Droid boo boo

While loading Patches up for an event I ended up almost dropping him because I have been doing so way to much heavy lifting and help friends move. Trying to lift a 125+ lbs droid seamed to be the final straw. Lucky his head was not on. Patches also got a wire yanked as well that is now fixed. Here is a shot of Patches after I popped the two dents out of his back skins. A little filling and sanding, then a respray of paint  in the two chipped areas and all should be good.  No more lifting heavy droids by myself for a while says the Doctor. Sad we had to miss the event but there are plenty others coming. I will take the lighter Astros to the next one.

BBQ and Build day

Our friend Jaka has had the parts for years to get her droid, R2-AL running, but never was able to get it working right. So this Labor day weekend she came all the way from Colorado with AL so we could get him moving. (Sorry for the unturned photos) There are more photos on my facebook page!

The night before Jaka and me laid all the electrical components out, wired them together, and got a test run going.

Laying everything out on the frame. What a mess!

Hobbit hair and all, wiring everything up.

John S. lending a helping hand.

Ben says the foods is ready!

HAZZAH! Is is break time!

Sitting around eating, trading stories.

Back to work! Mo and Dave lend a hand as well with AL.Setting him on the floor after getting the legs back on.

TADA! AL is alive! Driving under his own power! Jaka is one proud mama!

All the kids want to play with AL now.

More photos on my Facebook. :)

New post finally! #885!

Sorry everyone, had been laid up for a week plus had some real life stuff to do. After running up and down the stairs a million times to get stuff for B9 I decided it was time to take him downstairs. What a pain that was! At least now I can works on him easier.  K-9 is coming along even though it does not look like it. I decided to try one more neck setup on him. The second one worked just like in the show but I hated having to let go of the button right when he hit the top or bottom just to keep it there. Time for some limit switches!

50,000 Hits!

I did not even realize till today that R2-CM.com has gotten over 50,000 hits! Looking at the stats of this blog, it has been seen all over the world. I am so happy and humbled that so many people take the time to look at it. I hope I have helped inspire builders to go and do good themselves and help others. As this blog is becoming more than just a robot building blog I hope everyone finds something they like. Feel free to leave any comments or questions on the posts, I will get back to them in a timely manner.  Again thank you to all the fans out there, without you this blog would have died out long ago. :)

OSFest 4.0

OSFest 4.0 was here and gone. Had a great weekend with great friends.
Here are just a few random photos from the CON. Lots more on my FACEBOOK if you would like to look. FaceBook= Moose Mendolia

Here is a photo of half of my R2-CM gaming room. It was packed every day! Lots of different games being played. Thanks to all the GM's and gamers that came and made it great!

Me playing Flynn for the first time without the beard. Kinda like how he would of looked 10 years before TRON 2.

On the meeting of the minds panel.

A friend made a TARDIS cake. We are trying to repair it with all our sonic screwdrivers. No luck but the cake tasted great!

Jen and me setting up R2-Central at the con.

Kelly as Laura Croft and me as an SG-1 member in front of my TARDIS before the Stargate panel.

Bow ties are cool!

The first of two Doctor Who panels I was on.

Jen with her new tail :) Meow!

Patches and Shadow roaming the halls.

Me as the DUDE with Laura.

Party time with friends in our room.

Doctor Who panel #2

Tom Baker reboot!

Dinner time!

Tons more photos on my FACEBOOK! See you all next year!

OSFest this weekend

Did a quick TV spot for the OSFest CON the other day with a few friends and Patches. Take a look!

OSFest 4.0 on Morning Blend

B-9 detail

Last night I did a little more work to B-9 but did not have a camera. I am trying to make sure the outer details on the robot stay as original as Brad had them but update all the internals. Putting in the new wiring is not an easy task. B-9's new voice system is mostly done, just a few key pieces to link together once I figure out how.
I hope Brad likes all the improvements once they are done. :)

Getting ahead with B-9

Right now I am working on getting the little lights for the head to light up. What lights that were installed were never finished and the few that were don't work anyway.  So I took the head completely apart and gutted what little wiring it had so I can start from scratch. Once I go the head apart I realized the neck support will have to be beefed up as well. The glass dome has no actual support and is just resting on the brain top piece.

Details, details

Jen took the time to paint Patches power coupler for me as she has a steadier hand for this kind of detail work than I do. I have put off painting this part for way to long.

Jen then painted the power coupler on her R3 who now has the nickname of  "RIVER"

One final coat of paint and it is done.

Jen was nice and painted TD's power coupler as well, she also touched up a few scraps here and there.
All better now!

Trooper dance to fight Cancer

A few other 501st troopers and me did a troop for Relay For Life. this weekend in Iowa. Here is one of many moments caught on tape. I will post pictures in a later post as well.