One of my hobbies to keep me off the screen, is building miniatures from existing materials. Today I finished my first ever beadbot, I call it the Whimsical Wheelybot.

Whimsical Wheelybot

Ever since I saw the videos by Youtuber Bill Making Stuff, I knew this was something I could put some creativity into. Beadbots are an invention of Bill. The basic idea is that you use parts from toys, small beads and other (plastic) utensils. This gives me the freedom to create a model based on my own inspiration. It allows me to change ideas as I go, and I don’t have to stick to a manual or set way of doing something.

I made the Wheelybot with considerable intervals, remembering to take pictures of the process as I went along.

I started from an old toy, a little wooden robot with elastic movable arms and legs. I didn’t take a picture of that, of course, but this is a similar model I could find online. From its head I made the body, using two tires from a toy car and the casing from a DIY children’s wristwatch.

After that, I add all kinds of materials. Beads, string, plastic parts from toy cars, electrical wire. Two key components of the Beadbots are EVA foam and magnets. With EVA foam, you can easily cover up mistakes and give your robot a somewhat assembled look. The magnets are located at the ends of its arms, which allow me to snap on different types of weapons. I’ve only made two right now, but of course this can get wonderfully out of control….

Next, I painted everything an even prime color followed by a rusty surface. Then I painted the Wheelybot while keeping the rusty, weathered look. Finally, I made the base and used a dry brushing technique to apply the highlights.

The complete build only took me a few hours, but I worked on it at long intervals. I was especially hesitant to do the step of priming and painting. I had never done any of this before, so I had to turn to YouTube videos showing me how to do it.

I’m pretty proud of my Whimsical Wheelybot. It’s the first miniature I’ve made completely from scratch. I now have gotten the bug again. While this one was drying I was already working on the next project….