Celebration Five, droid building 101 video (Updated)

Here is part one,two, and three of the droid 101 building panel at Celebration Five.
It was a fun time hanging with the other builders :)
The other parts of the video will be up later this week, so keep an eye out for them on Youtube!



Part Two


Part Three


Part Four

Adjusting, adding, and fixing servos

This is one part of Patches I think I will never be done with. SERVOS!
Today I decided to tinker around with his.
First I adjusted his upper arm about a half a degree. Just so it looks better to me when closed.

Then I installed a servo for the door next to the coin slots. The more gadgets I add the less room I have to work with inside so I have to contort to get to certain areas.
Tada I got to it! Now to tighten it all up.
I also took off one of his long door hinges so I can clean it up and reinstall it. The hinge was coming loose from the skins because a burr developed and was making it hard to swivel open. That put un-needed stress on the glue bond.
Now off to do non Star Wars things for the rest of the day. How boring. :P

More Progress

Recessing the inner skin screws I attached the outer skins on R4-ED. There are a few places I got to add an extra screws or strech the outer skin a bit more but for now they are on. Now to take them all back apart and paint them white.
Chris James is the winner of figuring out what my next project is. Congrats Chris! That project is K-9 from Doctor Who. Yup a robot that is not Star Wars related finally! I got most of the drive system parts together and a couple of servos. Now to order even more parts!

Getting ready for Nebraskon aka Fall clean out

Now that CV is over it is time to get ready for a local con called Nebraskon here in Omaha.
With the basement workshop cleaned, it is time to start on the garage.
This way I have room to work and my blog pictures won't look so as bad as the next three below. LOL
Here it what it looks like before the clean out with the mowers and other lawn stuff taken out.
All the work benches are completely covered.
I can't even get to the tools with a TARDIS blocking the way.
Even with taking ED's frame, the gonk, and R3's body out I still have a ton to move.
Next I will take T3 out and clean the dust off and put him downstairs. I plan to do a total update to T3's electronics anyway.

R4's skins

After fixing the Gonk I decided the next thing that needed cleaned out of the garage were some of R4-ED's parts. First I sanded down the bump in his frame I have been meaning to fix then put him downstairs.

Later that evening I decided to see how his custom skins fit and decided to attach them so they would be out of the way as well. Here are the inner skins attached. It will look a lot better once I clean them up and add the outer skins. First I need to recess the inner screws.

Gonk repair.

After many a con the gonk is starting to show it's age. So I decided to spruce it up a bit while cleaning out the garage. I started by repainting all the chipped areas.
Then I modified the inside so it can hold and charge more batteries.

Patches made it on the daily buzz at CV. I was wondering who was interviewing my droid. LOL
He is in the middle of the video at 1:45.

B&N Star Wars book release

Saturday a few of us Rebel Legion, and R2-Central members went and helped out the 501st at Star Wars Book release at the local B&N.
What is cool about this is that this is my favorite book store location!
Here are a few pictures of the event :)

Getting back to building

With CV behind us it is time to clean up the pre-con mess left in it's wake.
I started with the workshop basement, there was stuff everywhere and most of the floor had something on it so there was no way to walk around.
After a few hours of sorting, cleaning, and ditching stuff I no longer needed, I now have a clean basement again. Now the garage will be a different matter. I need to do an entire rip out, reorganize, and cleaning to that thing. That will be another day.

CV R2-KT tribute

One of the reasons we went to CV is to see George Lucas and the other R2 builders but we also came to see the beloved R2-KT in all of her Pink and White glory. She holds a special place in our hearts like she does for so many others. She is more than just metal and paint, she is a shining example of the spirit of one girl and the people that help keep her memory alive.

Patches (R2-CM) made it in a StarWars.com video!

To cool! My Brown and White R2 along with the other R2-builders made it in one of the StarWars.com Videos!
StarWars.com video link

The first of many CV videos

With as many pictures and video that were taken at CV by everyone I am not even going to try to put them all back in the correct order. Here is the first video, nothing fancy, just fun :)

Patches meets the maker!

Everything about the con and the droid room was awesome, especially when George Lucas stopped by the room to check out the droids. As Lucas was making his way down the line Patches caught his attention as his dome turned to look at him and one of his pie plates opened and closed.
As Lucas came over as Patches followed him with his main eye and chirped softly. Waving at the maker with his brown arms George then looked at the other three colorful droids R2-Central members brought. (Touchdown, R5-TK, and Bane) He then looked back to Patches then to Jen and me and said "Where where you guys when I was making my movies?"

That totally made my day! Thanks to Wayne for making it possible for us to be there when George came by. It will be a day long remembered.




Photos are used with permission from Denman Freeman

Post Celebration Five

Just got home late last night and the past two weeks are still whirling around in my head.
We took 900 photos on our camera alone and I have not had a chance to go through all of them yet. Here are just a few of the many I plan to put up.

See I told you this Senna guy lives in Florida! Us Canadian moose are smrt!
LOL Great to finally meet you Mike!
Got to finally meet Victor Franco as well. Great guy! He even took Patches for a spin!
Wish I had more time to hang out with him and the other members.
Everyone was taking pictures and video of Patches He was even on a few news and TV shows I think. If you see any let me know so I can watch :)
Here is the man who brought R2-D2's voice to life in Star Wars, Ben Burtt. Great guy to meet if you have the chance.
One of the highlights of my trip was meeting R2-KT. Patches fell in love instantly. :)
More pictures and video will be put up over the next week so come back often.
Again if you see any photos of me or my droid at CV elsewhere let me know I would love to see it. Thanks!

Patches, arms and feet video

Got a little more work done on the feet shells today and the arms are dialed in (for now).

R2-CM almost together

It may not look like I got a lot done today but I did. The arms are finally brown and reinstalled.
Also they are now flush to the body and still work!
I also installed all the vents for now as well as assembled my foot shells for both outer feet.
The horse shoes are put back together as well and installed.
A few more odds and ends tomorrow and I take him back apart for the trip to CV. :D

I just bought the first part for next years project

Can anyone tell what it is for? :)

Styrene bliss and Patches' new shoes

Tonight I cut out some under the leg vents out of styrene. Time is running short but I decided to see if I can make most of the main foot shells for Patches before leaving for CV.
I drew the lines out for all the pieces I wanted to cut then used a straight edge and a razor blade to score everything out.
Then with a little finesse the styrene snaps on the line.
Some pieces have curves in them so I had to do them free hand, taking my time so I do not slip.
Here is a mock up of one side. Not bad for an hours work! (minus the side vents)

Here is the wood center leg all together. I will put the skirt back on tomorrow after it cures for a while.
I also installed a fresh fire extinguisher in the dome for CV :)

Down to the wire

Running out of time to get stuff done.
I wet sanded and painted the skirt first along with the horseshoes.


Then on the front vent I added a piece of flat styrene after painting the top part brown last night.
Later I will make a vent that is three dimensional like it should be.
I was going to put the arms back on but realized the back side never got painted. Well hopefully it is dry enough by Saturday morning to put on.
I attached the beefy ankle pieces to the center leg and put a few coats of bondo on the wood parts. I sanded everything smooth and put a coat of primer on after taping everything off. Later today I will put a few coats of white on.

Today us R2-Central builders helped Brad Vader with his pitching arm. He will be throwing the first pitch of one of the last games to ever be played at Rosenblatt Stadium this Friday. We went to the park down the street and tossed the ball back and forth for about an hour.

Brad Vader dressed in his casual garb getting ready to pitch.

Play Ball!


This video proves we all needed the practice. LOL It was a fun time :)

Patches' rear door

Patches rear door is finally all together. Still got some detail painting to do but it looks better than having the open holes. Now to just install the two side vents.

Ithorian Brown Love

Today I primered and painted the center foot cylinders after sanding the bondo from filling the air dimples.
After filling, sanding, and some primer, the arms finally seen their first coat of brown.
I will let them dry for about two hours then bring them inside as it might rain tonight.

Last minute details

Today I finally put the power coupling front cover on. The inside of the coupler will be hand painted once I go get the matching paint. I also took off the skirt and leg cylinders so I could bond the center leg.
While everything was off I filled in all the imperfections along with the arms I took off the other day. Tomorrow during lunch I will sand and fill one more time before painting.