May 26, 2017

Centre Leg - Film version **UPDATE - 1.2 - centre foot shell**

With all the other work going on, the part that would need some real thought was the new side foot shell panels.

The original ones I made, were screwed onto the main shell, so these new ones will be too.
Centre foot shell with side panel removed.
Semi-circle at top of opening
is there to help remove the centre leg securing bolt.

First panel cut out, next was to apply watered down PVA glue.
This helps seal the wood for spraying, strengthens it as well.
Once done and dried, a light sanding of the edges & faces was carried out.

I marked out the second panel,

And then primer sprayed up the lot.

Next will be to spray up the lot in white.

May 25, 2017

Centre Leg - Film version **UPDATE - 1.1 - ankle details**

I already had the plans for the ankle details, which are available via www.astromech.net forum, so it was just a case of marking up some wood and cutting them out and shaping them.

detail pics:
Drew up a template and marked out on the wood the 'detail'.
Notice that only one of them has the upper 'tab' marked on it.

Next up was gluing the two pieces together.........then cutting out the details...

And here's the first on.

I sanded the edges and faces, before applying wood filler to the cut sides & faces.
Had to stop for food, then I was back out in the garage, marking up the second 'ankle detail'.

And here they both are, cut out and wood filler applied.
Left to dry over night, before sanding and extra wood filler where needed.

.....these versions as with the ankle cylinders, don't have any blue (that can be seen in the photos), so will be just white. Which is fine as they are going to be weathered to blend in with the centre leg.

The top 'tab' would normally be blue (or dependent on your choice of droid colour) and also there's a small rectangle recess, which would also be coloured accordingly. 

** I uses normal everyday tools, the hand saw as can be seen in the pic .
The most 'hi-tech' tool I have is a borrowed jigsaw,
meaning these projects are not beyond anyone's abilities to try **

Centre Leg - Film version **UPDATE - 1.0 - ankle cylinder**

A long time  ago.......... ;-) I realised that my nagging conscious wasn't going to let me sleep anymore lol.

This (zoomed in) image of R5 rolling away from the droid lineup, shows R5's alternate centre leg/foot shell.

The obvious things you can see is that there are:

  • no side crescents on the foot shells.
  • the ankle cylinder & wedge, are white (no silver or blue, like the outer leg)
But when you look even closer, you can just make out that the 'centre leg' is actually fitted with 'ankle details'. Well it would do wouldn't it, as it was an outer ankle unit.

For more on this, check back on my first blog via this link below:



So, as I already had a spare ankle cylinder.....as my original centre leg was built to the club plans (based on R2 and all Astromech's having a 'standard' build) & before I fully knew about R5's centre leg incident during filming (see the link above for more). I thought I'd do a little bit of upgrade work.

So I dug out the spare cylinder/wedge and checked it would fit the centre leg fixings I already had installed. Yep, me and the plans in perfect synic lol.

Next I sanded the cylinder and then primer sprayed it ready for the next stage.
R5D4

Next I'll spray it up with Satin white from Plasti-Kote, once I've finished the other parts.
This and the primer I bought from The Range (shop in the UK).

May 15, 2017

** LEGO Land Star Wars weekend event **

Saturday 29th April to Monday 1st May

Lego lands annual Star Wars weekend.


Members of the UK R2 Builders joined 'Joker Squad', 'Sentinel Squad', 'UK Rebel Legion' & the 'Mandolorian Mercs uk' to celebrate May the 4th be with you.

Lego Land Windsor 2017

Due to the early start on the mornings setting up, we were accommodated in one of the two conference rooms in the hotels. Due to the distance, myself & Emma, traveled up the night before. Emma had saved me a spot to set up my camp bed :).


Because of the nature of this event, there are no pictures of the droids
with children or adults!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday 29th
The Droids were split up into two groups, our group were at the far end by Heart Lake City. We drove around to a side gate entrance and unloaded. Our spotters, kept watch whilst we moved the cars back to a close by parking area.


R2-D2 Peckam
Jason's R2D2 unloaded, set up & ready to go
R5-D4; Dome: Astromech Droid
Me installing R5's dome with Chris looking on.

The surface is very large cobble stones, it's also layed out to flow water into drains to stop areas flooding. This means that there wasn't anywhere to really drive the Droids around. So we found a spot to 'park' them and let the crowds come to them lol.


R5 with Sam's R2-Q5 & a guest BB8
This BB8 was a child who wanted to re-wear his costume (before it got to small). Last time was at Celebration Europe 2016 in London.


 R5 wasn't happy with all the Jawa attention!
................Brought back 'Bad Motivator' memories lol

Jason's R2 wanted to meet 'His maker' lol.
And attracted some unwanted Imperial attention!

The Rebels & Imperials received lots of attention from the visitors, lots of group photos which can be found on their respective websites/blogs/twitter etc.

The park wasn't to busy which I was surprised about, the possible reason for this was
that (here in the UK) Easter Bank Holiday weekend had only just happend the previous week or so, so kids etc would of been on half term. This was though a good thing, as it meant we got to have a breather between photo opportunities,
to give the static droids the once over,
and in Sam's case, to give his dome a quick polish lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 12:30pm our group stored the droids in a side room for us to be able to head off and find lunch, which had been supplied by LegoLand.

Then at 1pm, it was back to load up the droids in Lee Towersey's awesome R2 Van, and head to our afternoon staging area, which would be at the top/entrance to the park.
R2D2 Van,
Me & Paul

Three droids, and four 'adults' lol, loaded up into the back of the R2 van,
the faces tell you how much jokes we had :D
My R5, Sam's R2-Q5 & Jason's R2-D2

Whilst setting up the droids and giving them the once over before re-entering the park from a side gate. We bumped into Chewie, having a five minute breather.

R2-D2, Chewie & R5-X2

Nearing the end of the day the Sun made a guest appearance which meant we had to retreat into the shade for Chewie's sake lol
droid; astromech; uk r2d2 builders club

Droids lineup

This pic shows the ques for photographs with the visiting guest. We had got to do some limited driving around, but once we were parked up, that was it. Chewie's handler organised an orderly que so everyone was able to get their photo chance.

This pic you have have see on my Instagram profile.
Jason, Sam, myself & Oliver

We finished up about 6pm and loaded the droids back into Lee's van. He then dropped us off back at the car parks for us to unload and then load up our cars. Some tho were staying for the Sunday, and stored their droids in a secure location.

I headed back with Emma & Lee to have a sit down, rest, chat and eat some pizza.
Before I finished packing up and started on my journey home.

Another event under R5's belt and a sense of achievement in helping out with the other groups in raising £15K