CLASSIFICATION: KITBASH
BASE FIGURE: PIT DROID (STAR WARS: EPISODE I)
MATERIALS USED: PAPER CLIPS, HOBBY KNIFE, SUPER GLUE
MEDIA APPEARANCE: STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE

"Hit the nose!"

Preamble:  Ever since I saw The Phantom Menace, I've been fascinated with Pit Droids.  They're just neat little utility robots, and they even collapse into a convenient portable size.  I've always wanted to see a toy version that properly folded up into its compact configuration.  The three-inch version couldn't do this, obviously (which is understandable in light of its tiny scale) but the seven-inch Action Collection version couldn't do it, either (which does surprise me considering how much articulation they crammed into that thing).  The only thing that really came close was the LEGO Technic building set, which resembles a Pit Droid only in the most abstract sense.

Later, I bought a Jar Jar Binks toy from the Power of the Jedi assortment, and he came with a folded-up Pit Droid accessory.  I had originally assumed that the compact Pit Droid couldn't actually exist in three-dimensional space, and that the CGI animators had taken some liberties with its design.  After I studied Jar Jar's accessory, though, I realized it would actually be really easy to build one myself.  All the toy needed was the right moving parts.

Construction:  The idea was to create new moving joints for the Pit Droid so that he had the points of articulation necessary to fold up.  Since his joints are so small, I figured the best way to do this would be to drill tiny holes through the joints and use pieces of a paper clip to hold them together.  I drilled the holes with a precision screwdriver, since I didn't own a drill bit small enough and I wanted to be able to control the drilling by hand.  The vinyl plastic was soft enough that the screwdriver pushed through to the other side without ripping the plastic open.  The joints for the elbows and knees utilize paper clips that are bent at a 90º angle, so that one end is stuck inside the upper arm or upper leg, and the other end holds the forearm or lower leg in place.  The new elbow and knee joints are on the outside of the limbs, so they have room to fold up.  Squeezing the protruding tip of paper clip with a pair of pliers prevented the lower limbs from slipping off.

I also made a new hinge joint to attach the head to the neck, allowing it to swing up 90º, and created new pivoting joints for the lower neck and waist.  For the ankles, I had to make Z-shaped cuts so that both the foot and lower leg retained enough of the ankle to reattach the two back together.

Comments:  All told, the toy now has 13 points of articulation, and every one of them is needed to fold him up into his compact form (shown next to Jar Jar's brown Pit Droid accessory).