R2D2 cake, Star Wars

So my William turned 8.  Seriously?  For his birthday he just wanted a fun cake and a party with family.  He went back and forth about what cake he wanted, because he wanted me to put everything he liked on one cake.  After visions of a robot spinning a beyblade, playing sports and wielding a light saber... I gently suggested something a little more do-able and offered to make a model of R2D2 from Star Wars.  And it took! (Whew!)

So to start, my friend helped me figure things out and she and her husband made a stand like the one we used for the Tangled Tower Cake.  I baked a lot of cake... six inch rounds for the body, a 1/2 ball pan for the domed head, and two 9 x 13's to cut the legs out of. The cake was a basic 'Funfetti' mix that I doctored to make it more tasty... the filling chocolate, and covered in marshmallow fondant. 
After I filled, stacked and frosted the cakes, I covered it all with fondant... then added details.  I totally cheated though. Silver is a hard color to get.  You can get a gray easily enough, but to get the silver look you have to literally paint it... so I used some foil for the details, and added details to the silver pan to put on his head.  It's for my boy, so I'm allowed to cheat, right? :)

The ball pan I used.. Isn't it a pretty silver? lol

Anyway, here's some pics of the process and the cake:

I cut the 'leg' shape out of cardboard first, then cut the cake to match it and add some indentations

Covered the whole thing (cardboard too) w/fondant.  Then made all details, attaching them w/ piping gel

So we covered the board w/foil.  Added details to cake, w/ the details on the pan (LOL)

I wanted something to put candles in.. so Bety helped me make a wrench, some screws and bolts.  And yes.. they all have detail work on them.

I was laughing at myself for not measuring.  I totally made the legs a little big.  The wideness should be more on the bottom.  If I would do it again I would be more careful with size/shape and probably make legs out of rice krispie treats instead.

Top looking down. 

Bringing it to the birthday boy.  It was big.. but not ridiculous big :)

And the reward for making this is right there!

Stars Wars!

See! It really is cake! I just took off the pan/head.. the kids ate off the details :)