99 Problems

And Center Casters are one. Since I have the Foot Drives in now, my next plan of attack was to tackle the whole drive system and get R2 on wheels. The main problem I'm having right now is with the center caster wheels. I got these below from Rockler after reading up about how much better skate style wheels are. The issue I'm having is that they don't line up with the JAG mounting bracket very well. This is about the best way to mount them, but when you swing them both to the extreme outer position they are almost 2 inches too wide for the foot shell. I'm looking into possibly getting the post style casters that I could pop the wheels out and still use these. Its either that or devise a way to mount the casters over the plate's bolt holes after its installed. That may be what finally happens. I'm also looking at the one big McMaster caster that a couple builders have used, but it looks like it would require modifying the JAG plate a good bit.

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.

Begin again

Spent part of the weekend on Artoo! I stripped the paint or primer, not sure what it was, off the outer half moon details I purchased off the junkyard. Still need to do the inner ones. One of these was banged up a little and some sanding took care of the majority of it. Also stripped the paint off the coin slots. The original paint job I did flaked too much when I was taking off the masking.

Painted the blue portion of Pocket Vents & Octagon Ports. I tried it a little differently this time after reading up about painting techniques on the forums. Only waited about 2 hours after the primer coat to lay down the rest instead of 24+. Then I removed the masking around 2-3 hours after the last clear coat was down. The masking came off easy on the Octagon Ports, the paint was only around 2 hours old. Waited a little longer on the Pocket Vents because I had to sand out some imperfections on the clear coat and hit them again. I noticed that the tape was about to pull the paint  so I scored it with an Xacto and it came off quite easy. 

I think the quicker process will solve a lot of my painting problems. I went back thorough all the blue I've painted and about half needs some sanding and touchup on the clear coat. The biggest hurdle will be getting the Booster Covers painted. Two tries already and neither was successful.

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.