R2-D2

Something a little different today. I’ve been having a bit of a tidy in my studio (for want of a better word), clearing out some of the clutter, putting some things I don’t want to throw out but am not using at the moment into the loft, reorganising the rest so that I can get to the stuff I regularly use more easily. In the process, I’ve come across various bits that I had thought could become projects, and a few others like this wooden model R2-D2 kit.

I’ve put all those things together so they’re to hand if I feel inspired; my intention is to either decide that they will never be made and abandon the idea or actually make them.

This kit fell into the latter category. My other half got it ages ago, eventually decided that he wasn’t going to build it, and gave it to me. It’s been sat in my room for way too long so I decided it was time to make it. It was simple enough that I didn’t need to put too much thought into it but crafty enough to amuse me for a few hours.

I’ve never made a wooden kit like this before so my first stop was YouTube, where I found someone building and painting this exact model. The instructions with the kit are clear enough, but I’m glad I watched the video, if only because some of his painting was rougher than mine (and he has a YouTube channel dedicated to building and painting models).

And this is something worth remembering about photos of art and craft projects: you will always see more on close-up photos than you would if you were looking at the real thing. This R2-D2 model is about 4 inches tall (approx 10cm) and the body is a bit over 1½ inches wide, but when I look at the detail photo below on my screen it’s displayed three times that width and every untidy brush mark is visible. And the same applies to close-ups of Copic colouring: no-one looks at it that closely in real life.

My painting isn’t perfect, and that doesn’t bother me — this is the first model I’ve painted like this and I learned plenty that will be helpful the next time I try something similar.

The most important part is it looks absolutely fine at a normal viewing distance, sitting on the shelf next to me.