| My model was supposed to resemble the droid in pursuit of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in the forest during the Theed invasion, so to recreate the scene I'd have to set it at a slight bank. The mounting hole at the bottom end of the craft was sealed and a new hole was drilled just below the wings on the back side. The STAP could now be angled and glued in place which gives illusion that it is actually flying. I use brass rods but, if desired, a clear acrylic rod will further intensify this effect. |
New Mount Holes
Engines
Footlocks |
| Each engine comes in two pieces, the engine nacelle and rear blades. The holes in the center were made when I chucked the piece to my Craftsman rotary tool to act as a tiny lathe. The back of the blade part was filed down a bit to allow the piece to sit in the nacelle a little better. The holes will be hidden with some detail later on. A large gap is left all around the blade piece when you sit it in the nacelle so I simply filled the gap with Aves Sculpt. |
| The foot locks had to be modified to give the impression that the craft is banking. The picture explains it best but basically all I really did was angle in the part of this piece that attaches to the foot pads. Only two foot locks got this treatment since the other footpad would stay in the same position. |
| I thought I'd start making accurate changes to the Battle Droid by modifying the underside of the torso area. The reference I had when I built my Arena Battle Droid did not show that this part was open and the kit piece is closed off. After cutting the excess plastic, I cut pieces of sheet styrene for the inner walls and boxed this area in. All this was done before assembling the torso halves. |
New Underside
Extended Hip Piece
Head Flap
Repositioned Fingers
Feet |
| The end of the skinny hip part was extended using Aves Sculpt. Two pieces of wire run through the Aves so that the waist and torso could be assembled later. Bits of styrene were placed and lines were scribed along the front edge to simulate detail on the 1:1 scale movie model. |
| Up next was the droid's head. Again, my new reference showed that the flap piece in between the two (what I like to call) "ponytails" actually hinges. I cut the piece out, closed off the back with a piece of styrene and scribed lines all around the piece matching the already recessed lines on top. After gluing it in place I realized that a simple mod like this really adds realism to your battle droid. |
| Another little detail that gives the appearance that the droid is flying the STAP is the repositioning of the fingers over the handle bars. Not knowing the logic behind the flight operations of the fictional vehicle, I decided to position the right hand fingers over the brake since the craft was banking to the right. The left hand is gripping on the handle grip itself. |
| The following step I borrowed directly from Jim James' Battle Droid, a superb build! I used the same procedures except that I used brass tubing for the pivot instead of sprue. There's really no difference really, I just happened to have the right diameter tubing laying on my workbench. Jim's build was undoubtedly helpful as I probably would have discovered the foot angle problem late in the build. I'm glad good articles like that are available online! |
