Some good progress

Doesnt sound like much but I did do some good progress this weekend. My battery boxes were all cut up to fit around my last drive...so now that the drive is redone and fits inside the foot better I can actually have battery boxes that look right...so I cut out and patched the pieces that were cut out using sintra in the boxes themselves...

I also patched and filled a few spots in the feet...and used a heat gun to bend the sintra to fit. Now when the battery box is on all will look good....no obvious cutouts and drive housing sticking through.

I also got the second foot drive all mounted and glued into the second foot shell. That took some dremelling to fit the motor inside the shell...and then some filling at seams..and where I cut through to the surface when I dremelled.

I also fixed up the crack in foot #1 that was created when I bolted it to the ankle...just needs some touchup paint now. I also properly connected the wires in the foot and tucked them out of the way.

All tedious stuff that didnt amount to much..but I made some good progress. Should have foot # 2 mounted in a couple of days..after its sanded and repainted (after seams dry).

Then I have to add a bit of height to the center foot so the shell isn't dragging on the carpet...I should be able to just use some washers..

We're getting there....soon I will be back to where I thought I was 5 weeks ago. :)

One foot back on!!

I had to rebuild the left foot these past few weeks..too many squeals and was runnign too low. I remade the foot drive brackets...tried to fit them intot he existing shell..broke that in the process..reglued...rebondoed...repainted....YUCK!

I finally got the foot back on. It is much better..much more clearance inside, 2 wheels for better traction and higher off carpet so no more dragging. Now time to start rebuilding foot #2...YUCK!!!

Here is the rebuilt foot with new drive bracket inside..


Here is the old right foot with the new bracket beside it....I hope this one's rebuild goes better!!



Here is my new bracket. If you look in the top channel you can see a stopper plate. That will seat up against the ankle so the foot stays flat and does bottom out (eliminating the need for a caster in the rear foot to hold the foot flat).

Logics replaced

I got new logics! They are Leons board and Cam from astromechfactory soldered the LEDS for me!!! Sorry for the poor quality in the video...this was the best I could do.

My PSI light flashes too fast...not sure why. I have the little thing on the board turned all the way to slow it down...I think it may have to do with how the front & back are in parallel off the same 9v battery?

Anyways the logics are AWESOME! SOO BRIGHT!!!!!

Frustrated R2 Builder

I am soooo frustrated now!!

A few weeks ago I tried attaching batteries directly to my foot motors to see if they would work..and they did not. Nothing but problems..wheel slipping, things rubbing, and squealing etc etc. I bbit the bullet and redesigned a better foot motor mount that was supposed to fit inside my foot shell. After struggling with problem after problem I finally had one drive mounted and seemingly working..then I tried to push it into my shell....and it broke apart.

I now have to rebuild the shell a 3rd or 4th time..soooo sick of this! If a miracle happens and it actually ends up working (after I reglue, bondo, repaint, etc) then I have to go through all this again for the second foot.

I don't have time for setbacks like this!!! NOT having fun!

Jason

Threepio DONE!!!

Finished off my Threepio last night! I'm pretty happy with it..

That OK paint looks great, but if you apply too thin it looks pebbly..and too thick it looks smooth, but it can run and takes FOREVER to dry! Seriously..weeks later if you hold a part it will leave fingerprint impressions!!

I made a video clip. The motion sensor light thing I made works decent enough..but if I leave it on when you walk up to him and wave a hand in front of his face his eyes light up..perfect. Trouble is the voice box doesnt trigger until the lights go OFF! DOH! It isn't too bad for volume. It sounds REALLY quiet in the clip cuz my camera has a crappy mic!

I have a remote controlled outlet switch...so I just press a button an a keychain and the lights go on then and the sound..so that works. That way during a movie or if he gets annoying I can turn it off. The voice box is triggered by the lights going on and off so if they aren't on he doesn't talk.

I also have a base form a C3PO dashboard driver toy. I removed the figure from it and mounted it to the top of the nearest stanchion...so you can press the button and he says 10 or so random phrases.





CRAPPY mic on camera..turn up speakers!!!!!

Threepio..getting closer

Here are some updates of my Threepio. He's missing a lot of greeblies, and I have to properly mount the eye lights and sound box in the head...but getting closer!!!


First pic in 3d if you can do the crossed eye viewing..



Next pic is normal for those who can't..



Here is a pic of my collection of Firefly autpgraphs including my newest one signed by Nathan Fillion (thanks Aaron):



Lastly here is a pic of my Sarlacc Pit rug at the bottom of my stairs:

Progress pics IN 3D!!!!!!!!!!

I am totally serious....

I took these pics...each side is from a slightly different position. If you use something called a crossed eye teqnique you can see these pics as one 3D image!!

The way I do it is kind of blur and cross my eyes until I am able to pull one image from one side to line up with the other image. Then I have to focus the image and all of a sudden I am seeing these tings in 3d!!! TRY IT!!! You should sit back so you are able to take in both images at once.

If you have trouble try using the teqniques they mention here. http://www.angelfire.com/ca/erker/freeview.html

Here is my Threepio done up to the belly.


Here is the Torso...I managed to get the paint runs a bit less (on the front). Hope when it dries it flattens out.

Just for fun..here is R5-D2..IN 3D!!!!!!!!!!!! Man this is cool! Hope you are getting this to work by now!

Update

Not much to update...

I've been working on Threepio's chest and torso. Lots of parts on the chest, lots of dremelling, lots of filling, lots of sanding...

I did apply some paint to it last night and this mroning. I dunno..that paint from the UK is GREAT looking, but thin coats leave a texture..and when you spray more..it really smooths out and looks great so when I did that this morning it ran all over. I just hope when it dries it won't be too bad and another coat of paint over top will hide the runs. DAMN.

I also have the belly wires all in place..I took a plastic carpet and painted some lines on it for wires, then added a bunch of random wires on top of that. I attached it into the body with velcro.

More Threepio Progress

I managed to assemble and paint the upper thighs and hips for Threepio. I then filled the upper thigh with expanding foam. When I dropped in the hips the thighs were too far apart so I pulled them together and left it overnight. This morning there was a foam leak..but I managed to pull most of it of. Paint will have to be touched up a bit..but it's not too bad.

I really had trouble fitting the knees...and sealing them from th inside with tape...but in the end it's not too bad.

I plopped the head on top just to see....also replaced the elbows with 90 degree elbows in stead of 45 degree ones.

Doing a Little Legwork

I had some troubles gluing the lower legs together..but with soem regluing, bondo, etc I think I pulled it off. The knee areas weren't as flat as I would like, but they are holding so that's good.

I also had to repaint Threepio's right foot on the base since I had it gold, but his right lower leg and foot are chrome colored....DOH. I masked it off and painted it n place since I had filled the foot a bit with foam and glue so when I use spray foam to fill this lower leg it doesnt seep through the bottom.

I will add black inside the ankles for where you can see through and then fill it with spray foam for a strong secure lower leg.



Here is the rough skeleton. You can see how cheap gold paint compares to the stuff I got from the UK.

"Look sir...droids!"

I made a base for my Threepio this weekend. Plywood base with sand in layers that I sprayed with diluted white glue.

You can see where it's still mostly wet in the picture. Hopefully when it's dry it will be solid and sand isnt always falling off..otherwise it gets more glue!! Used sandpaper for the sides too...attempted to blend it to the top.

Also dremelled and glued and bondo'ed the feet together..then painted them. The pipe flange inside is screwed to the base..and will connect to the legs 'pipes' to hold him up.

I also added a little detail that only the true Star Wars fans will pick up on. Spot it? I had to make it from a pepper bottle lid...and paint..and some weathering.

Some Threepio Progress...arms and messing around with motion activated lights and sound.

OK..I recorded TK409's intro into my voice box and spliced together a motion sensing night light with Threepio's rice light eyes. I taped one of the lights to my motion activated voice box..so the plan is when the motion activated lights go off...they activate the voice box. Cheesy setup..but ti seems to work.



I want to try to wire these up to a remote controled outlet...so I can power this up and down remotely..in case this works too well and threepio starts talking all the time during a movie.

I had to feed 6 volts to a circuit for the motion sensing night lights..that was designed for 4.5 volts. That being the case I may have to then feed 6 volts to the voice box too..and cross my fingers it doesn't blow!

Here is a rough video I took with my camera. The voice box doesnt pla as loud as I would like so it's really tough to hear in this video...but follow the link in the post below this one and you will hear it! TURN SPEAKERS UP!!!!!




Here are some pics of the progress I have made on Threepio's body. Just to get the arms in this state has been a lot of work with a heat gun, glue, filler, sanding, priming, painting. I am painting everything with the cheapo gold paint I can buy here, and the final coat is the expensive paints I had shipped from England. The torso in the picture below is just normal paint so hopefully you can see how much better things look once that special paint is applied. Obviously the torso in the picture below is not done.

New Theater Greeting

Thanks to some talented people at the Replica Prop Forum I have a new greeting for my theater.

I will have my Threepio use a motion sensor so when you walk up to him his eyes will light up and he will say:

http://www.jeffcohost.com/~tk409/olddata/jason/sound-filter2.wav

Cool!

Rebel Blaster

I got a hold of a Hasbro Rebel Blaster that shoots foam darts and did a few minor mods to it and repainted it.

I also added a bit of a straw to the scope front. The scope still lights up red when I pull the trigger..and it still shoots the foam darts. I should have bought 2 cuz shooting those darts is fun! They stick right to the tv...take that Oprah!

Here is a before pic:
And After:

R5D4 head...DONE!

I actually completed something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I weathered it last night..wasnt happy today so I cleaned it up a bit..and added the drip marks and black around the "motivator" panel.

This was my first weathering experience. I am pleased with the result!

Death Star Surface Tiles

I got a couple recasts of Death Star Tiles used in filming Star Wars, so here they are all painted up and mounted with a reference pic.



No Brenda this isn't the little thing I am keeping from you guys! ;)

R5 Head on Body

Tried out the R5D4 Head on my R2 Body. He looks angry fro some reason. I won't bother with the red features on the body since 95% of the time he'll be R2.

Still working on the ring between head and body..but here is an idea how he will look.

R5-D4 Taking Shape

I got the side and back hydraulics in place and the eyes/greeblies. Starting to look like R5-D4. Still have the back part of the neck piece to work on, and the metal ring under the head.

THEN I will feel it's safe to mount the antenna!

Slight improvement..

So here is the R5-D4 dome....after sanding off the bad parts and attempting to repaint the whitee without ruining the red pinstripes and the reflective stuff around the neck...




It turned out ok..worst part os on the back. I looked at some screen grabs from Star Wars and it's pretty beat up so I think I'll be ok once I weather it.



The neck piece that goes over the reflective stuff is 1/2 done. I had to file a bevel on each section so that took a while, but here it is just sitting there for now.

My dome greeblies (antenna, hydraulics, eyes) arrived yesterday...woohoo!!

Sunday Morning Blues!!!!!!!

I was planning on posting my progress...now I'm posting my disgust!!!!

After putting on the red pinstripes last night I figured I'd give the whole thing a coat of clear gloss to seal it up!

Not sure if it's the type of paint, or the fact that the garage is -20 but I RUINED the paint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid clear gloss. I guess I have to let it dry and re-assess! SWEAR!!!!!!!!!! EXPLATIVE!!!!!!!!! CURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!