aluminium

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 micke|2016-12-06T00:01:56+01:00February 13th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off

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 micke|2016-12-06T00:01:57+01:00February 8th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off

D-Day (Dome-dagen in Swedish…) (and ankles…)

So.. Today was D-Day!

One of the first items I ordered for my R2 build arrived.. in this small package:

Opening the box gave me this view:

Removing the plastic and paper gave further info about the mystery contained within..

Yes, it is my laser cut dome that finally arrived! It will sit on my shelf for two weeks before I can start working on it…

After the joyful feeling of receiving this box, I started working on my main ankles.

I realized that I had forgotten to add the ankle locks built into my ankles, as I did with the center ankle. I may fix this before skinning the ankles or not, but for now, I’ve left them as is.

Main ankles are mostly glued together and are not going to harden before doing any further work with them.

Note the cables running through, which is just a placeholder for trying out the cable channel. The pinpoints are not yet sanded, and are therefor still a bit uneven, but I have plenty of time to fix that! =)

Finally, I also unravelled the blue Mummy inside my work area, and it turned out to be my left foot shell, now complete. Needs a little bond and sanding on the lower parts, but other than that, looking good!

Now, I take a little break from R2 building. I’ve had a few intense buildweeks, but for the next two weeks I have other plans… I’ll tell you more on that later!

I’ll see you with more updates in February!

//Micke

By micke|2016-12-06T00:01:58+01:00January 18th, 2012|R2-D2|Comments Off