply the
first layer before even cutting out the second layer. You will have to learn
some things on your own, when I joined the group we didn’t have many plans, but
we still had 9 droids at celebration that all looked great. Hope this helps!
Kelly R. Krider
FOLLOWUPS
Nicely done. What I had decided on was to make 2
or 3 holes in the inner skin and outer skin (properly aligned on a flat surface
dead center of the front. I will then transfer this into
my tape-ease cylinder with some finish nails. I can now perfectly align the
inner skin onto the wood form and then perfectly align the outer skin onto the
inner skin-wood tube assembly during glue up. Following glue up, the nails are
removed and the holes puttied over. - Alan
FOLLOWUPS
If
your in the
Laird Plastics sales the 4x8 sheets in the .040 thickness for
12.87 a sheet.
Regal Plastics sales the same thing for 8.36 a sheet.
- Dan