December 30, 2015

2015 R5-D4's year round up

Another event filled year draws to an end. R5 attended events local to us, Corsham & Chippenham (see post Blog posts for details and pics) & traveled far too, to Milton Keynes & then Birmingham's Comic con at the NEC. R5 really has been transported to places far far away lol, meeting up with costume groups up and down the country!

Being a member of the UK R2 Builders group is a great feeling! Talking to like minded people whos aim is to build, replicate and encourage each other and new members with new ideas on building an Astromech Droid.

Getting to share our builds with the public has to be the highlight for me! Kids big (adults) and small, love to see the droids and for them it makes the film characters 'real'. We get asked lots of questions about the droids from all ages and understandings, some even get to see inside to get a better understanding of how to build one. For me as an engineer, this is a great way to encourage mechanical & electrical enthusiasm in youngsters who may feel a project of this size is beyond them. True, cost of materials, tools etc maybe out of their reach, but the seed of simple circuits, programing etc and even simple wood & metalworking I hope, would of been planted & nurtured in them to give it a go.

The UK Builders range of droids is varied! From the very hi-tech, 3-2-3 versions, stealth controller versions, to include, all the available build material combinations possible! All take pride in reproducing their chosen build design.

The Force Awakens has awoken the Star Wars journey again and with it new films, builders and events. 2016 will also see Star Wars Celebration Europe in London (don't miss out on tickets!) there will be a very large UK & Europen R2 Builders Club presents, so come say hi. Then at the end of the year, the next Star Wars film 'Rogue One' will be released. Plus all the usual events throughout the year.

So from myself & R5-D4, we would like to wish all our followers a very Happy New Year!

December 24, 2015

December 17, 2015

UK R2 Builders - The Force Awakens @ Odeon IMAX

** SPOILER FREE **

Members of the UK R2 Builders Club will be in attendance at Milton Keynes
new Odeon IMAX cinema on December 17th.


This should be an extra special day for visitors, not just attending
for the new #Star Wars film but for other movie goer's.

There will be at least seven Astromech Droids, rolling around for the day,
so if your out and about, why not go along and say hi!

Only one more day [of work] to go - The Force Awakens

**SPOILER FREE**

Only one more day of work for me till film night tonight!!

Have been carefully catching up via friends photos of pre-film events attended and those that were at the premier last night. Some awesome pictures, some VERY lucky people indeed!!

It's been a long time coming :) ......................

December 15, 2015

The Force Awakens....almost upon us!

This last 12 months seemed to drag lol. But these last few weeks have flown by!!

From the early hours I have been viewing fellow builders photo's of the red carpet event over in the US.

After watching the first 'teaser' last year, I've tried my best NOT to be seduced into looking too closely at pictures of the upcoming film.

I then watched the second 'trailer' officially released and knew that the path I'm following is the right one :D lol. I've not even watched the other international trailers, or You Tube analysts etc for fear of spoilers & info I don't want to see or hear. I've even managed to persuade my two youngest 's not to watch or at least not tell me anything, much to their enjoyment, chasing me round the house shouting plot lines and who just did what in the TV advert lol.

My reason is simple, its a new story, if JJ wanted people to know the storyline it would be out there already.

So myself, my two children, my brother & his Son (& father-in-law) will be attending a local'ish cinema (the closest one to me had sold out before I had chance to book, but that's another story lol), to watch the 8pm (UK GMT) showing on Thursday 17th.

I will avoid all news, radio, people if necessary lol, Facebook & Twitter, until AFTER I've watched the film. I've already seen some people go off the grid already in anticipation of spoilers from people who have (after Thursday) watched the film.

Out of courtesy for others I won't be posting anything about the film, other than the words AWESOME or (worse case scenario) something less than awesome.

December 04, 2015

MCM Comic Con - You Tube video's

Here are links to MCM's Comic Con You Tube page.

This first video features a quick glimps right at the start of it,
of the UK R2 Builders Club's Droids.

This video link is now private 🙁

This video link still works (11/2020)

This video link is now private (11/2020)
This video, by Joe, we can be seen at 5:49mins into the video

R5 damage repair update PART 2

I didn't post up pictures of the rest of the damaged area's on R5. Thankfully most of it was only on his shoulder Horseshoe.

I removed the loose wood filler then I sealed the hardboard with watered down PVA glue.
This helps the wood absorb the glue and makes it hard. Then once dried, I applied more wood filler again to the damaged areas.

After sanding and more filler, repeated until happy [and filler dried]. I gave the area a light spray with white and later, with clear coat.

After a few days, and once the shoulder hub was finished, I re-installed the hub & horseshoe and got to weathering it all again.

Here are the before and after pics:

Damaged horseshoe on left repaired & weathering [WIP] again on right.

The outer foot shell's have already been fixed.

R5 damage repair update

I needed a new Shoulder Hub to replace the one that partially broke [edged lip]. So got online to DJ Design and order a new set. These arrived in a few days looking great!

I've not ordered any of his 'new' revised components before as these were produced after I already had bought mine a few years before. They use less resin material on the un-seen areas, but still retaining strength. The finish of them is also better than the set I had before, not that there was anything wrong, but it is stated that with moulds you can get air holes, which my last set did have. Not that this bothered me as it just added to the worn, pitted, used Droid look. But this set has minimal to non what-so-ever!!


Link to DJ's shoulder hubs DJ Designs

So after a warm soapy water wash and fully dried, I got on with primer spray. I only sprayed up the face as, well, this is the only part you'll see.

Here's after primer, silver and clear coat.
R5D4

R5D4
Two slightly different angles in these pictures. My spraying is the cause of the 'crinkle' effect you can see in the upper area's of the hubs. I like doing this as it gives it the worn, corroded look and feel. Also helps when it comes to weathering the parts.