Monthly Archives: February 2012

Routing and bodywork!

So, the weekend started with me getting in the car early saturday morning to drive the two hours down to Sigge.

We had planned to get as much routing done as possible, and since I had to be back in Stockholm again at 7 pm, the day was short!

So, with a full tank of gas and a full trunk of Styrene, I went off on my merry way!

Sigge had borrowed a routing table and a router, and also a circle cutter to go with it.

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After trying out the circle cutter, we decided it was probably not the best of ideas, as we could not get the circles properly round!

So, after a few feeble attempts with this, we started off on the same path so many of you styrene builders have gone before us: A wooden board with mounted router underneath, and several holes that would serve as pivot points for the styrene sheets.

Sigge getting ready to cut…

We did not make two holes, one for rough cut and one for smooth cut, but rather used two different diameters of router bits instead, which seemed to work very well!

Sigge’s apartment was slightly messy once we were done, though…

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A mess that Sigge seemed happy to clean up though.
Fake snow, anyone?

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After filling up a bucket of styrene pieces and overloading his vacuum cleaner, the kitchen was still in a mess!

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We managed to get enough styrene cut for all body rings, and for me the trip was especially fruitful, as I also got my shoulder hubs and shoulder horseshoes cut out!

I escaped the mess and spent two hours driving home before attending a dinner with my girlfriend at a friends place.

Sunday was a lazy Sunday. I started off by cleaning up the pieces routed yesterday, bought a few extra tools and drill bits that I was needing, and then started working on the frame.

A few hours in, this was the result:

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Shortly after, I couldn’t stop building, and had to just add a few more pieces to my frame.

I was lazy and worked most of the day without my gas mask, but that left me with a headache, so from now on I’ll be putting it on even when I just glue a few things. The problem is when you are hunched over what you are gluing, you get all the fumes directly in the face…

Anyway, this is the final result of today, and I expect to finalize the frame tomorrow.

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The bottom layer is a little bit twisted, I realized, since my angled irons used to straighten things up were not excactly 90 degrees, but slightly more. I have since added a small piece of styrene onto these, to make a better 90 degree angle.

Hopefully this will not come back and bite me in the backside, but hopefully It will not be an issue. I may need to re-drill a hole or two, but I should be fine otherwise, I think.

Now: time for sleep, got some things to do tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll have enough time in the evening to finish the frame!
This build just got serious!
//Micke
By |2016-12-06T00:01:56+01:00February 11th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Routing and bodywork!

More work on main ankles…

So, I spent the evening with fixing my ankles!

I started construction before my vacation, but now it was about time to continue work on these.

Basically, most of the construction is done. I just need to let the glue set before joining the beefy curve bits with the ankles, and they should be done. Since I did go “off-spec” and added a 1mm layer of skin around the main ankles, which Dave Everett’s nice blueprints doesn’t have, it means that I may need to add another 1mm layer around the curved bits to make them join up nice. I don’t mind since the extra layer does make this part much more stable and durable than it would be otherwise.

So, the evening has been spent according to the following program:

10 glue pieces together
20 tape them up good
30 sand it down to be real smooth
40 goto 10

You who once owned a commodore 64 know what I’m talking about … 😉

Anyway, got some pics of todays progress, and I must say that the ankles look REALLY smooth and nice, and there’s no way to spot that they were just a small piece of styrene pieces not long ago…

see how nice and smooth them ankles in the background look…

Close-up of the ankles. Note the placeholder cable I had placed inside the ankle to help me route the actual cables later on… it may be a challenge, but I have a plan..

These aren’t glued together yet, but they look nice and beefy, eh? =)

Once these are done, I will mount them onto the legs and screw them together so they are forever joined…

I must say that I’m really looking forward to when I can put all pieces of the leg together for the first time, if nothing else for my own amusement! =)

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:57+01:00February 10th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on More work on main ankles…

Back into Building!

So, after a two week hiatus on my R2 build I am finally back.

Well, to be honest, things have been pretty ok with me in the past few weeks, since I have been in the Maldives and relaxing and diving.

Naturally, I have been thinking about my R2 build, and seeing shapes and forms everywhere that reminds me of the droid at home, waiting.

It all started on the lovely little Twin Otter sea-plane out to the resort: When looking up inside it, I had this staring down at me. I know I was doomed.

I couldn’t even walk on the beach without noticing things…

The shape looked familiar… and I had to draw what was missing around it.. Quickly, of course to keep the girlfriend from noticing 😉

Yes! The center foot detail plate!
This lessened the withdrawal symptoms somewhat…

All joke’s aside, I had a great time, and really needed the break!

So: What have I been up to the past few days when I’ve been back?
Well, waiting for me was an envelope containing some under shoulder detail base plates that my friend Sigge made for me (Thanks so much!)

After a bit of filing and tweaking to get them into the spots, they fit like a glove!

With these plates superglued into position, I could finish off skinning the legs, and write that off as done. All that is left on the legs now is going over the edges with bondo, some light sanding and of course painting them. In any case, the construction phase of the main legs are now COMPLETE! Woohoo!

Just look at how nice they look!

So, when the legs done, I resumed work on my main ankles. Not a lot done, but some fitting, some gluing and some cutting. Looks good so far:

Yesterday, I didn’t update the blog, since there wasn’t really anything to show, but I did file all the tabs from the dome, and debarred the outer dome. I also realized that the outer dome is a bit too large around the inner dome than I’d like it. It also feels like the inner dome has a slight dent, which could explain why the outer dome is not sitting flush all around it.

For now, I just taped the main holo projector, the radar eye, and couldn’t help to add a few blinking lights as well just to have fun. R2 is starting to emerge!

No, it did not give me goose bumps. But it did bring a smile to my face! =)

Lastly, I went to a local store (Clas Ohlson) that has just about everything and bought a storage box, for putting my finished parts in. I figured it would protect them better than just having them stacked in my tiny office =)

Looks good, right?

So, it is with a box full of R2 that I leave you readers for the night and wish you pleasant dreams.

With blinky lights.

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:57+01:00February 8th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Back into Building!
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