Robbie Mott’s Robby the Robot

I got this great old vinyl kit for a song because it was missing a few pieces and the silly talking voice box that originally came with it was toast.

This a very cool but odd “kit” as it is not quite a model, and not quite a toy. The only real assembly is in the head details. The fun part is detailing that and giving Robby a cool authentic paint job. This original 80’s release Robby is molded in brownish-black vinyl with brittle clear parts. The 90’s re-releases were slightly better. These older kits, mint, are more valuable to collectors.

I fabricated a new mouth grille from clear styrene and pinstriping with several coats of Tamiya clear to blend it in nicely. I then glued one of those flashing blue tire lights against the back of his head, aimed at the grill. Now, just tapping him gently or walking by the shelf will light up his mouth! (Too easy, couldn’t resist)   Costume jewels were used for his red ”eyes” and the upper row of domes above his “sax valve” brainworks. These details were all originally molded in the vinyl.

Robby’s color is a tricky thing, as he appears slightly different in different prints of Forbidden Planet, and publicity photos. Also he has been repainted many times and the finish on some replicas differ slightly. Acrylics are always a good choice for vinyl kits, as they will flex, expand and contract somewhat with the vinyl. Some oil based paints will remain tacky and never seem to dry on vinyl.

The paint I used is a special mixture of Tamiya acrylics (my airbrush’s favorite food) consisting of a mixture of Gunmetal, Chrome silver, Clear Green and Clear Blue. I shaded the deep areas with a thinned mixture of Tamiya Black, Smoke and Clear Blue, then highlighted high points with a much thinned Model Master Chrome Silver lightly misted on.

I actually own a small chip of the original Robby’s ankle that came from a broken part during his 1974 restoration, and fans may be surprised to know that Robby is actually more of a flat metalic dark green than blue….but If one were to pull just one color off the shelf that looks authentic, Gunmetal would be a good choice. Robby is suppose to be radiating with the look of Krell metal….whatever that is suppose to look like, and with lighting and old color film production, he appears to have intended to look like he was made of a very dark metalic blue metal. And though the original Robby was not very glossy, I like to pretend that the highly adept crew of the C57-D gave him a buff and shine once he became part of the crew!

Robbie J. Mott