R2-D2 Teeces dome LED’s

September 2023

Mike wanted to reinstall his Teeces LED’s in his R2 dome again. This was after his last set of logic’s from DP, got ripped out when wires dropped and got caught in the dome gear.

So I uninstalled the DP set and made a start on cleaning things up. I made up some cardboard templates for the holes, marked the position and drilled into the resin DJ Design components using a manual hand drill and a 3.5mm drill bit. I cut down some 20mm long M3 threads and screwed on a nut to depth required. I then fitted them through the cardboard template into the pre filled holes with Araldite epoxy glue. I then fitted the screens to help with alignment.

The three Holoprojectors required new location holders, so they were sent to the printer.

I also needed to print two new PSI board holders, after a slight design modification for a better fit.

Whilst these were printing, i made a start on connecting up the cables and wiring the switches back in.

Cables and switches done. Second switch is now for controlling the holoprojectors independently.

Just waiting on them being delivered.

Another happy customer 🙂👍🏽

Solo droids at Scarborough Sci-Fi

Fellow droid builder and longtime friend, Glynn T, attended an event with these two familiar looking droids that were seen in Solo a Star Wars story.

Glynn took along his replicas of R5-232 & R5-PHT to Scarborough Sci-Fi weekend.

Also attending were Darren P , Chris ‘3-P0’ W and a few others.

Busy week: R5 motor bracket/3D designing and more….

 A busy week of building, buying, designing etc….

1:

R5’s second new foot motor bracket frame, needed completing: just needs some finishing tweaks, and 3D printed brackets for the channel plate.

2:

Been discussing in group chat about next year’s Star Wars Celebration , attending droid numbers etc.

3:

Been designing up ‘control panels’ for a side project idea. See coming post.

4:

Whilst researching I came across a video about the origins of R2’s PSI lenses. So a search on eBay and I managed to get a bargain for £6.00 GBP. Its a vintage Weston Masters two, photographers light meter.

The lens is bubbled on one side, but i was surprised to see that the honeycomb part was multiple layers of punched/stamped pieces, that were then rivited together.

Another R2D2 type dome - part 3 [AstroPixels]

Back in January, I had the call from Mike for ANOTHER set of Teeces for ANOTHER R2 dome 😂. The plan was to wire up bought LEDS, but thankfully he managed to get hold of the real deal ones.

Next up was to get some Holoprojector LED’s.

….roll on to May, and Darren P, had released his R2-D2 lights kit!

Link to AstroPixels

So Mike purchased the kit and even installed it all himself…..it’s that easy to do!! And it starts up first time when power was applied.

He just needed me to connect up a power switch.

Event Report: MegaCON @ NEC Birmingham

 Last Tuesday afternoon....... it started.... 😂😂😂😂😂 ..............the group chat!

With it being central (here in England) really helps as builders from all over are able to make, (mostly) the short'ish journey to attend. I say that, but Doug traveled down from Scotland….5hrs each way!!!

With this in mind:

• R5's been getting the once over, and also a few upgrades.
• Smoke system, reactivated.
• New TCD version 2.....

Friday I get a call from Mike saying he won’t be able to attend, so giving me the heads up. So it's a reload my car [Tetris] ready for the early start tomorrow morning.

Saturday morning 26th:

5am up and out the door, eventually, at about 5:30am. Drive up was 1 1/2 hr, cold, clear, bright sunny morning.

Arrived in good time 7:10am. Next was driving around the whole complex to come back to the starting point, to unload 😂.

The others had arrived the evening before and stayed at local hotel, so they were mostly set up, and able to help me unload.

Doors opened at 8:30am for the early birds entrance patrons. And there were a LOT of them. Behind our area was Joker Squad, with Endor backdrop, and then the 501st with the Tantive lV display.

Was great catching up with not just the R2 Builders, but also other club members who we’ve not seen in years (since COVID).

There were plenty of laughs….

Chris just can’t help getting in the pictures 😂.

The event was very busy, and with other rooms containing the kidtropolis arena, Tokfest for those ‘down with the kids’ 😂 and the open spaces, it still seemed busy.

The new card dispenser worked well and was a big hit ☺️👍🏽 And so was the smoke system for the bad motivator…..I just need to get the pop-up working.

Costumes from the public were great.

I had to ask this awesome Grogu for a picture with R2.

And how about this Luke…..

The 501st lead their parade accompanied by the other groups.

See video of this and the rest of the day over on my YouTube channel or click on it below.

Video.

Here are more of the day’s photos:

Waiting for the group photo with the 501st and other groups.

After everyone was back inside, the droids continued to roam the floor, accompanied by Stormtroopers and a Princess.

Pictures….

Time for a change, from R5 into……

R4-D4. First time with his new 3D printed Booster covers.

View from behind the table.

Doug’s 3D printed blue R2 dome, with my R5 dome 

Well D had been on his feet all day.

The droids all together.

The Princess with the Death Star plans.

Not a bad looking trio, with no red to spoil the view lol 😂

These two…… lol, how he managed to become three when there’s only two allowed 😂

Saturdays end of the show show, Droid lineup.

And then us lined up.

Saturday finished up at 6pm, there were still people milling around. The builders then gave me a hand with loading my stuff back into my car.

As Darren was the most senior ranking club member, he didn’t do a bad job of organising us lol 10/10.

So that was the end of my day, but for the others, they had Sunday day 2.

~~~~~

Sunday 27th:

Due to reduced droid numbers, the group opted for no display table & so the freedom to be fully roaming of the event floor.

Here’s the group with the event sign.

And here’s the seamlessly edited version including previous days droids 😂😂😂

A great time was had by all of us. We had all taken lateral flow tests prior to attending, some unfortunately had tested positive and had had to cancel attending. You guys were missed, but your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Attending these events is a really positive experience, plenty of room, smooth floors, some of it had ‘carpet’, and lots of event guests to entertain lol.

Sometimes though you just need that one photo position that is asking for trouble 😂😂😂….. case in point, I had knelt down to get a picture, and was then harassed by a droid 😂😂😂

😂😂 no person was harmed in the taking of this picture 😂😂😂.

MCM Birmingham Comic Con - Event Report 2018

Sunday March 18th 2018
Day 2 of event

Up 5am, out the door 6am. R5 was already loaded up Saturday night.

Now.....I don't have a problem with driving in snow.....

.....but cars on ungritted roads do lol

~~~

It was a longer than usual drive up from Bristol to Birmingham, due to the weather conditions on the roads. And after driving to three different car park points I eventually got my unloading pass and where I had to go to unload R5 lol.

Today's group of droids.

One R2 is missing.......Darren!?!?! lol

The R2 members were now on day 2 at the stand, which were were sharing with the Rebel Legion, 501st & Jedi News stand. Our corner wasn't very big, but this was due to the layout. We had one 'work in progress' R2 that belonged to Chris, who was on the 'Steampunk' stand with his R2 Steampunk droid.

The day was good, chatting to the public and catching up with friends who were attending either in or out of costumes. There was a large gathering of public and it actually seemed to get more busy as the day went on. Perhaps due to people braving the weather as the snow was abating perhaps.

Emma took these great pics of the stand area & I'll be able to post up more once George uploads his photos.

 Emma with her droids

 Our small display area, with R5's vintage controller,

trading cards and leaflets

Lee's R2 & Colin's work in progress droid

The afternoon came around quick, and it was time 2pm, for the parade, which is led by the 501st, joined by The Rebel Legion & a few other costume groups. So we headed from Hall 4 of the NEC, around and down the ramp to the Hall 1. Unfortunately Ian's droid was unable to attend, so it was just three of us.

There was a group photo, before they 501st and others, lined up in order for the parade.

We would be bringing up the rear.

Emma took this picture of us.

The parade went across into Hall 2, which had a camera exhibition going on, lol, so PLENTY of photo's were being taken on our tour lol. We drove the droids as seen in the above picture, at some points having to drive single file. Myself and Lee have had experience with driving our droids together and as it's part of the Clubs 'driving' process, we knew how and when to slow down etc without bumping into each other. Darren led the way.

A friend of Darren's was there and caught a nice picture of the three of us, looking serious lol, the concentration on our faces lol.

There are a few pictures & videos on Instagram that's I found. More hopefully to come with some searching lol.

The parade winded it's way through Hall 2....eventually, leaving the crowds and camera flashes, and headed back up the ramp. Around the upper concourse, back to Hall 4. There were more people taking photos, and calling out R2's name as we finally made it back to Hall 4. Once back inside, we broke ranks and headed back to our stand, as the costumer's went for a rest and de-lid, break.

Whilst we were away, Ian was holding the stand and getting lots of photos taken with the public.

This is Ian's R2

The day ended at 5pm but before we started packing up the droids and display stands we had one last group photo.

I only have the picture of the droids....

.................I'll post up photo with the droids and us when I get them.

Outside was starting to go cold again, but at least the roads were clear. After a pit-stop on the way home for food.....I'd forgotten to eat during the day lol, I was home & unloaded by 8pm.

Another great day entertaining the public and bringing a little bit of Star Wars to life.

Checkout

www.astromech.info

for how to join up

if your interested in building your own droid.