R2 Blue

Not many people seem to realize this -- R5-D4 is just R2-D2 with a different head and some panels painted red. Generally speaking, everything else is the same. That said there are a number of parts that need to be painted blue. Unfortunately, to get the color correct is not just a matter of finding a can of spray paint at Lowe's.

The R2 Builder's Group has numerous discussions on how to make that perfect blue hue with a combination of gold, silver and metallic purple as a base coat and a candy-coat, semi-transparent royal blue. This method gets expensive fast if you're just looking to do one droid on your own. Builder Kelly Krider came up with a way to achieve this look with store-bought spray paint, and since I'm making R5-D4 in all his Tatooine debut glory I don't really care how pristine the underlying paint job is. Granted it'll come out looking awesome, but as one builder said -- no need to waste money on perfect paint jobs when you're just going to weather it.

Here's a pic of someone's R2 head using the Krider Method: