I've had the back door for my droid half built for awhile now, but wasn't quite sure how to go about putting the red of it together since it couldn't be clamped. Today I just dove in and got it done. This meant cutting out a piece of the original frame (seen on the floor) to fit it into place. But once it was done and fitted, I was able to cut out the back door oepning in my rear skins which means I can finally get those mounted, and Whistler's behind won't be hanging out at the con next week. Before I can get the skins mounted I need to get some paint on the rear door frame though, and then we should be good to go.

I'm keeping the rear door in place with a set of three small bungees I had on hand hooked into 6 medium sized screw eyes. I figure I can relocate these as needed when I get internals in later.

My gas pipe with flanges test fit. 1 1/4" galvanized water pipe (16" length) and 1" galvanized water pipe (14" length) with appropriate flanges, and a U bolt to help things stay in place once everything is in and set. (Overall gas pipe and flange length is the recommended 19")

Finally got my center leg assembled today as well, and the lower inner portion of the other two legs on. I still need to get the shoulder mounts set in the right place and attached. I'm hoping for a first coat of primer after some sanding to get done before going to this con.. but there's a lot to get done on this boy still! I need to build some temporary feet to put his temp wheels (two large fixed, and one swivel for the center with a brake lock on it) on as well so that he's somewhat mobile, and will be easier to move around at/to/from the con.So much to do, and so little time! I'll try to continue with the updates as I go!

Unfortunately I haven't been able to do much work in awhile because I am in school right now. Juggling 3 classes, and the schedules of 3 kids has been crazy. I am still hopeful that I can at leas get my third leg put together and get them on my droid before the Phoenix Comicon in May so that he can at least be rolling around on casters and won't have to be taken to and from the convention on a daily basis in a more difficult manner.

I have been very bad about updating as my computer was in the shop for awhile, and I've gotten super busy in my "real" life. I just started school this week, so I probably won't be able to do as much work as I was getting done before, but I'm still hoping to at least have my boy on legs for PCC in May. May the force be with me!

Here is a quick photo update of what's been going on.

Legs arrived from Henrick!

Legs stacked up how they should appoximately look when they are put together.

My wonderful husband got me a coin slot for Chrismas, and despite ordering it in November (we all know how runs can be) it didn't arrive until January.

Purchased a pair of motors to power the little guy.

This is the first leg completely glued and dry and all puttied up with wood putty for some preliminary sanding.

Second leg clamped and drying. Unfortunately despite the aligning dowels this one managed to shirt some and will require considerably more sanding than the first. Though both will require quite a bit of work still to get them to a real quality level.

Test fir of my beautiful new coin slot! It required a good deal of sanding to fit it into it's niche inside, but fits snugly, and was definitely worth the work. Now it just needs some paint and to be glued into it's home!

My boy now has a front outer skin! (Just applied and waiting to dry. I still have yet to work the seams on this... but at least I got it on there! lol

The project so far sitting on the skirt. (Looks fantastic, but nothing is attached to anything else yet. lol

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.