Buzz Droid with R2 and BB8

These aren't the droids you're looking for.

Once I saw that LEGO was releasing a BB8 that was somewhat scaled to R2, I looked around for something new to build. On a side note, I have to say I enjoyed the BB8 build, and appreciate the design a lot more than when I 1st saw it. If you have not realised by now, my builds tend to be the more uncommon and less popular (wouldn't say unpopular =p) models. I came across a picture of a sweet looking Buzz Droid MOC from Episode 3 and immediately went to work. It was only later that I realised it was Takamichi's Buzz Droid (he makes a lot of wicked animals/insects which if you think of it, is like a buzz droid). Specs ~2,200 bricks excluding the base.

~180 unique parts. Design It took me about 15-20 hours to design the body + 'chutes' on stud.io. But it was difficult to manipulate the rotations and hinges (even on stud.io) to create the spherical look I wanted. So I did some sketches and just imagined how the bricks would connect and rotate to achieve such a concept. I was hoping my experience thus far of building would be enough to result in a real world build without having to complete a digital rendition 1st. The Build Half-Spheres - "chutes"

As in parachutes cos that's what they look like to me.

I started with the spherical 'chutes' as that in my mind was the main challenge. Lately, I've been toying around a lot with circular shapes and different design concepts for creating spheres and circles. So I was very excited to start on this 1st. Surprisingly, it went very well and the shape was relatively easy to create. Only minor changes were needed to help keep the spherical shape in hold.

I left the tiling till the end as I always find that aspect of building the least fun. I underestimated the number of tan tiles I needed and was short by quite a bit. Fortunately, I managed to take some spares I had leftover from the X-34. 'Body'

The chasis was a pretty straight forward build so I won't go into detail. All 4 legs with attachments can be articulated and achieve an 'attack' position. "Assembly"

I used a similar base as Takamichi's to display the Buzz Droid.

The 'chutes' were heavier than it looked.

Attaching them to the body and then to the display base was not the easiest thing to do. It kept dislodging and I found it tough to hold 1 of the 'chutes' while attaching it to the body, and at the same time, having to connect it to the base. The base really supports the weight of the 'chutes' and connection to the body keeps the position of it in place. On its own, all the parts are stable, but to hold the weight of the 'chutes' in a deployed position was tough.

So I really had to have both connections done at the same time. If I had an extra pair of hands, it would have been easy.

But after some careful manoeuvring and about 20minutes, I finally had them in place. So I present to you the Buzz Droid!