Long time no update!

That doesn’t mean that I’ve been lazy though. Granted, I did have a vacation, and enjoyed it and have been relaxing, but building is back on the agenda.

Lately, I just have not had time to update the blog, so this will sort of add up what I’ve been doing lately!

First off, I received a pair of very nice center vents from BobC, and I’ve since assembled them, which required a bit of filing and glueing, then finally remade my center vent holder and mounted the vents inside the holder, and they are now the center peice in front of the speakers that makes R2 talk!

The blue panel still needs to be painted in the correct color, and I think I need to drill and tap for mounting a scre to make the center vents stay firmly in place, even though they are currently squeezed in, and will not go anywhere!

Since I am closing in fast on the day when I actually need to paint my droid (because there will be nothing left to do on him), I’ve started to take care of some of the little things that have been bothering me, and left for later. Parts of this build has been done while stressing to show the droid off at some event or other, so there are parts that I’m not all happy with, and that I feel needs to be touched upon.

First thing was the big door on the front of the droid. I pushed a little too hard, and the door had a very visible “rib” slightly deforming the door. This was too big to just sand and make good, but the entire door needed to be remade.

Here’s the new door, looks a LOT better!

While being at it, I decided to add a magnet inside the door, to hold up my very nice restraining bolt, that Sigge had made for me! The magnet is more than sufficient to hold the bolt, and it looks quite nice!

While being at it, I also decided to add the back door details, in case I want to open this in the future.

I’m still having issues with how to mount the JAG hinges, especially with the big, long doors, as the frame structure is right next to the door, and leaves no possibility of attaching them to the inner skin. I might have to cut the structure and hinge slightly. We’ll see.

I’ve also removed the long doors from the frame, started cleaning them up, and been looking on how to make them more “finished”. Right now, it’s just a thin layer of styrene with some structural pieces glued in on the back, to keep them curved.I got some plans here as well… =)

On the list of things that needs to be touched upon and/or modified, I’ve got:

  • Horseshoes (irregular “ribbing” on the inside)
  • Shoulder shims (fine tune mounting and add aluminum lining)
  • Battery Boxes (“ribs” shouding through skin. Possible reskinning)
  • Foot Details (Details made in 1mm styrene. They should be 3mm)
  • LDP needs back piece for more solid structure
  • Unpainted Back panel needs to be converted into door. Got something special coming in, thanks to the Hero of the Day: Sigge!

The next bit is so big, that it requires a post of it’s own…

//Micke