Showing posts with label Mike Berry - R2XL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Berry - R2XL. Show all posts

June 20, 2022

Event report: Stars of Time @ Swindon steam museum

Short drive up the motorway to Swindon’s steam museum, after a detour due to an overturned lorry blocked a junction to actually get ONTO said motorway.

Parked up and unloaded R5 & helped Mike unload his van of three droids!
Yes…..3!!

One being R2-XL….

Mike also supplied the new table cover…

Joining us was Jamie with his (mini) A-LT droid, Mark T (with his special guest) helping out with XL & Marine.
The……. #Bristolians 😂😂😂


Lunchtime….


Old (well…..young), ex work colleague 😂👍🏽

We weren’t in the best place, cobblestone floor and joints to tarmac, but we were still able to move about and people found the droids they were looking for 😂👍🏽. The rest of the museum had good flooring and the main stall hall was carpeted. Milton Keynes garrison were in attendance with Stormtroopers, Mando from the Mandalorian. Other visuals were Daleks, Wookies, Dinosaurs, as well as Podpad studios ‘bikes display’ and car from Blade Runner 2048.

R2-XL had lots of interest and raised some money for the Motor Neurone Disease association.

It was a very busy day, and Mike’s R2’s had the attention of a local radio presenter as well as a TV camera, to later appear on the local news.

I actually took more video than photos, so to see more…. Here’s a link to my YouTube channel with a short clip of the day.




November 04, 2021

Event - @'The Galleries', Bristol October 30th 2021


A day in the life of droid builders event.


The Bristol club members set up to raise awareness and funds for #MNDa. We were joined by three other members, Doug (all the way down from Scotland!) with his R2, Chris to help as a spotter & Marine, also as a spotter. The droids rolled around entertaining the public whilst their owners (us) chatted with them, with questions ranging from 'why we were collecting/publicising about Motor Neurone Disease?' to 'how the #droids were constructed?'
Waiting for the lift, in the basement loading area

Event's video up and running

Setting up the area

Mike with his R2-XL & Marine

Mike's brother Marc, also attended and was there to make a video of the day, with interviews of us as well.

Check out his video over on the 

Two of Mike's droids, R3-T2 & R2-XL

R5-D4 & KN-B1

R2-D2, GOUD-4 messenger droid & R5-D4

The flyer time stated 10am till 3pm, but we were all set up and rolling when the shopping centre doors opened at 9am. And as there were still people milling around, we kept going right up until closing time, with people still asking us questions and kindly donating to our cause.

click image to go to my YouTube of the day

This video (& photo link above to YouTube) is just a collection of shorts as to just highlight the day. We all had a great time, as always! I got to use my Trading Card Dispenser which work a treat….except when it ran out of cards lol. And to see Chris operate it with ease was good to see, as it means it is easy to operate.


If you'd like to support us, you can donate online @

#droidbuildersuk #astromech #r2d2 #r5d4 #ukr2d2buildersclub

Thanks to Mike B for arranging the event and The Galleries #bristol for having us.
We raised a total of over £232.00 pounds.
A big thank you to everyone who contributed.


....more event's planned, so stay tuned and follow me on Twitter!

September 26, 2021

Teeces LED work for Mike's dome 2 [August 2021] part 2



Tasked with installing another set of LOGIC’s in an R2 dome.


After shopping around, I decided it would be easier to make the cables myself.


Used a PSI design off Thingiverse and modified it slightly. The rings I didn’t need, but I did require a retaining ring, can be seen below in picture, too right. I also drew up a honeycomb screen.

I drilled out location holes for the retaining threaded, cut down bolts, and mixed up two part epoxy to secure them in place.








Latest work:


I wired up these illuminated switches for the Teeces and the PSI’s.

Next is the Holoprojector LED’s and holders for them (3off). Then it’s connecting everything up and passing the dome over to Paul.F to program the Arduino.

September 08, 2021

Event Report: 'Stars of Time' @ Weston-Super-Mare 2021

This year Stars of Time, film & comic con, was celebrating its 10th year running!

It was my 1st time attending, as due to family holiday's I've never been able to attend. A few other South West members also attended, which meant we where going to have a great time! :D
I also took my R0 dome & R4's dome, as well as a few other Astromech props and my almost completed GOUD-4 messenger droid, from Solo.


I also carried out a re:MOT on Mike's KN droid.

....Unfortunately, Paul wasn't able to attend with R2-D2, due to work commitments; and Pedge, due to health issues. Mark L from the Northern sector was also not able to attend as well as Matt C and Simon B.

Event Report
We had arranged to meet up at 8:00/8:30am Sunday morning.
It was a clear blue sunny sky that greeted us in Weston-Super-Mare.
The beach, looking South....

Mike's van outside the Tropicana

We unloaded the cars/vans and made our way inside to our area. The entrance we would be using was flat and led straight in off the promenade (just in front on Mike's van). This was where we would be set up for the next two days. The floor is smooth concreate and there is also a ramp leading down to a lower level. There is a door sill leading into the adjacent room, which required a slight lifting of the centre foot, but nothing major.

Table display, banners & backdrop up

As well as the domes, we also had Mark's wood components for his build. Body frame, legs, ankles, feet shells, booster covers and horseshoes, as can be seen in the above picture.

We handed out loads of our trading cards, club pamphlets and stickers.

The domes, R0, R4, R5, R6 (L-R) ...... just missing an R3
(Nik's droid has an R2 dome)

Pit Droids, ready to maintain R5's Bad Motivator.

Pit Droids, ready to maintain R5's Bad Motivator.

For a short 5min video of the droids in action,

The doors opened to the public at 10am and there was already a que for people to come in! The morning was a very busy one with lots of people asking questions as well as photos. Also fun as people were unaware that the droids actually moved :D, and jumped when they did!

Mark T was looking after R2-XL, helping people climb up and inside the super-sized droid for photo opps.
Mark & R2-XL (left of picture above)

Mike rewarding Mark by letting him wear his R2 dome lol.

   Donations were collected for   
                  Pedge                   
                      &                       
      Motor Neurone Disease    
      raising just over £123.00     

Mark's C-3P0 shoes.....

Pit Droids keeping the Astromech's in check.


The local news channel were there and filmed interviews with the organisers, they also filmed Mikes R4 droid (green) in action, next to the Milton Keynes Star Wars wall (below).

Milton Keynes Garrison

This was Mike's first official event driving around with his R4-KN droid. I had cleared and passed it earlier in the day as part of the UK MOT system.

Both days there were parades which were led down to the Pier direction, how far it actually went, we didn't see :D, but we did join them on their return for a group photo opportunity outside the front of the main entrance. There were a few interactions with Daleks :D but we managed to avoid any intergalactic incidences.


After this, we retuned inside, to keep Mark T company.
GOU-4 droid being inspected by a Pit Droid

Nik H's droid

Mike B's droid

James F's droid

..... the afternoon was quieting down, so we took the droids for a wander down into the rear room. There Garrick Hagon kindly obliged to a photo shoot with the droids.
Garrick Hagon with our droids


As you can see, he was most taken by my R4 astromech lol.

The event finished at five PM, but most of the traders were already starting to pack up. So we also made a start on the non essential equipment. Nik & Mark, had the furthest to travel home, and due to the M4 traffic, I had to take the back way back to Bristol. Wasn't so bad a journey though.

Another successful event with the guys, looking forward to the next one!