I Come From a Land Down Under

Received the final piece to the puzzle today. The long awaited Aluminum Radar Eye from David Shaw in Australia. Had to show how it was packed. David has the coolest packing out of any of the parts, he even etches a serial number into each part.

I just wish the weather would cool down some so I could get back to work on everything.

Footlose

Finally received the infamous JAG Foot Drives! Been waiting one year, one month and 21 days on these bad boys, hopefully a record that won't be broken. They are very solid, pretty hefty and have a reputation for lasting quite a while with little issue.

Anyway, now I'll be able to get moving on getting R2 moving. I've been reading up on center casters again, just because the two I have don't fit the bracket too well, so I'll have to find different ones that I can put the skater wheels in, or something altogether different.

I guess its time to start looking into getting the speed controllers, batteries and remote control as well!

No Intelligent Life Down Here

Two parts in the last two days: yesterday the Periscope Lighting Kit arrived and today the Life From Scanner was in the mailbox. Two dome related parts in two days. Also, it looks like the Foot Drives will finally arrive soon! Been waiting over 13 months for those.

Artoo on the Side

Side Vents arrived today from Guy in Burbank, CA. These perfectly match the Pocket Vents he ran earlier this year. Painted portions of the Power Couplers this weekend. Still trying to figure out the best way to mask off the remaining ring around the center of the Couplers.

Honey Bunches of Ohs!

PSI Surrounds + Diffusers arrived today. Really cool design by Michael Wheeler (mcwhlr). Haven't seen them actually assembled and lit up, but definitely the best solution yet for these. He even got the honeycomb pattern in there too!

Octagon Now, Redux

Long time no post. Haven't had much time for Artoo the last couple months. But the new 2 piece design Octagon Ports came in today. These are much better milled than the ones I got off the part junkyard awhile back. Plus the two piece design will make them a sinch to paint.

Now I just have to try and resell the old ones on the junkyard someday. I hope to ramp up work on Artoo again soon. The weather here has been unseasonably warm, 70s-low 80s in mid March. Usually its snowing here this time of year. Good thing is that its prime painting weather. So I can paint the blue pieces I've gotten since the fall and touchup/repaint the other ones that need it. Then I'll just need to grab a plethora of satin white for the rest of the painting.

Give Em' the Slip

Slip Ring arrived yesterday. This allows power and electrical signals to go between the body and dome while still being able to fully rotate the dome infinite times. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use it yet, but eventually I'll need it to do things like lift the periscope and life form scanner.

Coupling

Power Couplers arrived from Russ in England. Russ's parts have been of exceptional quality. These are even designed for easier painting. Hopefully he will be running the coveted Aluminum Radar Eye next, and possibly the new JAG Octagon Port design. I wouldn't mind trading the Octo Ports I got off the junkyard for the newer design. He also sells other prop replicas not associated with Artoo building. Check out his website for more info. You may find something you have to have.

Skater Boy

UPS just dropped off the caster wheels I ordered a week ago. After reading through a dedicated Center Caster Wheels thread on astromech.net, I decided to go with 2.5 inch skate style wheels from Rockler. These aren't as soft as I'd imagined them to be, but I'll give them a shot. It looks like these are one of the parts that people try different options as they wear out over time. But these also look better to me than a standard Lowe's or Ace caster. And of course I went with the blue option.

Pocket Full of Kryptonite

Pocket Vents arrived from Guy in Burbank, CA. I've realized lately how many different areas of the world R2 parts come from. I wish I'd have paid more attention when they arrived. My little astro droid will have parts from all over the U.S. - Texas, Arizona, California, Rhode Island and several more states. Not to mention a few international parts from China, Australia, and England.

Center Justified

Center Ankle has arrived. Now I can put R2 on all feet. Will try to do that in the next week or so. Foot drives should be in fairly soon as well. Looks like I better start getting some electronic guts.

No Longer Feeling Blue

Not much on the blog front lately. I've mainly been getting all the blue paint as finished as I can before the cold weather finally set in a couple weeks ago. All but about 3-4 pieces will need some clear coat touchup next spring when the weather abides again.

Had some success with masking the Booster Covers with Elmer's Glue. The bottom four masked areas on each didn't turn out to well though. Masking Tape on the coin slots didn't fair very good as well. I posted a thread about masking tips on the forums, and the best advice I think I gathered from responses is that masking should be removed fairly quickly - within 2 hours. That way the paint is still pliable enough not to chip. Looks like these 3 parts will be stripped and attempted again this Spring with the remaining blue pieces I've yet to receive.

Not sure yet, but I'd like to attempt the Dome Lighting Kit sometime in the next couple months while its too dang cold to do much else.

I've ordered a few more parts, there's only a handfull left to go and most are electronics. The HP servo mounts came in yesterday. These allow a servo hookup to the HPs to add movement. Some assembly required.

Spaced Out

*EDIT: Just ordered a new part that will replace these, are BC approved and should be the accurate dimensions. A cool new total PSI Housing system will hold the lenses a diffuser and the PCB boards in an aluminum and rubber gasket shell. I doubt I'll be able to unload these, luckily they weren't too expensive. But still, any waste of money is a little irritating.*

PSI Spacers arrived from Taiwan. These are a new part that haven't been run before and are still prototypes. I went ahead and got some because I thought, "how much better can an aluminum ring get?" The sizes are off a little on 300mm Domes, so I guess they can get better. The front (smaller) PSI spacer is just slightly too small, but a little elbow grease and sand paper will correct this. The back (larger) PSI spacer is too small by quite a bit, at least 1/8th an inch. Fortunately though, if you don't use the Outer Dome piece for this PSI panel, and paint the Inner Dome blue here like the real droids, then it really doesn't matter. I have yet to make any additional cuts to my Inner Dome other than the 3 Holoprojector cuts that were already there when I purchased it. So all I have to do is use the spacer for measuring the back PSI hole instead of the Outer Dome panel that already had it cut out. Problem solved.

Slot Machine

Coin slots arrived. Only two sets of body parts left, and one is on order.

Balls of Real Steel

My Acetal Bearings from McMaster-Carr arrived today. A few other builders have found that replacing the steel bearings that come with Rockler with these is helping cut down on the noise. I tried the polishing and White Lightning lube, but I don't like the newton's cradle noise that still comes from the bearings hitting each other in the track. I just need to get some teflon lube and I can switch them out maybe this weekend.

I've been working on getting a final 400 grit sanding on all the dome panels today. Utility Arms and Large Data Port have been removed from the frame and need a light sanding before priming.

I decided not to file my Utility Arms down so they can clear the skins. I may someday down the road get them hooked up to servos, but until then, keeping them locked behind the skins keeps little fingers out better.

I've been using SteelStik to help fill in some of the small holes on panel edges and one particular dent in a dome pie panel. Its been working fairly well. It sands quite easily. I found it in the glue area on the paint aisle at Lowe's. Sets up fast, real fast!

What's your Vector Victor?

Resin Radar Eye from Azman. I broke down and got a resin one after a few failed runs for an aluminum version never manifested. I may get an aluminum one if a run ever happens. This way though I'll be able to paint all the dome pieces at once. Which may happen Friday, the weather is too nice so I'm taking the next couple days off. Couple runs started yesterday. Ordered Pocket Vents and Coin Slots. That leaves only a set of Side Vents to complete the body. The last 10 months have gone by fast.

Playing Footsy

Steel JAG feet arrived today. These things feel pretty hefty. Definitely the heaviest part so far. UPS tracking showed 22 pounds. Since these are made of steel they have to be primed right away. The bags they are in now contain some grease to keep them from rusting. To bad I don't have my Center Ankle yet or I'd be able to get R2 to stand on his own. I guess I could always put him in two legged mode till then.

Also received the Periscope Housing and Riser Parts today. This is one of a couple optional parts that you can get. I always liked this feature of R2, so I had to get one. I haven't decided what all I will add to him yet, but may eventually get some things like a LifeFrom Scanner and Computer Interface Arm.

Can I Holo at ya?

Holoprojectors came in today. First part arrival in awhile. Should also be getting the three feet and foot drives soon.

I broke down and bought a Mouse Sander a week ago to aid in the sanding of the dome. I had to get some 80 grit paper, and it still took a good hour or more to get all the spin lines out. Now I have to sand all the dome panels separately since they were already punched out when I bought my dome used. Then I'll work my way through a couple finer grits on the mouse sander, but I'll have to do the last few rounds by hand. Still hoping to get at least some painting done this fall.

Up Up and Away

Booster Covers arrived today. These were the last attached to the legs parts I needed. I also think these are one of the cooler parts on R2, not that all parts aren't cool, but these are really cool. Should get the drive system and maybe the feet next month. Then lastly the center ankle shortly after and R2 will be able to stand on his own.

Been working on the skins the last week or so. Ran into my first major obstacle/screwup and am coming up with some creative ways to fix it. More on that later.

Skirting the issue

Parts Junkyard mega-score. Got an Aluminum JAG skirt today from local Tulsa builder Jeff Barnes. Just happened to be on the boards at the right time to snatch it up. Bonus for only having to drive a few miles and pick it up instead of waiting a few days for it to ship. Extra bonus that he'd already done some Bondo work and primed it.

Also got to see some resin parts in person when I went to his house. He's starting his droid no. 2 and is planning a more lightweight build.

Been working on mounting the skins to the frame this weekend. Have the inner front skins mounted, and almost have the inner back ones on as well. Its a lot of fine tuning to get it all to line up right. Also realized for the first time this weekend that a few pieces of the frame will need to be painted, mainly the bottom ring & utility arm carriers.