Building R2-D2 in LEGO
This is a record of my effort building R2-D2 in lego. It has a total 2314 pieces. Finished it is over 31cm (13”) high, 19cm (8”) wide and 15cm (6”) deep.
Day 1, 29 March 2022
The first day of a new LEGO build is always exciting. Full of wonder and anticipation. As normal with these type of builds, the first few are internal structures. This was the first time I’ve ever used rubber-bands in a build. I have the internal assembly for the middle leg.
Day 2, 30 March 2022
I forgot to take a photo. Pretty easy build adding the middle foot (wheels?).
Day 3, 31 March 2022
Things are starting to get complex. I have the internal frame for R2’s body now. Quite a few trick instructions to get it placed correctly and make sure it was all in position.
Day 4, 1 April 2022
A double build today. Got to the end of the instructions for Bag 4 and thought, “Wow, there are lot of pieces left.” I had to do it all again.
Starting to get a feel for the model’s overall size now.
Day 5, 2 April 2022
A reasonably easy build today with the outer legs being framed up.
WARNING Before pinning the legs in instructions 170 and 208, make sure that you refer to the alignment of levers in instructions 96-97 and 104-105. The pin will lock the levers in place and it’s easy to lock either in the wrong position (even independently). That will impact the way the middle leg drops down. I’m still not sure I have right!
Thankfully, it is easy to take off the side panels if you can’t work it out. Do one leg at a time and refer to the red-green framework for reference.
Day 6, 3 April 2022
This was the biggest build day so far even before including the 20 mins of troubleshooting. All three legs are now in place.
When I fixed the legs and tried to drop down the middle leg, something wasn’t right and it took some time of pulling things apart — which is thankfully easy — to check alignment of levers put in 3 days before.
Other than that, it was a good fun build. Amazing how many pieces are packed into each foot.
Day 7, 5 April 2022
Skipped a day due to feeling unwell but picked up the next. R2 now has his legs fully covered. It was a little frustrating at one point as I had a 1 x1 clip rotated the wrong way and so a panel that fit on one leg, wouldn’t fit on the other. So simple, yet it took 5 minutes to work out.
The most challenging piece of the day’s build was this instruction.
And here is a leg.
Day 8, 6 April 2022
A partial build today, with half of the front panel done. That’s all the bag had.
Day 9, 7 April 2022
After yesterday’s partial build, it was satisfying to complete the front panel and have it all locked in place. It isn’t shown in the photo below, but there are two vertical panels, left and right, which open up.
Day 10, 8 April 2022
Not R2’s best side. The back is now complete. The pins left and right open the front panels from yesterday’s build. Nothing too challenging here apart from placing the flat panels on the top correctly (difficult to see at this angle).
Day 11, 9 April 2022
I broke with form today and decided to complete the final 3 bags and give R2 a head. Concentration was required as the placement of pieces relative to one another was important. A couple of times I had to backtrack to who steps that I’d missed as each looked so similar from one to the next.
Statistics
| Date | Bag Set # | Time | Cumulative Time | Completed Instructions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-03-29 | 1/13 | 0h 20m | 0h 20m | 23/527 |
| 2022-03-30 | 2/13 | 0h 20m | 0h 40m | 56/527 |
| 2022-03-31 | 3/13 | 0h 45m | 1h 25m | 105/527 |
| 2022-04-01 | 4/13 | 0h 36m | 2h 01m | 132/527 |
| 2022-04-02 | 5/13 | 0h 38m | 2h 39m | 209/527 |
| 2022-04-03 | 6/13 | 1h 20m | 3h 59m | 285/527 |
| 2022-04-05 | 7/13 | 0h 27m | 4h 26m | 298/527 |
| 2022-04-06 | 8/13 | 0h 23m | 4h 49m | 346/527 |
| 2022-04-07 | 9/13 | 0h 23m | 5h 12m | 373/527 |
| 2022-04-08 | 10/13 | 0h 30m | 5h 42m | 409/527 |
| 2022-04-09 | 11-13/13 | 1h 25m | 7h 07m | 527/527 |
Building instructions
Building instructions can be found at https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6369824.pdf.
Other LEGO Models
I’ve documented my other LEGO builds.