Just in case you're following my build and don't know what Whistler is supposed to look like, or who he is, this is a picture of the action figure that was made of him. I'm relying on this for most of my information on what areas of him are different colors, but am using R2-D2 information for everything else, since these tiny figures aren't the most accurate. I was also looking at the photos on him Wookiepedia listing again last night, and there are such differences in different artists renditions that it's tough. If you'd like to read about him, or see other images, his listing is here.



Last night was the beginning of the monumental task of getting my droid's skins actually installed onto the frame. I used GE Premium Waterproof Silicone Kitchen/Bath/Plumbing Silicone II in clear to adhere the styrene skin to the wood frame. It, and actually my entire installation method was recommended to me by fellow builder Edwardo. A big THANK YOU to him! I couldn't find the recommended tape for while parts were drying but found one I thought would work. I got Scotch 3M Masking Tape #2060 for Hard-to-Stick Surfaces. I thought it was appropriate that it was actually green as well (the same color as the sit-n-spin for his dome). I also like that it has a 3 day clean removal rating and a very high (level 6) adhesion rating. I'll give a review of how well I like the tape after I've seen how well it did holding the skins down while the silicone set. (The package says it is shower ready in 3 hours, but I'm planning to give it about 24 before I try removing any of the tape and such.



The first step was giving a quick sanding to the back of the front inner skin to give the silicone something extra to adhere to, since styrene is so smooth. I lay the frame down on it's back, and then silicone was applied to the supports on the wood frame where the front skin fit. I place the skin over the proper openings, and starting from the center, lined it up and got it smooth against the frame. I had had the skins sitting dry wrapped on the frame for several days before I punched out the openings, and this may have helped it stay curved properly and not come up too much when I first laid it on. I secured all the edges or spots that looked like they needed help with the 3M tape, and ran my bungees around again across the major tabs to help keep them in place and everything stable. Wiped up any excess caulk, and it was time to wait. Always the hardest part! I put another coat of green on the arms to help get those smoothed out a little more, but other than that there is just waiting to do. I would love to be able to install my rear inner skin, but haven't received my back door yet, and have to wait on that so that I can get the door separated out of the skin properly to fit.

In looking through the forums for information on how o motorize a sit and spin for the dome (which I didn't find) I found lots of info on how people lite their logic displays. The method that I thought would be best for me right now is to use battery operated string lights. And right now is the perfect time of year to locate these. I found them on clearance at my Michael's craft store, and picked up 3 strands. After moving a lot of bulbs around I finally had one set that was all green and blue. I couldn't get white LEDs in the same style, so that's why I went with the blue. I think green is an obvious choice for this droid though. :) I have a bit of work do do on my logic displays to get the lights set up in there and such, but couldn't help getting Whistler in the spirit of the holidays yesterday afternoon!


While dinner was cooking on the stove, I slipped out the back kitchen door and gave my MSE a quick coat of paint. (Rust-oleum Automobile Primer 2089 Dark Gray Primer)

Last night I did some work on my dome and front skins. I punched out most of the things that need to be taken out on both the inner and outer skins. Then gave a preliminary coat of green of the inner skins. Can't wait to get these layered up today! Should look amazing!

Front inner, completely punched and initially painted.



I spent a good while laying in the lines for Whistler's dome stripes, and then got those painted in with a first coat of green done by hand. This still needs a lot of work, but it's at least starting to resemble the droid I'm looking for.

Updated dome, and mostly punched front outer skin.

Last night I got some more sanding done on the dome. The Dremel got the majority of the Super Dome name ground out, but there is still a lot of work to do to get it nice and smooth. It is substantially better now, and with some light sanding with extremely high grit paper in the future, and several layers of paint, it should be looking good. I also spent some time sanding out the areas with bubbling or paint drips from the preliminary silver coat done on the lower portion of the dome. After taking so much paint off, I was really wanting to put some paint on somewhere too, so I finally pulled the final masking off the top from doing the silver spray, and hand painted in the first coat of green on the top of the dome and the only dome panel I had already lined out. The only hobby paint that I could find in the correct color is an air brush paint. I will have to compare it with the green metallic I used for my frame, but may decide to switch over and air brush paint with this one when it comes time for final coats later. Hand painting in the first coat allowed me to get some color on there, and I feel like I can run my masking just over the edge of the green that's already on there when I go to spray, so I won't get over-spray onto the silver portions. I also took the time to hand paint the one octo-port I have with the metallic green, and a coat of primer for the aluminum portion. This morning I did a 2nd coat of both, and think that after a 3rd coat of green it will look pretty good. I'm not completely happy with the port that I have... it is a resin piece I bought in a grouping from someone getting out of the hobby, and there are many small flaws on the outward facing side of it... I may try and actually get in there with a small bit on the Dremel and get some of it cleaned out. I saw the flaws before, but think they are much more apparent now that there is paint on them. So scratch the earlier comment about it being good. lol The paint will look good, but the piece itself, not so much. Most people probably wouldn't notice... but club members would, and I know the difference- which is what matters most to me.

After the painting work last night I did another test fit on my skins as well. I had done this once before after assembling the frame, but didn't take any pictures. This time I've bungeed the skins on, and just love looking at him, so I've left them there for now.



And what better place to store my dome than right up top?


Little Whistler with my big one!

Hit the frame with the first coat of metallic green this morning. The result was rather spotty, and at least a 2nd coat would be necessary. Since this is the frame after all, I'm not too worried about it being perfect, and wasn't too worried about the green being super metallic as much I was concerned about getting the right color for the look, so I skipped doing an under coat of silver to achieve the true metallic potential. The first coat was definitely too light, so another coat was in order this evening.

(First coat of metallic green.)

The first thing I did this evening was to hit my Super Dome with a sanding bit on the dremel to sand out the name. This went very well, but will of course need a lot of follow up hand sanding with some high grit paper. (Forgot to pick this up at the hardware store today when I was in picking up more metallic green.)


I've also been working on a sit and spin for my dome. I happened upon one at a children's resale store several months back for just a couple dollars, and had picked it up for my child for Christmas (at the urging of the other child.. who knew she had had her eye on it.) However, I got her a new one on a great sale at Walmart and wrapped it up, so I could use this one for my droid. The plate on it is a bright green, so it seems perfect, and since it was a talking one, and the new one isn't... there will be a little less annoying noise around the house (one can only hope). The only problem I have run into with this son far is that because it is not a Sit and Spin classic, it does not have a completely round seat. The seat is slightly oval (you can see where there is frame showing in the pic)... which could pose some challenges when mounting the dome. We'll have to see what that brings when the time comes.

Here she is checking out the Sit and Spin for the dome. Even though she doesn't know about the Xmas present one- she fully approves of the application of this one on the frame that is now sporting 2 coats of green. :)


Here is a view of the underside of the Sit and Spin sitting on the frame. (The green of the frame is NOT this dark in person.)


This is a much more true to color picture, and shows most of the work done on the project to date. Def. a favorite of mine right now. It's sitting in the corner of my living room, and I just can't stop staring at it.

Yesterday evening I took my whole frame apart and finally got it glued together! I used Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue Max. I am so glad I had clamps to help line up most of the major portions of the frame while it dried. Unfortunately there were a couple spots that didn't set as flush as I needed. So after letting the frame set for at least 24 hours I hit those high areas with the orbital sander tonight. I also have one frame piece that has been giving me trouble from the get go, that I left out when I constructed the frame. I plan on adding it in later (because of it's location this will be completely possible) but need to do some trimming on it to get it to sit properly into the notches of the vertical pieces.


Today I did more work on the frame, getting it sanded, and after a quick wipe down, primed in white (2 1/2 spray cans- luckily I had some left over form another project- used 2 kinds, and by far got the better coverage from the cheaper Ace store brand). I'm actually planning to paint up the frame in metallic green to match the accent color on the exterior of the droid. Interior color is not something that seems to be very important for the most part. I think it would be pretty cool to have it look like a metal frame inside when I remove the back door, and my kids insist that Whistler is green inside. So green "metal" frame against interior of white skins is looking like where we're headed. Hopefully it turns out as cool as it is in my head. (I have a couple test pieces of wood that I also primed tonight to test this out on first.)


(Primed frame with dome that is half primed, half silver coated (still requires sanding and touch up work on painted portion.)

A Little Bit of Paint

Tonight I finally had a chance to do a little more work on Whistler. It started this morning actually when I took my kids to Home Depot for their free building class. I thought I'd swing by the spray paint and check on the green I had been planning to use for my droid. I couldn't find it anywhere, and the people seemed to have no idea what I was talking about, but suggested I check next door at Hobby Lobby. I didn't think they'd have what I was looking for, but figured it was worth a shot, plus I needed to pick up some flat black enamel for my husband's work on his 501st costume. No luck there for me, so I was starting to think maybe they had stopped making the color shift paint at all. And I was beginning to really kick myself for having not picked up any back when I had seen it at a store months ago. (With the hefty $20 per can price tag I figured I'd wait until I was ready to actually paint something.) So I decided I'd try my luck at Lowes. And there it was! And the price has recently come down to the still absurd cost of $15 per can, but it's still less! So to avoid this paint frenzy in future, I decided to go ahead and buy 2 cans. I still needed to make a stop at my local Ace hardware on the way home though, and came across a metallic green there that is priced comparable to a standard color, so I picked up one to do some testing with. I showed both to my husband this evening, and it turns out the panic was for naught, because the metallic looks like it is the winner in the looks category as far as a color match as well as in the price category. Thankfully we figured this out without even doing a test with the color shift, so I have 2 cans to return the next time I'm down by our local Lowes.

After all the color stress was over, I wanted to at least get SOMEthing painted, so I taped up my dome and gave it a first coat of metallic. I'm using Super dome, and the previous owner was kind enough to start lining it out and to have primed it for me. It needed some light sanding, but I soon had taped off the entire upper portion where the green panels still need to be lined out, and was ready to paint the lower section of the dome with a first coat of Valspar Brilliant Metal in Silver (66010). I figured I'd give a quick coat to my fixed holos at the same time. The weather tonight was good... little to no wind, and still in the upper 50s, so I ran outside and painted them up. I did have some problems with the initial flow on the paint, and the first section I painted will definitely need some sanding before a 2nd coat. I ended up with 3 very silver fingers, and a few drips off of the drop cloth because of a leak below the spray head. But so far I am very happy with the results. I brought the pieces in to dry fully over night, and the reflection is just beautiful. I can't wait to get it sanded up and the 2nd coat on... maybe tomorrow evening. And then get started on lining out, taping off, and painting the panels.


Primed dome, sanded, taped, and ready for some paint.


Just after painting. you can see one of the drips that needs to be sanded out below and just right of the glorious reflection.

Frame Beginnings

I spent time last night sanding all of the frame parts and test fitting them together. Thanks to Thomas' excellent work, most parts only needed light sanding. And everything fit together perfectly. There are some natural holidays between layers in some of the plywood that I need to fill in. Then those will need re-sanding, and I can complete frame assembly. (And update my progress to 2%!) I was very excited to log onto the Droid Registry this morning and update my progress to 1%!

My Frame Arrived!!!

Today I finally received my frame in the mail from The Droid Builder a.k.a. Thomas Clark! It's a wood frame pre-cut to the Senna design, and I can't wait to get started on it! Time for some sanding, gluing and assembly! Work can finally really begin to unfold here. So hopefully I'll have some updates soon on how things are progressing.



Thanks Thomas, everything looks beautiful- can't wait to get started!!

Work Has Finally Begun

I finally have some parts and have been able to do work beyond just research. First to arrive, was my MSE droid shell.

Then some various parts I got from someone who is getting out of the hobby.

And a set of Chani's budget skins... which I went to cutting out right away- here they are cut.

I've been doing general trimming as well as cutting the skins. It's so stellar to finally have something to work on. It would be better however, if UPS hadn't walked all over the package with my skins in it, and managed to crease both inner and outer skins for the front AND back. I'm hoping that once they are on the frame it won't really show. *grumbles*

PARTS!!!

I haven't updated in awhile since there wasn't really anything to report. Mostly I've been doing research and ordering some parts to get started on my build. I did some more work on my R2 trash can... but have been so busy with the kids' stuff recently that hasn't seen much action either. Then yesterday, my parts started arriving. Hooray! What a great birthday gift to me! Yesterday it was my side project (MSE-6) shell that arrived. That meant I spent the night trimming that up while hanging in Droidchat. Unfortunately it also meant that I sliced my thumb open.. not with the knife, but on the corner of one of the styrene pieces. Fun!

Today included stops at Ace, Radioshack, and the local hobby shop doing parts recon and shopping... now I just need to get some pictures of my new goodies so I can share. :-)

Here is a somewhat updated one of my trash can at least:

A Start...

To start my process, I have been doing lots and lost of research and reading. There is a wealth of information avalible through the R2 Builder Club. It makes the project so much more approchable, but also at the same time a little overwhelming. So many choices as far as how to construct pieces, and where to buy parts etc. There's definately no shortage of information. It's just a matter of compiling the right information for your droid and what you want to do with it within your budget etc.

To give myself a start to getting a real feel for where parts go in relation to one another (something I fine invaluble) I decided to construct a drawn mock-up of R2-D2 on a F size, Sterilite columnar trash can with a domed lid. I started out using some front view reference shots in the club galleries and used a pencil and bendable ruler to get down the basics of the front panel.

My 4 year old daughter LOVES the trash can projects, and has already claimed the finished project as hers. She insisted on "trying it on." I was informed that she would wear it for Halloween, except that she wouldn't be able to walk well in it. So she informed me that she will either wear her Ahsoka or Queen Amidala costume. We have experience with the walking droid problem from this past Halloween when she dressed as a GNK. She won the local festival's home-made costume contest, but had trouble walking when we went trick-or-treating, and after the first half hour changed into something easier for a 3 year old to manage.

But back to the project at hand... last night I spent some time using Sharpies and coloring in the areas I had lined out in pencil earlier in the afternoon. I was really rewarding to do this, as looks a lot more done than with just the pencil lines. I wasn't able to do the silver portions since that pen had dried out, but it was still enough to get my daughter very excited this morning when she saw it.

One mistake I have already made: The domed lid fits down over the top edge of the can. I forgot to take this into account and start the body design below this point. So when the dome is on you lose the top part of the design on the body. It's always good to learn these kinds of lessons on an inexpensive $10 trash can mock up rather than on a much more expensive droid construction. Plus, it doesn't seem to make any difference to the eventual owner. :-) I haven't yet decided how to address the legs on this- whether I want to do a foam core type build, or if I want to just draw them on, or do something else. I still have a lot of drawing work left on the body and dome before I have to really worry about that though.

The beginning

A long time ago,
In a galaxy
Far, far away...

This is the beginning of my own epic journey, as I work to build my own R series Whistler astromech. Over the weekend we attended the Phoenix Comicon, and met some of the wonderful member of the R2 Builders Club. I hope that with their help I will be able to complete this project. It is certainly because of them that I feel prepared to even begin the planning process at this point. Thank you!

My daughter at Phoenix Comicon 2010 with a club droid.