Building the Dewey Drone from "Silent Running" (1972) - Part I: Getting Started

The history of "modern" SciFi movies has two milestones with "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) and "Star Wars" (1977). Not with the same commercial success, and often overlooked, is "Silent Running" from 1972. "Silent Running" was directed by Douglas Trumbull who worked on the special effects for Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", and later for those on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979).

Some of the outstanding elements in "Silent Running" were the three drones, Drone #01 (Dewey), Drone #02 (Huey), and Drone #03 (Louie). These were clearly some of the inspirations that went into the design of R2-D2.

Here is a great article on "Silent Running" and it's drones

Having built quite a few SciFi movie props in recent years, I wanted to build one of these drones. And I decided on building Dewey.

Previous Dewey Builds

Now, it turns out that I'm not the first one to do this. One can find quite a few builds of these drones, that were made in the past. These builts differ in their sizes (from 1:6 to original size) and the materials used (cardboard, wood, styrene, 3-D printed, LEGO). I am compiling here a list of builds that somehow helped me planning my built:

Some builts at the Replica Prop Forum:

• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/the-1-to-1-scale-drone-1-duey.43851
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/another-16th-scale-robot-huey.275818/
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/silent-running-drones-huey-lewy-and-dewy-3d-printed.289261/
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/silent-running-drone-scratchbuild.297273
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/my-silent-running-drone-build.299248/
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/lego-dewey-from-silent-running.330468/
• https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/silent-running-drone-%E2%80%93-first-scratch-build-completed.254044/

Other webpages:

• http://sculpt.strick.co.uk/Dewey_-_Building_a_Full-Size_Silent_Running_Drone
• http://www.robothut.robotnut.com/drone1p1web.html
• a kit offered at  http://www.destinymodels.co.uk/drone_kit
• plans for sale at http://www.jackill.com/Pages/SR-1_Sample_Page.htm

And a video of a built

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agnx7pRbkkU

Finally, here is page with a link to sketch with the dimensions - this is what I used:

• http://www.b9robotbuildersclub.com/pub/old/Drones/DroneInfo.html

Planning my Built

The original drones are rather large, especially if you don't need them for a movie, but if you want to have them in your house. So, I decided to built my Dewey in two thirds of the original size. This is still large enough to make it feel "life-size" while it occupies significantly less space. The total size is approximately 23 1/4" (w) 19" (h) 11 1/2 (d).  Like my other recent movie props, I will build this using 3/16" plywood, and a laser cutter.

I got all dimensions from the sketch at the b9robotsbuildersclub, modified these by a factor of 0.66, and translated these into fractions (example: the total width of the original Dewey is 35 1/4", multiplied by 0.66 gives 23.26", and rounded to fractions: 23 1/4").

Based on these dimensions, I used librecad to create the .dxf files for the laser cutter (all for 3/16" plywood).  My goal was to make as many pieces as possible with the laser cutter. But it turns out that some manual wood work is still required: Quite a few laser-cut pieces need to be sanded at a certain angle so the fit. And some pieces have to be cut from solid wood. This includes the toes, plus four triangular pieces. 

Laser Cutter Files

Here are all the drawings for the laser cutter. All of these easily fit on a 4'x8' piece of "luan" plywood (3/16" plywood where one side is primed).

1. The centerpiece of the body which also includes a number of smaller details for the front side.

2. The pieces for the top plate

3. The right side piece

4. The left side piece

5. The "bottom ring" that is glued below the center piece

6. Both feet, plus the "bottom plate" that is actually part of the centerpiece (1.)

7. One leg (this needs to be cut twice)

8. The front frame

9. Front details

10. The "speaker grille" (on the top left of the front of the centerpiece, which will feature the number "01")

The assembly of the pieces is shown in part II. But here are some...

First Steps

Here are the cut outs for the center piece as they come out the laser cutter.

Also required is the bottom plate which is cut with the feet (6.) - and not shown here. All the required pieces.

I'm starting with the four pieces that make the outer frame.
 

And then I'm adding the front and back side.

Everything is glue with fast drying white glue, and held by rubber bands while drying.

So, that's a start! The assembly continues in part II.  

Other posts in this series:

 - Building the Dewey Drone from "Silent Running" (1972) - Part II: Main Body and Sides

 - Building the Dewey Drone from "Silent Running" (1972) - Part III: Adding Details 

 - Building the Dewey Drone from "Silent Running" (1972) - Part IV: Legs and Feet and Toes

 - Building the Dewey Drone from "Silent Running" (1972) - Part V: Painting and Assembly