New Transmitter - FlySky FS-ST8

Birmingham’s event was eventful, but also had a sad part, my second Volantex Exmiter EX7 transmitter died...???? 😢 Great.... right before Celebration in a two weeks.

I spoke with Chris as he had a flysky which I had looked at before but didn’t know anyone who had one to check it out.

I came across this FS-ST8 and liked the look, checked out a few YouTube reviews and all seemed good.

Got home and started searching for suitable ones and also non Royal Mail delivery (as they have unfortunately become less reliable) found one and decided to buy. It arrived within days.

Had a quick flick through the settings, so easy to operate. Has LED’s that can be changed, sounds for power on/off. It’s also quite lightweight and comfortable to hold.

Eximiter diagnostic

Checked the batteries, stripped it down the following day, tested it for continuity, but nothing after the switch, even swapped the switch as had a spare one.

Event Report - Megacon Live @ Birmingham - March 2023

Early start on Saturday morning, Mike picked me & R5 up in his van, for the drive up to Birmingham. We arrived in good time, but then had to wait till 8am for our drop off time slot...... not that there was THAT much traffic.

Chris O, our event coordinator, was waiting for us with our wrist bands and where we had to go. We set about unloading Mike's FOUR droids from the van and set them up on our stand area.

We had a good turnout considering that this event is only a week before Celebration Europe! So was glad to attend as the numbers help our case for our own stand area.

As you can see from the photos next, we had a selection of droids, from Star Wars. These included, K-2S0, pit-droid on wheels lol, a Chopper (work in progress), Mike's two static droids, plus his other two mobile ones, one from the Clone Wars & his R3 unit. Steve G attended with his R2, as well as Darren P. 

Group picture with almost all the droids, one missing R2 unit, off hiding.

R2-DEWALT & R2-TNG0

We also had Justin with his awesome 3D printed B2EM0

(work in progress) droid.

……and his mini B2EM0

Finally and by no means least, Sarah suited up in her TC-14 suit.

As seen from the Phantom Menace opening scenes.

Here’s a link to video of TC-14 at the event

Myself & Chris were her helpers, guiding her around and ensuring her safety in the crowds,

wanting pictures and there were a lot!! She did 1hr 40mins in total!

After this we toured the area with the droids, chatted with interested new builders, explained things and helped with photos. Myself and Darren also helped a damsel in distress…. her LED wires had broken and asked if we could fix??

After some investigation work we found the problem and managed a temporary fix.

This guy looks familiar….

Yes that is a 1:1’ish ED-209, steampunk droid, built by Chris.

Justin can be seen installing a battery pack for his droid terminal lock.

As with all the events, I had to get some pics of R5 😂

A long day with the event finishing at 6pm!! Then loading the droids into Mike’s van, before heading back home to Bristol.

Event 2023 - Megacon Live @ Birmingham

Saturday 25th March

Heading up to Brum to the NEC for Megacon Live.

It's a two day event, but will only be attending on the Saturday myself, with Mike B. There will be other droids there on the Sunday as well.

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 😂😂😂.

R5’s Bad Motivator : reincarnation

After months (years) of saying I must get R5’s mojo back, I’ve made a start on getting his motivator system back up and running. Well done James, given myself a week to get it ready for next Saturday’s event at NEC Birmingham 😂😂😂 MegaCON Live.

See previous posts about the issues with the car door actuator failing and then upgrading to the magnetic version.

I dug out the parts bags and laid them out on the bench. There’s half still in the dome, the actual pump to be used….and also the vape tank….

In the above picture, there’s two air pumps, one has a broken terminal, so is salvage at the moment. The magnetic solenoid (left, wrapped in blue) is attached to the pivot arm, the clear plastic bag has some mini voltage regulators, the white board is the original one I used, the orange block below it is the time unit, below that is the new remote control unit, and finally the activation remote control wrist strap (bagged up on the right).