Day 9 and 10 - Round, Shiny things in big boxes.

Thanksgiving weekend - unfortunately, I was sick the day after Thanksgiving, but I got some good progress done with the day and a half that I worked on R2.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving brought a nice package from the friendly UPS man.  I have been talking about this piece for a good month and a half now.  When  the package arrived, the suspense was too much, and Dad made sure it was what he thought it was, so he opened......one of Crash's Fiberglass domes !

Wow - what a piece of art.  These domes are formed from fiberglass from a mold of an aluminum dome.  These things are really well made - and surprisingly light weight.  I feel more comfortable working with fiberglass - so I opted for this dome.  (Although, I have to admit that working with the aluminum pieces is not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be.)

I placed the dome on top of the skinned body, and it fits without a hitch.  

A little higher angle to show the pie panels that will eventually be replaced with Carbon Fiber panels.   Mmmmmmmm Carbon Fiber.  Some of the panels on the top of the dome will open to reveal a periscope.... and maybe something else in the future.

The circle in the top pie panel will be removed for one of the holo-projectors.  There are three total holo-projectors on his dome.  My brother, Kris and I both admitted to remembering only one - possibly two on the dome.  These are the kinds of details that you don't really pay much attention to unless you are actually building one of these guys.

So begins the process of cutting out all of the slots, spaces and windows for all of the wonderful gadgetry.  Having cut a number of holes in my boat over the past decade to mount electronics, speakers, fish finders, gauges and rod holders - this was relatively familiar territory for me.  

The process starts with drilling a number of holes as close to the edge as you feel comfortable.  This rectangular section will house the rear LED light array on the back of the dome.

After the holes are drilled with a standard drill bit, I move on to a roto-saw bit.  Beware, these things are devastating, an accident waiting to happen.  They are the equivalent to using a reciprocating saw - destruction is their primary purpose - and they should be used with respect.  I have marred many a finish with this tool.  A tight grip and a steady hand are required.  I stuck to the inner edge of the holes with this tool, always applying pressure towards the center of the cut-out.  This way, if the tool got out of control, it would not damage the finished edges of the opening.

Flash forward a couple of hours.  After using a combination of Fast-Cut Dremel bits, Sanding Flappers and good old files and sandpaper, almost all of the cutouts have been finished.  This is truly the unsung part of these builds.  There are countless hours spent prepping and sanding parts so they fit, and look good when complete.

I really like the results of static electricity and dust that formed some Sith Lightning on the dome.  Fortunately, a brief rub with a towel got rid of this pattern.  All the same - it looked pretty cool, when it was on there.   Now If I actually WANTED to create a finish like that - it would never come close to looking this way.....

Here comes the fun part.  There are three layers to the bearing that allows the dome to spin.

   - The Rockler Lazy Susan Bearing

   - The Acrylic A&A Gear

   - The Dome Plate for mounting internal goodies beneath his head

Here is a photo of the pieces dry-fit.  Of the hundreds of dollars I have spent on Screws, Bolts, Washers & Nuts, I did not have nuts to fit on these bolts.  Off to Sun Hardware to see Gordon and get what I need.  Sun Hardware is about a 5 minute drive from the laboratory, and has saved my bacon on numerous occasions during this build.  Gordon is getting used to the fact that when he asks me "Metric or Standard ?" - he gets the same "DUH....." look from me every time.

As long as I have the piece available, he goes directly to the bin that holds the nut, washer or bolt that I need.  As we all know, places like these are few and far between.  Men like Gordon actually want to HELP you as opposed to being bothered by pesky customers constantly interrupting their text sessions.  Thank you Gordon, the big box stores should hire you to outline and implement customer service programs nationwide.

(Old guy rant complete - resume Building blog)

The tricky / perplexing thing about the dome ring assembly is the fact that you have to get the height of the three rings exact for the dome to spin true with minimal clearance between the bottom of the dome and the top of the body.

I also needed space between the gear and the mounting plate to allow for the hub and drive gear to pass underneath.  After a few variations using washers, nuts and thin nylon spacers, I finally got it right.  There is an inner "shelf" inside the dome that sits on the dome plate.  This required a bit of sanding, as it caused the dome to wobble when it rotated.

Here is the drive gear that I installed a hub in.  The hub itself needed some grinding on the bottom side.  It also has a shaft extension that fit after a little grinding as well.

Top view of the drive gear.  Keep in mind that the bolts need to pass freely underneath the mounting plate, hence the spacers in between the plates.

Here is the drive gear mounted on the Pittman motor and motor mount.  I scored this a couple of months ago, and I am very happy with the results.

Here is a view of the motor and drive gear from below.   The spring would offer tension if I were using a rubber wheel to drive the dome.  The spring will be removed and some kind of fixed arm will be inserted to hold the motor in a stationary position.  No need for tension with a gear - just need to have the proper spacing.

I did receive my batteries this week.  I am still not sure if I am going to go 24 Volt or 12 Volt.  The little gem below is a DC power converter that allows you to set voltage from 0 - 24 volts and bench test motors and electronic assemblies.  Doing projects like these lets you buy an item like this, that may never be used again, but dang if it aint cool to have one.

The dome spun well at 12 volts, but really cranked at 24 volts.  Not TOO fast, mind you, it just spins with more authority.  I feel that I will find the same once the scooter motors are hooked up.  If so, I have a 24 V to 12 V converter saved in my wish list on Amazon.....

Back to the dome.  Cutting out holes that are pre-marked is one thing, but drilling holes for the radar eye, is something completely different.   I got out the Ipad - did some research to see what position the eye needed to be.  Surprisingly, there are a number of different positions of the eye from the various movies.  I found a post via google that compared something like 16 different positions of the eye over the course of 6 films.  Wouldn't you know it, I can't find the photo for the life of me now.

I grabbed the Dewalt Cordless drill, held my breath, and drilled away.  A few washers and wingnuts on the inside.....

... results in - BAM !  Radar Eye.

You can see the 100mm half-globe cutout for the radar eye here.  My plan is to coat the radar eye lens with an automotive headlight spray that darkens the plastic, but still allows one to see through it.  The fast-and-furious crowd uses this product to "black-out" their clear head lights and tail lights.  Many builders paint the inside of the lens black.  

Ultimately, I want to cut an access hole behind the radar eye lens and mount a Go-Pro camera for taking video.  Go-Pro recently released a Wi-Fi backpack that will stream video to a Wi-Fi enabled device.  I think it will be really cool to "see" what R2 is seeing, and capture some video along the way.

Mounted the foot shells complete with the motor mounts inside.  Things are coming together nicely, but I still have NO idea how to get the bolts tightened inside the foot shells.  Thankfully, this will be (hopefully) a one-time process. 

Right. Face.

I took some time to re-configure the stock A&A center foot.  The A&A center foot assembly does not allow for use of the "beefy ankles".  As my confidence grows with this build, I am starting to go "off the chart", relying on my own ideas on how to assemble certain pieces.  Although these may never be seen, I felt that I wanted to have the beefy ankle details (the tan colored resin parts below) on the center foot as well.

This is also my first foray into using Weld-On.  I had read a number of posts about how messy this stuff is.... believe every one of them, they are all true.

Even in this state - it looks like he awaiting a command.

 Hero Shot.  (Battery box fail)

Next week should see the arrival of the LDP (Large Data Port) for the front center above the arms.  Once I have this piece, it will be time to find out how I am going to attach the skins.  Wish me luck.

No doubt, more sanding and filling on the legs and feet will be in store next weekend.  I feel that if I do a little work on the legs every week, before too long, I will be surprised (and very happy) that they are complete.

DAY 8 - Legs and Feet

Today started out with less packages in the mail than I have received in a few months.  This is a good thing - it means I am closing in on having all of the parts to complete the build.  (Although that is a ways off at this point).

Worked on sanding and filling the legs, no photos, as that is a really boring, and tedious, topic.  I believe after the two part wonder-clay called Magic Sculpt dries and gets sanded after this application, it will be time to prime the legs and find out how much I really missed.  I have always filled and sanded parts to a point that I believe they are ready for paint, then I lay a coat of primer on them.  That is when I realize that I will have at least three or four more sessions of filling and sanding ahead on me.  Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have a chance to get the primer coat on.

Worked on the scooter motor mounts and the scooter wheel assembly after filling the legs.  The axle that came with the wheel was WAY too long - over 6 inches.  Fortunately, Dad had some perfect sized hex bolts - the right diameter and length for the wheels.  YEAH DAD !  He found these in record time. It would have taken me three trips to Lowes or Home Depot to get the correct length.

We had to cut down the spacers that ride against the bushings as well.  Inserted the scooter motor next and test fitted the chain.  Got really excited - the drive system is actually coming together !

One thing to note - there is a lot going on in the motor holder assembly.  A LOT going on with little room.

After grinding down the heads of several bolts and inserting a couple of Tee nuts to make the motor holder fit into the foot shell - finally got the motor holders to fit inside.  This was a real chore, the tolerances are so tight that even a bead of glue on the inside of the foot shell will cause the motor mount to not seat properly.  This is the kind of work that has no value for the casual observer, it is all internal, and no-one will ever see these parts, but it takes a long time to get the fit correct.

Once the motors were mounted, and the wheels in place, it was time to cut out a little access door to fit the back side of the motor that overhangs the motor mount.  I have held off final finish on the feet because of this.  Since they were going to be cut up anyways - no need finishing something that won't be seen, or will be cut off later.  Marked the spot for the cut - took a very deep breath and used the Dremel Multi-Max tool shown here:

This is a great little tool - albeit rather pricey.  It oscillates a blade or a sanding pad.  Invaluable for tough cuts, and it sands like a dream.  The cutting blade is really handy for plunge cuts like the one needed here.

Another angle before I cut - so I can see what it looked like before I pull the trigger....

Here we are - access window cut.  I purposely cut this shy of the actual size, as I did not want to have too large a hole.  The battery box will cover this hole and the butt end of the motor, but I was horribly aware of the fact that I could have cut the hole too far forward.

After completing the first cut, I needed to label the feet, as I was getting confused about what direction they needed to face.  It took me about 15 minutes to figure out what foot was left, and what foot was right.  You will also see the battery box cut to accept the back end of the motor as well in this photo.

A little test fit with the motor removed.   Looking good....

 Motor mounted and inserted in the foot.  Needed to cut an additional access window for the tee nut above the motor.  Again, this will be covered by the battery box, so it is no big deal.

Flash forward a couple of hours, and you see the motor mount sitting pretty within the foot shell.  Picked up some metric nuts for use with the OmniCasters.  As stated before, there is a lot going on in this little area. 

Another angle of the complete assembly.  You can see the aluminum spacers on the left hand side of the motor.  Some of you may be asking... where is the chain ?  As I am sure the motor mounts will be assembled and disassembled 15 times before now and completion, I have not put the chains on yet.  They were test fitted earlier, and fit perfectly.

Big thanks to Ted (with the unpronounceable screen name buhatkj) and his posts on the Atromech board.  #25 chain with 66 links ordered from electricscooterparts.com fit the bill without a hitch.  I must put a HUGE shout out there to Ted.  His posts on the boards have been spot-on, and his wisdom has been invaluable during the course of this build.  THANK YOU TED !

Here is a shot of the foot sitting pretty.  Hmmmmm... mouse droid anybody ?  

Higher angle, because it looks so darn pretty - even with the wonky door.  The doors can now have their magnets installed.  I waited (thankfully) to put the magnets on, because I was not sure where they would fit once the motor mounts were installed.  The PVC battery boxes look really nice.  They still need to be mounted with screws from the inside.

One of the pleasures of building something like this is the exposure to new items and vocabulary.   Today's word : Cabochon (from Wikipedia) from the Middle French caboche (head), is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to faceted. The resulting form is usually a convex top with a flat bottom. (Now to find out what "faceted" means....)

The cabochons are used as the lenses in the holo-projectors.  Shown below is one of three holo-projectors made with great skill by Wayne Orr.  I honestly had no idea or recollection that R2 had three holo-projectors on his dome.  We all know there was at least one - it projected Leia's "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope" speech so many moons ago.  These are the cold-cast resin style.  The resin has aluminum powder included in the molding process which gives a great metallic looking finish at a fraction of the cost of the real deal.

So there we have it - another day of toil and trouble on the little guy.  So much of the work is uneventful - satisfying, but not much to show.  Soon - the externals will all start coming together, and it will start to look more complete.

I can't tell you how excited I am, albeit nervous, for next week to arrive.  My fiberglass dome from Crash is set to arrive.  It was the first part I actually ordered when I set out on this journey.  I feel that the dome is the most iconic part of the droid, and I can't wait to get my mitts on it !  

DAY 6 & DAY 7 :

COMBO PLATTER.  I did not update the blog last week, as I did not have much to show.  So this week's post has a little work from last week and today.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD:

OK - so for last's weekend's adventure:  This is how my typical Saturday starts out as of late.  A trip to Astromech-Shipping-Central (aka Mom and Dad's place).   When I arrive, there are all kinds of goodies waiting for me.  Gotta keep busy at night when I am on the road.  I research a whole bunch, troll the Astromech boards, and buy stuff I need for the project.  In this particular grouping of parcels, there are packages from as far away as California, Florida, Atlanta, England, Denmark and even China.  (P.S. - mad props to Mom's new wool rug she hooked-up over the past couple of months!)

After tearing into these boxes, this is pretty much what is inside.  Of course, you will notice PSI spacers, PSI housings, a shaft extension, beefy ankles, aluminum shoulder hubs, acetyl ball bearings and omni-casters.  If you do not know what name goes with these parts... no worries, I am not sure I do either.

I cleaned out the Rockler bearing from the awful grease they use.  Grease is supposed to lubricate - the stuff they use has the consistency of peanut butter..... chunky peanut butter.   After the bearing was cleaned, I washed up the ball bearings as well.  I got a little case of cold feet with using the acetyl ball bearings, so I re-greased the Rockler and reused the metal ball bearings.  All-in-all, I am quite happy with the way it turns now, but only time will tell when I get the dome and motor mounted up.  Happy Holidays - Silver Balls !

I assembled the aluminum center vents.  In my opinion, these are one of the most prominent features of the skins - they required a little bit of sanding to fit within the surrounds, but they came out REAL pretty.  The skins are also new - Aluminum - purchased from a member on the Astromech boards.  The skins have all of the doors configured to open with sets of JAG hinges.  The fit and finish on the frame is really great.  (These were the skins that were mated with the JAG frame that I purchased a couple of weeks ago).   Not sure why the top center vent looks a little "off" - but is is nice and straight... either that, or I am a little off.

As mentioned in the previous posts, I did quite a bit of work on the feet.  After assembling a number of 501st costumes, the chore of cutting, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, priming, sanding, filling, priming comes naturally.   It is a real pain when you are actually doing it, but the results always pay off.  I am a big fan of priming the parts as I near completion.  The primer is an automotive primer/filler which is easily sandable and it hides a number of minor surface (and filler) flaws.

Here is another happy find.  Magic-Sculpt two part resin clay.  I had purchased this for use on a Clone Pilot helmet, but never got around to using it.  I decided to give it a try with the corners of the feet.  WOW - great results.  Once this stuff dries overnight, it is rock solid.  

I am not quite sure of the adhesion qualities of the Magic-Sculpt, so I have since coated the blobs with two-part epoxy.  This stuff sands like a dream - it leaves no voids, and is ready for paint after finishing.  Using his material on the corners really locked the feet together.  Prior to using this material, the shells were still a bit wobbly.

SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 10th:

Back at it.  Bummed that I have my dome on the way, and I won't see it until next week.... but I will live.  In the meantime, I worked on the pesky curved inner-foot sections.  I really liked the idea copped from another builder to use PVC pipe for this project.  I searched to find out the exact diameter of pipe to be used, but the size was not mentioned anywhere.  I used 4" diameter pipe.  Truly, the inner circumference (I think that is the correct word) was a little shy of what it needed to be.  The piece seems to level out near the bottom, so I am not sure a "perfect" fit is attainable with a round tube.

After a failed attempt at cutting the first piece, I had success on the 2nd and 3rd pieces.

Here is a photo of the Inner Circumference being a little tighter than it should be.  I contemplated heating the part to stretch it out a bit, but decided that I would just fill the gap at the end of the piece with the Magic-Sculpt.

When I cut the inserts, the long inside edge of the foot was bowed inwards a bit.  I had to shim the part to make it straight.  Thank goodness for keeping all of the extra pieces-parts from the A&A frame.  These worked wonders as filler at the bottom edge of the curve.

I filled the top gap with the Magic-Sculpt, and then ran a razor to cut off the excess.  This stuff is a dream to work with once it is mixed together.  It has the consistency of play-doh while working, and although it is difficult to smooth on like bondo, it cuts easily and cleanly with a razor blade.  It will take minimal sanding to get these ready for paint.  Inserting this pvc pipe piece further reinforced the feet.  I feel as though I could wear these as shoes.  VERY happy with the A&A foot shells.

There is a story about the Devil and best-laid plans.  A similar story is told by a dud named Murphy.  These edges were really nice, before I decided to handle the part 132 times throughout the afternoon.  So - I will have to apply some more filler to finish off the part.  The truth is, the battery boxes cover about 80% of this curve - BUT - I KNOW there are flaws, so I will, no doubt prime, sand, fill, sand, fill... until the part is to my liking.

I attached the resin half-moon details with epoxy and screws on the back of the door.  I built a little tab on the lower edge of the doors to slide into the existing opening.  Although I really liked the A&A locking door mechanism, I really wanted the half-moons to be permanently mounted on the foot shells.  I will use rare earth magnets to hold the tops of the doors in place.  Center foot looking pretty.

Another angle of the center foot shell.  Still needs a bit of finishing with Spotting and Glazing putty.  Then some sanding .... and filling ... and priming.

Air Jordan's got nothing on me.  These are the best looking set of kicks I have seen in a very long time.

Test fit time !  Set R2 on a bucket, and attached the legs with bolts and skins (with tape).  Rockler bearing is mounted, bearing gear and the KILLER dome plate from Steele are just sitting on top.

This little guy is really starting to take shape.

A little higher angle.

Full frontal.  I may cut one of the buckets down, so he stands better without looking like he is on his tippy-toes.  For now, it will do.

Aluminum Ankle cylinders.  I am still not sure why I feared the aluminum parts at the onset of this project.  The truth is, they just make sense - although they are bit more spendy than their resin counterparts, and not as readily available.  There is literally no finishing work required, and they simply fit like they are meant to be there.  Of course, all of this metal does have me a little concerned.  He has gained a bit of weight with all the bling, more than his accepted "Freshmen 10".  He may never make it out of the basement.  As a good Nerd, neither should I - but I did.

I finally got everything organized in designated bins.  I can honestly say that I have all but a few of the pieces-parts (some duplicates - as well).  These bins now hold the individual parts for the Dome, Body, Legs and Feet.  Previously, I had parts all over the place.  I am happy I took the time to get organized, as the task does not seem so daunting when there is a little structure involved.

I got Dad in on the action today as well - I gave him the templates for scratch-building the coin returns. He did a bang-up job on them.  Photos will be posted tomorrow when they are assembled and stuck on the frame.

Looking forward to finishing up the lower legs tomorrow - and due to the unexpected nice forecast, I am planning on getting a coat of primer on the legs.  (That is the plan.... it is well-laid, but ol' Mr Beelebub lurks around every corner).

Stay tuned....