skins

Skirt, dome, feet and skin work!

So..

Looking under the skirt…

A lot of time over the weekend has been spent with just going over fine details. Sanding, tweaking, that sort of thing. I did start proper work on the skirt two days ago, but nothing to really show for it, but as of now, I guess it is about halfway done.

I’m going to add inner walls to the skirt, to make it look nicer, even though it is only for myself… This piece needs a good sanding before I continue working on it.

 

We’re Domed!

Today, I actually got around to debarring and filing the tabs off all dome panels. They have been sitting in a box for a while, and since the cut in my hand (which was way worse than the image I posted) is preventing me from doing any advanced stuff, I spent a few hours in front of the tv filing away…

Once done, I had to test fit the rear Logic Display, and it needed a little extra filing to fit, but it fits like a glove now:

I still need to sand these to get rid of some of the bigger marks from the manufacturing, but that will be at a (much) later date .. 😉

 

Footwork:

So, I had this idea of how I should attach the bolts that holds my main feet in place, and since I use foot shells that are hard to get off, and also slightly difficult to reach into, I decided to use T-nuts on one side, thus leaving plenty of room on the battery box side, and that being the only place I need to do anything on when attaching the feet!

Since the feet is such an important area, I really did not want to do something that would weaken them, but I still have 9mm of styrene on each side of the foot “trench”, so I think I should be good =) Can’t wait to try them out for real!

 

Legging it!

I just had to try … get a feel for what they will look like! horseshoes is the next area where I will start constructing after my skirt is done… I think… unless I actually make the second foot shell first. This will look so much better once I get the aluminium leg strut, that should arrive in a few days! I’m also thinking about having someone make me an aluminum version of the plate that the booster covers and leg struts rests upon.

Anyway, Since I had skinned my ankle all around, the resin tube that goes across the ankle is slightly too small, and I either need to scratch build one (easy) or dremel it up a bit. I’m leaning towards scratch building!

 

Thinking outside the Box

Yesterday, I also completed my arm boxes, and made some extra bulkheads inside the skin to stiffen up the utility arms are, and also to really hold up the LDP. I still have no idea how that will be fastened yet, but some ideas spring to mind. I may need to add something to my LDP build as well …

 

Skin Deep

The outer front skin is now glued in place, and should hopefully be taped well enough over night to fasten securely. I’ve already identified several areas where I will need to cut out more from the skin after they have set, but It’ll be fine, I’m sure.

Back outer skin will be glued tomorrow, but since I have no opening doors on the back side, I might go around a different route how to glue it in place… We’ll see =)

Me in “glue mode” .. Don’t want to get too much of them fumes… gives me a headache!

All in all, a good weekend, and I had a lot of fun just temporarily attaching the feet yesterday to get my droid on all three for the first time…

By |2016-12-06T00:01:54+01:00February 19th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Skirt, dome, feet and skin work!

Biggest post so far…?

Wow!

A lot of things to report after today!

First off, I finished gluing the frame together as promised!

When the glue was setting, I did do additional work on the ankles. I’ve added a layer of styrene outside the beefy parts in order to make them the same size as the ankles themselves. Here’s a pic before I added the styrene, just in case I messed it up…

Nice and smooth… next incarnation of these will fit the ankles too!

So, what to do when the frame is setting and the ankles are done. I know! Let’s start playing with the LDP!

The original flatpack of the LDP was essentially 4 parts, and it looked very … well .. thin and boring, so I looked at some reference pictures and added a lot of more styrene. I added another 3mm piece to the bottom, filed it down to get a nice smooth curve, then added a 3mm and a 2mm piece to the top part, and sanded that down to get a nice smooth curve as well. Best thing: it fits the hole like a glove!

Not to shabby for being made from scratch and made a design for them off the top of my head =)

This is what the top looked like before I started sanding..

So, as if this wasn’t enough. After the frame had set for long enough, I just had to test fit my skins. Armed with half a roll of blue tape, I mounted all four skins on my R2, and they fit perfect!

Closeups of the interior follows:

Well.. So the skins fit nice and snug as you see, and I just HAD to put the dome on top.. My first glimpse of what R2 will be like in a few months…

Tiny R2 is inspecting…

Anyway, that concludes today’s work and update! Tomorrow is spent (wisely) by taking out the girlfriend to a nice dinner, but Wednesday will be spent finishing the last part of the ankles and start working on the shoulder hubs!

For now, R2 is standing on his own little table in my small room that I use for office (and messy build room)… He’ll have a nice view over night!

That’s all for tonight, folks!

//Micke

By |2016-12-06T00:01:56+01:00February 13th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off on Biggest post so far…?
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