This is my creation of a model of K-9, the legendary robot from the Doctor Who series.
I just report some of the informations retrieved from Wikipedia about this fantastic companion of the doctor, since it is present in different series and appeareances of the Doctor.
K9, occasionally written K-9, is the name of several fictional robotic canines (dogs, the name being a pun on the pronunciation of “canine”) in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977. K9 has also been a central character in three of the series’ television spin-offs: the one-off K-9 and Company (1981), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011) and K9 (2009–2010). Although not originally intended to be a recurring character in the series, K9 was kept in the show following his first appearance because he was expected to be popular with younger audiences. There have been at least four separate K9 units in the series, with the first two being companions of the Fourth Doctor. Voice actor John Leeson has provided the character’s voice in most of his appearances, except during season 17 of Doctor Who, in which David Brierley temporarily did so. The character was created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, to whom rights to the character still belong; consequently, Baker’s spin-off series K9, which is not BBC-produced, could not directly reference events or characters from Doctor Who, though it attempted to be a part of that continuity.
Within the series’ narrative, K9 is a robot dog acquired by Doctor Who’s title character (the Doctor) in the 1977 serial The Invisible Enemy. The first two incarnations of the character travelled alongside the Fourth Doctor (portrayed by Tom Baker) until 1981. In these stories, K9 proved useful for the powerful laser weapon concealed in his nose, his encyclopaedic knowledge and his vast computer intelligence. By 1981, each of the two models of K9 which travelled alongside the Doctor had been left with one of the Doctor’s female companions. The character subsequently transitioned into spin-off territory. Producers hoped K9’s popularity with children would launch the series K-9 and Company, led by actress Elisabeth Sladen in the role of companion Sarah Jane Smith alongside a new K9. In 2006, K9 reappeared in the revived series of Doctor Who. Although the character’s appearances in the 2007 spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures were hampered by the concurrent development of the K9 spin-off, the character began to appear full-time in both K9 and The Sarah Jane Adventures, depicting adventures of the original K9 Mark I and of Mark IV, respectively.
These were my first two tentatived of printing K-9, both ended in failure. The problem was not in the STL itself but in an entanglement of the ABS wire that happened and that i did not recognize at first. The STL was taken from Thingiverse, and it’s absolutely free, just search with keyword K9 or K-9. As you can see the structure is hollowed inside and i used some filling of 15%, that was enough for the model.
And this is how it ended up. As you can see the ears are completely fucked up and so it’s the nose. there is some imperfection at the eye level but all these things will be solved later doing some manual work. Another problem is that you can see the lines of the printing process. Now, this can be solved by a bath in aceton but I did not have the equipment to do it at the time, so I just skipped and tried with a lot of filing.
I applied a primer coat of black and then with the airbrush I started to paint all in blue, that I thought was the perfect color. After a while I realized that in the modern appeareances of K-9 the color is more metallic and giong to a bue-greenish tone, so I modified a bit and repainted it with a different color.
Then the big problem were the ears, that are over complicated. Here you can see how they actually are made from a pic that i took from Internet. And in the following pics how I made mine, with a steel rod, a cuved piece of paper and 3 slices of a cartridge of a ink pen, then gled together and painted.
Finally everything was together and I started to paint all the details based on images on internet. I colored the wheels (the tubular three rounded parts at the base) in black. I colored all the lights and the screens in the appropriate color and all the parts.
For the gun in the nose I just used a brass rod. I drilled a hole and i glued it in place.
Final Touches are the Eye, done with a half wooden ball, the type that you use in homemade bracelets, pierced with a metallic rod and fixed in place with the same metallic rod after a drill. And the collar, that i did in printed cardboard with a K-9 style tartan and with the metallic circlet, painted in gold.
At this point I just used a clear matte varnish and a bit of washing and the model was finished. I added later a nice grey base covering the delicate parts like the tail (easily broken). This is the finished model with the base.
Hope that you liked it.
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