K(ardboard)-9

[Organic Mechanic]

After seeing me build my Sonic & TARDIS key, my 9yr old daughter just HAD to help Daddy make a Who prop. We brainstormed a while, but she just kept insisting on build K-9. Currently being in no condition to use the table saw etc., I was more than a little reluctant.

"Why don't we use some cardboard boxes Daddy?" Says my li'l princess.

How could I argue? lol




We'll be starting work on the head tomorrow. No, it won't be screen accurate, but we're having a lot of fun building him. He'll be great to pose with in my 4th Doctor costume as well.

[rocket]

Top stuff, nothing beats building with the kids, mine loved every minute of the kids console we built together.

[Organic Mechanic]

Indeed. I spend a great deal of time trying to KEEP her interested though. She pretty much told me that she's only interested in helping paint etc. now. lol

[DarthMoose74]

To cute!  Great way to teach her how to build things and use diagrams

[Scarfwearer]

I once had a 9-yr old princess who did this
Take a look here: http://relative-dimensions.net/v2/fun-stuff/card-k9.htm.
The cardboard K.9 was my mad weekend, but my little one built a long side me. My excuse is that I was prototyping! See the picture at the bottom. That little princess is now 16, but her sister is an avid fan also...

Looks like your build here is coming along nicely!

Crispin

[cyberstephen]

Cardboard is actually a great base material even for a serious K.9 build and ideal for those who don't have power tools. That's what I'm using for mine.

The only real problem is hiding all the tell-tale corrugations which remain visible under layers of papier-mache. After being far too keen to paint it and making the mistake of using acrylic paint, I've sanded all this back and applied filler to hide all those nasty corrugations. Next job will be to prime it before spray-painting.

Update in the pipeline!

[DoctorWho8]

To help hide the cardboardiness, you should buy very thin plyboard, like 1/32" to 1/16" from a hobby store.  They come in larger sheets and you can glue it on the coardboard to not only hide the corrugation, but also ad strength.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

[Organic Mechanic]

Thanks guys. Crispin, that is simply adorable! I showed it to my daughter and she immediately decided she was going to do a solo build. Apparently, she has too much of ol' Dad in her though, as she was soon frustrated with her lack of ability to get the angles just right etc.

She was trying to make it full sized too. 

As for going the extra mile, and finishing this one out with luan (though paper mache may well be worth the effort)...I plan to build a proper K-9 in the workshop (I have all the tools I could want for it) after I recover from next month's surgery. I'm just going to chalk this one up as practice, and get a few poses with it in my 4th Doctor costume. It's just not accurate enough for my "AR" tendencies.

[Organic Mechanic]

Well, we "finished" it today. Still need to pic up some pipe insulation for the bottom.



more...

[rocket]

Very cool, and a nice low cost build as well.

[Organic Mechanic]

Of course we HAD to make the nose gun & eye sensor extend.