[MOD] Building a better Droideka

[bananaworld]

Destroyer Droids have been curiously inaccurate in the way they have been portrayed in LEGO sets. Specifically, the weapon arms are attached in the wrong place, which I feel removes some of the menace of these rapid-rolling, Republic-resistant droids.

Originally. LEGO had their blasters mounted on the droids' bases:

The 'actual' droids had their blasters mounted on arms emerging from their shoulders (link to Google image search), which I sought to recreate.

Various arm iterations were required to not only mount the weapons in the correct place but to correct the other crucial problem with the original, namely that the blasters could only be pointed off into space, not aimed at anything at ground-level.

After a lot of clipping, I finally found a solution that captured the look to my liking:

The blaster-pairs aren't horizontal, as in the films, but this was a compromise I was willing to settle for.

Arms done, the body needed just a little work and the intimidation grew:

This is getting much closer to the droid I'm looking for:

It even rolls better:

After completing these improvements, I went looking for other people's work on these wonderful droids and particularly like the work done to extend the brown curve around the droid's back, further enhancing their accuracy. Having said that, many of the modified droids still suffer from not being able to aim the blasters in three planes. One thing that isn't widely used, and which I did particularly want to keep, was LEGO's use of the two barrel pistol/binocular combo. It was introduced way back in 2011 for Alien Conquest as the ADU weapon-of-choice (the theme closest to my heart, despite them being no match for Droidekas) so it is a shame that it didn't find its way into the 'hands' of Star Wars' Destroyers until 2015's 75092.

Thank you for taking at look at my minor MOCing, and please forgive a newbie's photographic setup...!

[bricklover]

Looks good!

[rollermonkey]

The real problem is scale. There's really no way to make such a complicated droid at such a small scale. They should have made some custom molds years ago.

That said, an UCS scaled Droideka could probably me made easily, and far more accurately.

[BrickJagger]

This is, in fact, a better Droideka. Lego, take notes.

[Calanon]

This is a very nice modification - might need to build myself a squad of these.

[samurai-turtle]

That said, an UCS scaled Droideka could probably me made easily, and far more accurately.

Is this what this bad boy is.

http://brickset.com/sets/8002-1/Destroyer-Droid

[bananaworld]

Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone!

Despite not having enough titanium bad robot arms, I figured I'd build another one anyway because one simply HAS to have two:

And it means we can (mis)use another Neimoidian quote: "Now there are two of them"...!

http://brickset.com/...Destroyer-Droid

Ugh, and I wasn't going to buy any more LEGO for a few months...

[YellowCorvette]

Am I the only one that think that the modification on your Droideka makes the droid look too tall?

Edited July 17, 2016 by ArmstrongYong

[Volt_Bricks]

Great work, these droideka's work way better then the official Lego One's, especially the ones from the battlepacks!

But you should really try out designing a Droideka Mk II for some extra challenge it's a real pain to design, tried it myself as well:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=130910&hl=

P.S. I really like the way it can roll itself up, it looks very roundish

[samurai-turtle]

Ugh, and I wasn't going to buy any more LEGO for a few months...

You should take your time getting it. Considering it is a retired set and might be a little expensive, unless you fine a good deal.

[bananaworld]

Am I the only one that think that the modification on your Droideka makes the droid look too tall?

They're not really too tall for minifig scale; I think what makes them look too tall is the rather spindly 'spine' which makes them a little out-of-proportion. This is where this MOC comes into its own:

(By https://www.flickr.com/photos/madlegoman/)

Bulked out, in proportion, articulating arms connected in the correct place, the two barrel/binocular blaster, rolls up: perfect. I was trying to use not-a-lot-more than the parts in 75092, but now if I just source some of those 44675s...

Great work, these droideka's work way better then the official Lego One's, especially the ones from the battlepacks!

But you should really try out designing a Droideka Mk II for some extra challenge it's a real pain to design, tried it myself as well:

http://www.eurobrick...opic=130910&hl=

P.S. I really like the way it can roll itself up, it looks very roundish

Thank you! Yes, I'm not really sure why the official ones have the arms SO wrong. That Mk.II looks very shooty! However, it doesn't quite have the intimidating presence of its predecessor, to my eye, for some reason. I do like the sheer number of clippy bits in it though! Maybe I'll have a go at something like a Mk.1.1 which keeps the terrifying clawed legs and wide-slung guns of this one here, but moves toward the Mk.II with more guns... Thanks for the inspiration!

You should take your time getting it. Considering it is a retired set and might be a little expensive, unless you fine a good deal.

You make a sensible case. Realistically, I shalln't be buying it, even though £60 on eBay isn't THAT expensive. I just have too many other LEGO projects to work on! (Can one have too much LEGO...? Should I even ASK that HERE?)

[Arthur Schopenhauer]

Is this what this bad boy is.

http://brickset.com/...Destroyer-Droid

It's strange that TLG did not release any new big droideka in such a long time, I think it would make a very appealing set! 8002 was my christmas present in 2000, I remember its towering appearance on the shelf, making my friends envious I was though really disappointed by the rolling mechanism working not very well...

[edit: I forgot to mention that I like the improvement you did, it makes the mini-droideka somewhat more muscular and aggressive! Certainly better than TLG's version]

Edited July 17, 2016 by Arthur Schopenhauer

[strider117]

Great build! Also got a good laugh out of your tag xD

[ToaDraco]

This is something that has bothered me for a long time, they can never seem to do the Droidekas justice. By far my favorite droids I think you did a commendable job making something LEGO could potentially sell.