Detroit's RoboCop statue, a magnificent obsession for 9 years now, is nearly done

New decade, new RoboCop statue update.

The work of art that began as an offbeat idea back in 2011 is now almost finished, according to one of the men who launched its crowdfunding campaign.

"The casting is completely done. All that is left is applying the patina and welding the large sections together," said Brandon Walley of the Imagination Station via email in a status update on the nine-years-and-counting project.

According to Walley, the crew at Detroit's Venus Bronze Works should have the statue finished and ready to leave the shop by March.

"We do need to wait until the freeze of winter is over and the ground to thaw to be able to install outside," he said.

Recent photos were posted in late December on the project's Kickstarter page by Imagination Station, a community arts nonprofit group based in Corktown. They reveal that once RoboCop's head is welded onto his body, the results are going to be pretty amazing — not to mention 11 feet tall.

"He is big, he is clean, he is bronze, he is perfect," the posting reads. "The next time you see him he will be sporting a fully finished dark gray patina."

In the pictures, you can see approximately what that patina will look like in the portion of the breast plate.

Walley, a Detroit filmmaker, and Jerry Paffendorf, co-founder of Loveland Technologies started the Imagination Station's grassroots effort to raise money for the RoboCop statue in 2011 and ended up with pledges for more than $67,000.

The spark for their campaign was a Twitter message sent to Detroit's then-mayor Dave Bing.

A Massachusetts man suggested to Bing that the half-man, half cyborg police officer from the 1987 sci-fi cult hit "RoboCop" could serve as a Motor City ambassador, much like the statue of Rocky does in Philadelphia. Bing replied that no plans were underway, but the idea spurred much online attention and began a life of its own.

Now the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be here for the monument born with a tweet.

"You will find that the scale and quality of craftsmanship were worth the wait," teases the December Kickstarter posting.

Giorgio Gikas has been overseeing the process at Venus Bronze Works, one of the leading sculptural restoration and conservation businesses in the nation. Gikas, an art conservation expert, has spent decades restoring iconic local works like the Joe Louis fist, the "Spirit of Detroit” statue and more.

Before work even could start, however, there were many legal and technical hurdles to overcome, including obtaining copyright permission and navigating the many complicated mold and model-making steps in the lead-up to the pouring of the casts.

In May 2018, Imagination Station announced that the statue would have a home on the grounds of the Michigan Science Center, which then was under the direction of president and CEO Tonya Matthews.

The RoboCop statue is expected to be installed somewhere on the site in the spring or summer of 2020, if it is completed in that time frame, according to Christian Greer, the head of the Michigan Science Center since June 2019.

From 2017: RoboCop statue's bronze pieces revealed

A veteran of Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and, most recently, a chief officer of the Saint Louis Science Center, Greer says that he doesn't want to comment on any specifics until the statue actually is finished.

Any details also will need to coordinate with the Michigan Science Center's busy planning schedule, notes Greer.

Imagination Station is promising to everyone on Kickstarter that the wait will be worth it: "This is a once in a lifetime work of art, engineering, and persistence. The hours involved have been innumerable, from craftsmen all over the country to being made in Detroit, this has coalesced into something truly great and truly unique."

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.