NebrasKon 2008

Went to the NebrasKon anime festival with fellow builder Clay and a few member of the 501st. We had a blast playing human Chess, doing demonstrations and skits, and just meeting the public at large. I also wore my Jedi costume I made but it still needs some work. Here is a Video of part of a skit we made up on the fly, I am the one with the green saber in the start. Patches shoots Vader with the fire extinguisher and eggs him on. LOL I have tons more vids I will add later on Youtube.


Here is a video of Patches coming in before the opening and before everyone else arrived. Denny shows off Patches while i hide in the background controlling him.


Here are a few of the 200 pics from the event that my friend Denny took. you can see them all at R2Central.com or on my Myspace page.

Patches getting his ID badge
Jedi Vs Sith. I'm the one with the green saber.
Fighting Vader's apprentice
Tuba guy playing to Patches playing the main Star Wars theme.
Patches meeting and greeting the crowd.
Patches playing human Chess as the black King.
Group Photo!
Now that is a cute Bunny!
Everyone just loves the droids!

"Scrub's" first drive

The other day my friend Denny came over and gave me a hand with my scrubber droid.
After I had built a new Luggage rack for the top of the Hummer He helped me cut off all the screw heads, reasemble the Hummer, and put on the velcro.
Carefully I lined up the Hummer after getting it put back together and gently set it in place and pushed down evenly so the Velcro was seated.
The clearance is an inch all the way around to the ground and the tires do not rub when turning now.
We took it out in the cold for a quick spin and everything works fine.
I even took it off road and it still zipped along fine. The battery only lasts 20 minutes. 25 if it is on level ground. Plenty of time for me :)

The birth of "SCRUBS"

When I was at Wall-mart getting the tub for the body of my scrubber droid I saw a remote control Hummer that looked like it would fit perfectly inside it. I got it a few days later and after taking off the bumpers and all the other non esential body parts it fit inside like a glove.


I will make a frame attached to the top of the Hummer out of plastic 1x2 that will keep the vehicle centered on the container and raise the wheels an extra inch outside the container.The inside of the box and the top of the new upper frame will have Velcro for easy removal from one another.
Here is a picture of all the parts I got so far for my Scrubber Droid.
Surprisingly the left over aluminum from my R2 skins fit inside the logo area perfectly!
Other things are, stove gas line, LED lights for a trailer.....
Craft parts from a hobby store.....

kitchen door pulls from Menards
Cable hold downs and pull threws.
I am also adding one of my PICAXE controllers to blink the LEDs on the unit. The top two Red LED trailer lights will blink in Morse Code the word "SCRUBS". I wonder how many non builders will notice. LOL

LABELS!!!

I have started going threw all my old posts and putting labels on all of them. With 184 posts so far it will take a while to multi-label some of them. I should have it all done by next weekend.

It will make it easier for new viewers to find what they may be looking for.

More Leg Work

Tonight L.C. Brad and me finished up the last couple of pieces of the 6 sets of outer legs for the group.
L.C. and I cut out the shoulder hubs and thin back ankel pieces.
The circles were to small and unstable to router out so I made a quick jig to do it on Dash's jigsaw. There was still a tracking issue with the blade so we took it appart and beefed up the adjustment arms. Now it is tracking like new.
This is a lot safer!
Brad a.k.a. KITT still had to put a starting notch in each peice so i could get each one started.
L.C. routered all the back ankel pieces while we did the circles.
After a while this is what we had.
Now we have 12 outer legs. YAAAA!
We started to make a pocket template for the under arm details. We are going to make it bigger so we can put the 1/8 inch pieces of wood behind it for a smoother look.
We also tested out a couple of my hole saws to cut the circle holes for the shoulder hub pieces. This was the closest I could find and it is a hair to big. I guess I got to go get another one that is 3 3/8 in diameter.
Our stack of leg parts is getting a little heavy for this shelf. I got to make room and bring in a stronger shelf. LOL

Legs skins and Scrubbers

I found the body for a Scrubber droid from episode 1 at Walmart in the Automotive section.
I am going off the information already compiled here....
http://www.stickmonkey.com/astromech/
This is my new side project now that the GONK is 95% done.
Today I put a coat of primer and paint on some of my skin parts before it got dark.





Next I did the trimming on the back skins for the power coupler and octagon port.
Once it got dark Brad and L.C. came over and we finished routing out the big leg parts.

The pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!
After a bit L.C. had to leave and Dash came over with his newly purchased USED bansaw.
It had a few issues and alignment problems but after an hour we had them all resoled. Now we have another tool to use in the arsenal.
Thursday we hope to hollow out the 3/4 inch leg pieces with the new saw.