Whether you’re a super hero or space pirate, moisture farmer or dark lord, every one needs a friend. That’s why I’ve built my own buddy bot.
This is a really easy project and one you can do in an evening. I was inspired by the orb outside the Mos Eisley cantina, which I still don’t know exactly what it is. I was buiding my own cantina scene in roughly HO scale (1/87) and started looking around for some base parts I could modify. Something about the size of a ping pong ball, but I wanted more features and texture that was already molded into the surface.
The bottom half of the prototype looked a bit like a cap from a 2-litre cola bottle, so I started going in that direction. I got a cap, but it was a bit too blocky and not rounded quite enough. It look like, well, a bottle cap. Then I found in my junk box a small cap that I had set aside because it looked a bit like the cockpit of an old WWII bomber. The question was what was the original source and could I get more?
Ah yes, it came from bottled water. So went on a trek of all the convenience stores I frequent, in search of the specific brand. I soon found it, along with a new product the cap of which could potentially work as the other half. I secured several plastic bottle tops and went to work finding the best combination to create something realistic, yet other worldly.
Voila! The medium clear cap fit perfectly within the large cap to make … a thing. The fit was almost perfect. Serendipity showed up again. It seemed a little large for the scale of my existing model and it needed some extra bits or greebles placed on the side to give it some character. I tacked on some more pieces from my junk box and it looked pretty good. When I placed it beside my completed cantina, it was a little large.
It looked better sitting beside one of my 3-inch figures. What if I made this a campanion robot? Something was still missing. That sense of anthropomorphism was lacking. I needed something to give a human-like appearance like arms, legs, or a head. I browsed through some articles about making mechs, but it all seemed too complited. Taking some more inspiration from the Gonk droid, I would keep it simple and just add some legs. I knew I could fashion my own from bits and pieces, but could I find something that was almost complete so I could repeat it.
I remembered back on some space marine models I had that just might fit the bill. Sure enough, a trip to the dollar store yeilded a playset series that would work. I bought a multi-pack so I could have some options. The figures are sectional and the legs come off as a unit. I was going to glue each one to a side of my cluster, but keeping the structure of the leg assembly worked better. They come with a small nub and I simply cut a hole in the bottom of my new creation and the legs stay in with friction. The legs are jointed and can be posed for various positions. I didn’t glue the assembly, so I can swap out legs from other figures for variety.

I primed the main assembly with a black bomb and then did a second coat of classic “space beige” (ivory). The added-on details were dry brushed various colors, then rust weathering added, followed by an Indian ink was to dirty it up and bring out the details. I didn’t paint the legs, other than dry brushing a contrasting color to fill in the nooks and crannies.

Since the component pieces are “stock” from readily available sources, you can make variations quickly and easily. I did manage to get one with the cola cap. The extra bits and pieces come from the junk pile, so each one ends up being unique. Add a “head” unit, eyes, or arms if you wish. Swap out the legs or have one model with no legs.
The first model I did worked well, but the glue didn’t hold on the second one I tried to make. I found the following order gives the best results: glue the pieces including greebles, prime with a black paint for plastics, then cover with the final color, and dry brush the greeble details if desired. Finish with weathering washes and powders to suit.
I was really happy with the results and it is one of my favorite models. Sometimes I pull him from the diorama and set him on my desk for fun. His name is Robbie.