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.