"These are not the droids you are looking for" - Olley x R2-D2 & C-3PO

A year ago when I painted up some Iron Claw space pirates in a Star Wars rebel commando scheme, I didn't imagine that I'd slide down a slippery slope that led to converting Bob Olley sculpts as Yoda, Jabba, Lando or Boba Fett. It's been a brilliantly fun project that has challenged me in a lot of ways - tracking down obscure miniatures from defunct companies, repurposing them or converting them in new ways.

For the record, I have made 22 rebels and 25 imperials, plus a saarlac pit. The last pair of figures to be included in these totals are everyone's favourite droids.

The droids have been the most problematic part of this whole project. Bob sculpted only a handful of robots over the course of his prolific career. I used the Kryomek talos to create IG-88, and the other options were aesthetically too far away from R2-D2 or C-3PO.

Artoo has actually been finished for quite a long time - I built him at the same time as Luke and Leia back in January. Threepio on the other hand has been much more challenging - even the end result is a bit of a compromise!

I built Artoo from a piece cut from one of Bob's Iron Claw jump troopers. Artoo is actually the jump trooper's helmeted head and top of the jump pack rotated through 90 degrees and with added legs!

Whilst the result isn't quite the dome-topped cylinder that Artoo actually is, I think the silhouette and size are just about right!

As I mentioned, Threepio was much more of a challenge. For a long time, I had no idea how to make him. I briefly considered painting a Rogue Trader servitor gold. At one point, I thought I'd sourced a suitable steampunk construct from Ral Partha, but it turns out that it was mis-labelled on their website and wasn't actually an Olley sculpt. The figure I eventually built is only 50% Olley - he's the torso and head of a Bob Olley genestealer hybrid on Eldar legs and with Eldar jetbike rider arms:

I forgot to take unpainted pics of the completed conversion - sorry!

I decided that 50% Olley but complete and recognisable as the character was more important than waiting to discover a perfect solution which may not exist.

Although I don't plan to make any more figures for this project, I guess there's plenty of scope to make jawas, ewoks, cantina aliens or tauntauns in the future - I just need to stumble on a suitable Olley sculpt. Either way, I hope you've enjoyed this project as much as I have!