Cameron Penney
Local resident and lifelong “Star Wars” enthusiast Rick Strickland recently completed a project that had been several years in the making—building a life-sized replica of “R2-D2.”
“I went to a ‘Star Wars’ convention about seven or eight years ago . . . and off in the distance, I heard sounds of a droid, of an R2-D2,” he recalled.
“And I thought, ‘I gotta go check this out.’”
Strickland saw a droid similar to R2-D2 rolling around in the hallway and soon found a room filled with replicas of various droids from the “Star Wars” universe.
“I was hooked at that point,” he noted.
Upon returning home, Strickland set out to build his own replica of R2-D2. He joined an online group named astromech.net, where many “Star Wars” fans share their ideas and plans to build replica droids.
“I read a lot of the plans and how other people had built them, and I thought, ‘Well, I think I could do this,’” he explained.
“I ordered the dome and made my frame, and then started buying little parts here and there and making parts,” he added.
“Eventually, seven years later, I have one of these.”
Strickland, who lives with his wife, Lindsay, and three young children just west of town, said building the replica also involved a lot of downtime—noting it took him four-five months just to get the dome for the droid.
“None of the parts are really readily available,” he stressed. “The dome itself, a guy will want a minimum amount of people interested before he will get them made.
“So I had to put my interest in first, wait for another 50 guys to show their interest, and then he’ll go to a machine shop and have them made.”
The replica was constructed using materials such as wood, aluminum, and other electronics, and features intricate details to ensure it’s an accurate replica.
“I learned stuff as I went along—I learned some painting skills, some woodworking skills,” Strickland said.
“It’s a real learning process.
“I’m trying to learn programming right now because there are program boards called ‘arduinos’ . . . which are used to control all of [the lights],” he added.
At the moment, Strickland considers his R2-D2, which currently weighs about 150 pounds, to be 99 percent complete.
“I want to do a little upgrades, make him sturdier, change his centre foot, and put a better caster in the bottom of it,” he remarked.
“I want to put a better sound system in him and make him a little bit better.
“There’s a lot of time and love invested in building him,” Strickland added.
“He’s like the fourth child.”
Meanwhile, Strickland said anyone interested in building their own replica should “listen to advice from other builders.”
“They suggest when you make your frame, use a router on a jig to make perfect circles,” he noted.
“I didn’t have a router at the time . . . [and] when I put my frame together, it was a little off kilter, so I had trouble fitting my skins on it.
“There is no real how-to guide on how to make this,” Strickland conceded. “There’s a bunch of people that say, “Here’s how I did it.’
“You go off of what another person says,” he reasoned. “You take the advice of others and run with it like that.”
While there are kits available to purchase and build a replica, Strickland warned they aren’t necessarily the best option.
“If you know your R2-D2 and you look at the kit . . . you’ll see the body warps, how the legs are warped, how the pieces don’t look right,” he explained.
“Building one—you really get to know R2-D2 very intimately,” he added.
“You know every little bit and piece, and if you see another one you’ll go, ‘Hey, that’s not right.’”
On a panel that folds out of the R2-D2 replica, Strickland has the autograph of Kenny Baker—the man that portrayed the droid in the original and prequel “Star Wars” trilogies.
“I took a panel off and I had him sign it,” he recalled, noting he met Baker at a convention.
“I told him I was one of the R2 builders and he lit right up,” Strickland enthused.
“‘Oh, you’re an R2 builder–that’s great,’” he recalled Baker saying.
“Such a charming little man.”
Although Strickland completed the majority of his replica only recently, that hasn’t prevented him from already looking forward to his next project.
“I am going to build another one like this—but not R2-D2,” he said.
“It will basically look like this, except it will be red and white, and it’s going to be my own personal themed one,” he enthused.
“I’m going to call it R2-EH. It’s going to be a Canadian-themed one.”
Strickland also has shown off his replica at local elementary schools, as well as at the “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” premiere at Cine 5 across the river in International Falls, Mn.
“[The kids] love it,” he enthused. “Some love it a little bit more than others.
“Most of the kids are really good with R2, they want to get up and they like to hug R2,” Strickland grinned.
“Some are a little bit rambunctious,” he admitted. “They push him; they get a little too excited.
“It’s fun puppeteering it, too,” he added.
“It’s nice when you can sit off to the side and make it come alive for the kids.”
