10 Year anniversary of R5’s build completion

As we like to say, no droid build is ever REALLY completed lol. But when all the pieces are there and he’s motorised & moving (and cleared), we call that the completed build stage.

2024 marks 10 years since I finished building R5!

That same year also marked his first event:

And some other milestones.

Two pairs of decorated shoes:

A pair of wedges for everyday wear

I also made some ‘droid callers’, which buzzed when button was pressed.

All the links to these other projects, can be found in the tabs at the top of the page, as they have their own Pages.

** Timeless Collectors Event @ Fareham **

Members of the UK R2 Builders Club have been invited along to the

Timeless Collectors Fair

Saturday 6th December

@ Fareham Leisure Centre from 10am to 5pm.

R5-D4 & R2-D2

Click on this link to check out all they have planed for the day!

** Collectormania 22 - This weekend **

This weekend will only be #R5-D4's second motorised event in as many months!

Once his RC storage box is complete, it's a few more checks to make sure all's ready for him to be loaded up into the car on Saturday evening. I can't make the Saturday, but am really looking forward to Sunday and meeting fellow UK R2 Builders Club members.

I'll try to update R5's own Twitter account, @JamesR5D4

And on his Facebook page

Please feel free to tag R5 in your photos :)

R2-D2 Builders @ Collectormania 22

Members of the UK R2 Builders club will be in attendance at Collectormania 22

R5 will also be making an appearance on Sunday (16th).

This will be his second motorised event in as many months and we will be meeting other members of the Club for the first time, which I am really looking  forward too. 

UK R2 Builders & Chippenham Sci-Fi Day 2014 - My Event Report

Had a great time on Saturday with Ian (R4), Giles (R2) & Mark with his Steampunk Droid Issa. Having R5 moving and joining in was soooo much fun, I had a stupid kid grin on my face all day! Hahaha.

Arrived just in time for the event opening and set-up R5. Turned the power on and........nothing! WHAT??? My heart sank! Had the radio transmitter and receiver lost their connection?? Then, R5 lurched forward! Connection worked!?! Perhaps it was because it was in close proximity to the other guys systems?? It did it again later on when I turned off and on the transmitter .

Then R5-D4 was rolling :) joining in with the others &having his picture taken. We joined in with photo opps with the Southern Troopers and their Tantive IV backdrop, as well as roaming round to the Milton Keynes Garrison & their backdrop.

There was plenty to see for visitors with stalls and displays as well as Special Guests!
The Charity Sci-Fi group were also in attencance with Darlek's and other costume characters from Dr Who, Judge Dredd, Ghostbusters to name a few.

With all the roaming around before I knew it, three hours had passed! It was suggested that we take the droids outside as access was good and flat. The route had carpet and a slight incline, R5 coped OK with this, 24v power and him being a heavy build pay's off, phew. Then outside we joined up with ST & MK members to entertain the crowds, some not realiseing that the event was even going on.

At which point they then followed us all back inside when we did, result.

Then it was back inside for more roaming and photo :)

Lots of people asked questions about plans, costs and abilities needed to build an Astromech. I hope the people I spoke to were encouraged to not to daunted with what can seem a big build challenge.

Crowds started to quieten down by about 3pm, tho there were still people coming in who had seen what was going on outside. This gave the droids a bit of space to 'play' lol. Kids were still having pictures taken and interacting with them, which is always great to see.

Have to give respect to one Mum who corrected her child that said 'look theres R2!', to which she replied, 'no thats not R2, thats R5!' Most impressed!

Then it was time to pack up, just after 4pm. Another great event attended with my fellow builder friends. Always good to see them and learn and swap ideas and roll around with the Droids! And a great day for Chippenham Sci-Fi as their first event was a great success!

Chippenham Sci-Fi Day Facebook page

Southern Troopers Facebook page

MK Garrison Facebook page

Prep work for R5-D4's next event @ Chippenham 25.10.14

These last few day's I've been checking and re-checking, last minute fixing, charging batteries etc ready for Saturdays event in Chippenham.

Finaly got round to fitting this last strap bracket to fully hold R5 down.

I don't know about R5, but this is his first event that he'll be rolling around at and so am a little apprehensive about him behaving himself lol.

*** Chippenham Sci-Fi 2014 - more updates ***

Chippenham Sci Fi will be filmed by an international film crew. Yes folks they want to film the event for TV! Only question now is what to wear, better iron our shirts for the interviews. Great chance to promote our town to a national audience.

click image for FaceBook page, Like and get all the updates!

STAR WARS shoes..... Pt.2 - Wedges Revenge

Inbetween working on R5 I had time to work on two more pairs of shoe requests.
One pair of 'Avengers' heels & another pair with 'Justice League/Avengers'.
Both gratefully recieved :)

Didn't have any finished pictures taken of the Avengers pair.
~~~

Have also been asked to do another pair of Star Wars shoes, due to the strappy style,
the wedge part of the shoe has been covered.
These are wanted to be a day-to-day pair and keep the others I made,
for special occasions, like the Chippenham Sci-Fi event in October.
Where she will be a helper, so needs 'a more sensible pair of heels' lol

Here's some WIP pics

***** Chippenhan Sci-Fi Day, October 25th 2014 *****

R5-D4 will be attending a local event in a few months time.

A fellow R2 Builders Club member and friend Ian, will also be attending with his

R4 'Arther' Astromech Unit.

Event's facebook page:

Chippenham Sci-Fi Charity Family Fun Day

R5 update.....electrics & weathering progress.

Having returned from holiday, am now saving up for R5's speed controller, batteries and extras needed to get him mobile. These two main items plus cables, fuse block etc are going to set me back almost £200.00 in total! And I only have nine weeks or so to get them, fit them and get R5 rolling! This is my small challenge time frame as I would like him mobile for an event in October in Chippenham (UK).

above image replaced one that was the link to the group's FaceBook page [now closed]

I did install the first part of my batteries restraint. A strip of baton to the rear floor of R5, inside. Once I know for sure, dimensions for them, I can move forward with the rest to secure them in place.

Whilst I was inside R5, I swapped over the three centre leg securing bolts with hex cap head ones. These are much easier to work with rather than with a Phillips screwdriver!
I then did some more weathering, to the front centre foot, rear skirt and rear area of the body, that I hadn't done. These are yet to be finished, once fully dried I can wipe more paint excess off.

*** Corsham Sci-Fi family fun day 2014 ***

Friday night, R5 was loaded into back of car and strapped into place. Along with his transport platform (just in case) toolbox (well, you never know lol) & Giles extension reel from Fleet, last year.

Then Saturday morning, Jay and myself, bags packed, set off on the not so long journey down the M4 to Bath, then on to Corsham.

On entering the schools hall, past the stalls, there......at the back of the main hall......was Mark's droids.......oh.......AND A 'Stargate!' Wow, its big!!!

I unloaded R5 from his platform with Jacob's assistance :). And set him up, along with his new display board.

And turned on his dome eye sensor LED's. Now we're in business!
The guest were already arriving, Darth Vader and the others were setting up and chatting with 'group members'. Giles & Artoojayzero were all present and correct and was going to give Marks collection of Astromech's a friendly run for their money lol.
(Marks droid collection = Emy, Zoe, CID & K9)

The event was opened by Darth Vader himself, AKA Dave Prowse.

R5 got some love from the guests (even as just a static display) and was flattered when someone actually asked if he was the REAL R5 from the film?!?! Lol, she was old enough to not spoil the illusion of it when i told her and her brother, that no, it wasn't and that I'd built it. They did seem genuinely impressed tho and went to ready up on my build via display board.......it work's! People did read the info and one or two people scanned the QR codes. Artoojayzero likes the board idea, tho with an R2 shape lol. I was asked by lots of people about the Droids, as the other builders were off playing lol, about build material, costs etc. One excited lady came over as her Brother had also built an Astromech, but wasn't a member of the Club. We chatted and have invited him to come and join the group, fingers crossed :-).

R5 lens flare, eat your heart out JJ Abrams, lol

The lovely Sarah Louise Madison.

(Dr Who - Weeping Angle)

Members of the SG1 team & Stargate.

Built by Podpad Studio

R5 was invited to attend Chippenham sci-fi, 25th October 2014.

The visitors are encouraged to come in costume and they did! There are Dr's, Predators, Batman, Terminators, Twi'lek Jedi (little girls costume was awesome!) Everyone had a great time and the day raised over £4K.

There are more photos on Facebook popping up so keep an eye out and if you see R5, let me know lol. Thanks