Magazine article about building my R5-D4 (......back in 2018)

Back at the end of March 2018, a fellow builder, Nik H, who happens to work at a magazine publishing company, asked if I'd be interested in writing a piece for his editor. He's proposed the idea to her and she was very interested in it.

Good Woodworking magazine

lol

The Woodworker magazine

So I started writing how I went about building R5-D4 out of wood. Trying to condense three years plus work & to simplify it down to 500 words was a definite challenge lol. I also sent in photo's of the build.

.... unfortunately tho, this didn't get published.

October 2024:

I do still have the transcript, so I may post it up one day lol.

Flashback to LegoLand 2018

This event came up on my time line the other day

on James R5-D4 Facebook page,

and with so many good memories of it,

I thought I'd re-share my event report of the weekend.

It was my second time attending, but this one was my first for staying over for two of the three weekend days. The weather was amazing, sunny & hot. This was definatly up there with the best events (friends) I've experianced.

click this link below:

LegoLand Windsor Event report 2018

UK R2D2 Builders Christmas Event December 2018 - Event Report

Last years Xmas 2018 event was again hosted by Sam,

making all the arrangements for the venue and

assisted by early birds helping set things up.

The event was live streamed for club members on FaceBook page.

Link to some of the photos taken on the day, viewable on the

club’s Facebook page:

Fellow Bristolian Paul, offered to drive us up in his Transporter. So once loaded up, we set off on up to London way.

Early arrivals had helped set up the test track (link to video posted up by Jedi News UK), that was seen at the 1st UK R2 Builders Weekend last year.

There were quite a few droids in attendance as well as two stall's selling Star Wars related items. One of these was Amanda, with her amazing art work! Awardart (click for link).

On with the photos.....

This is the time trial test track.

Purly for fun...although yes, it did get compettative lol

If you've not clicked on the video link above. There are two sections of the course to complete. Each section has pressure pads which light up Green for a successful centre pad press or red for a fail. You then had to negotiate the course, not hitting the wrong sensor arms. The course returns back to the middle, under the clock timer,

before carrying on to the second part of the course.

The clock stops when you hit the last sensor arm.

Oooooh what has Santa brought us lol. Well, on the far table was some of Michael Baddeley 3D printed work. He also did a presentation on the cad software he uses and demonstrated his work.
If your into 3D stuff then check out his work at this link Mr Baddeley @ patreon.com .

My table full of stuff, R0-D4 dome, R4-D4 dome, R5-D4 dome and body

Ian's droid

As part of the club's insurance, we carry out MOT inspections on the droids so that they are 'safe' for event's. This covers structual, sharp edges, electrical & transmitter fail safe operation. As part of the MOT crew, a few of these were carried out on the day, including WIP's & renewals. The benefits also extend to more 'interesting' oppertunities!

Alden Ehrenreich popped in to say 'Hi' as he's an old friend don't you know.... lol.

......no it's not a cardboard cutout....it's really him!!! :D

aaaaah forgot I'd posted this picture as well :D

Just like old times......

~~~~~

There was a special presentation of a charity cheque presented to fellow club member Mr Yates for the Menengitis Now.

And finally there was the usual group photo.

Half of the attending members were heading out for a booked meal afterwards, but myself & Paul had to head off. Another great day spent with a great bunch of people!

Looking forward to the next event. Details coming soon.......

James_R5D4 on Instagram 2018

Posted this up this morning, I thought some other pics

where liked more than some of these, lol.

Being on Instagram (link) long, it's good to

share event pics & project's etc.

I don't do follow for follow stuff, I just post and like what I like.

My stuff is 99% all Star Wars & R5-D4 related,

mostly to my build & projects I work on etc.

NHS Childrens Christmas Event - December 2nd 2018

Sunday's event was a first for myself & Paul.

We had been invited by John from

'Dream2Believe' (Facebook link)

along with

'Central Legion' (Facebook link)

to attend a Christmas Party for Terminally ill Children & their families.

 

Paul drove us up in his van, which was able to accommodate both droids & extras.

We set off just after 9am, and on our arrival we met John (D2B) & Mel (CL).

The other costumer's were getting ready.

Mary found the Death Star plans

R2 & R5 took up position in the small lobby,

whilst the costumers mingled with the guests.

Santa arrived about 12:45pm to a guard of honour from the cosplayers.

There was plenty to entertain the guests

and a lot of happy smiles were seen on the children's (& adults) faces.

Big thanks to all who attended, it was a good day.

Just some of those who attnded from Dream2Believe & Central Legion.

New Club Mug - UK R2D2 Builders event 2018

Whilst at MCM Birmingham I picked up a club mug.

These were available firstly to attending club members

at this years first weekend meet-up event

& then available to anyone after if there were surplus.

Thankfully there were a few left.

MCM Birmingham - November 24th (Saturday) 2018

Saturday morning I was awake before my alarm went off at 5:30am lol.

Car was already loaded and once Paul arrived in his van with his wife & R2, we headed up in convoy to the NEC Birmingham (UK). No snow this time. On arriving and navigating the unloading/pass/procedure, we joined others who had also arrived prior to us, to set up the droids on our display area.

This was one of our biggest attended events with 15 droids, plus 2 work in progress ones and two extra domes on display (one being R4).

This time round the event was held in different halls, we were in hall 19 of three (17 & 18).

We had so many droids, some had to roll over to a clear area and have their pictures taken.

Here's a link to my You Tube account
with a short video montarge.

And some of the day's pictures.

No parade was able to take place on the Saturday, but a full line up with the UK Garrison & friends was arranged for photograph purposes.

This picture was taken by fellow club member George.

The event was busy, tho not so crowded that you couldn't move.....

Here's a droids-eye-view of a mini procession we did around a section of stands and back to ours. This drew quiet a crowed, surprising to hear people say that they hadn't seen us (the stand) as they were taking photos.

The first time at an MCM event that R5 actually found

and had time not once but three times

to have his picture taken with the MCM Logo sign lol.

Later R5 with Chis' s R2-D2 (work in progress)

& some Ewoks from the UK Garrison 501st.

Come the end of the first day, we grouped all the droids together for a group photo of them.

Most of the day was spent chatting to the public about the droids, building them and the club. Before I knew it it was 5 o'clock. The group photos were set up to be taken and then it was almost 6pm. Time to pack away, for those who were heading home, lke myself, loading up and back on the road back home.

Another great time with the group members, some I've not seen in a few years now. Others this was their first time at an event. The other builders had a second day to look forward too.... and they had another great time. Checkout the UK R2D2 Builders Club on Facebook.

• My next event is this coming Sunday, this one is a first for me and Paul (with his R2D2), more next week on how this one went.
• Next club event is December the 15th, this is our Christmas builders meet up.

New RC Transmitter - Exmitter EX7 + mini review

25.10.18
So, at Optimus Bristol, I had a slight accident with my Optics 6 Sport transmitter. Basically I managed to cross the battery contacts whilst swapping old/new ones over. It turned on but no signal to R5. So the rest of the event, he was shut down for display only.

Really gutted about this as the controller had been really good and it was a gift from a fellow builder friend Colin. Not to mention the additional extra's I'd addded to make it more user friendly.

Never mind.
My next headache then was getting a NEW transmitter, installing and testing/setting it up all before my next event at MCM London. This might not seam like a big deal, but shop  availability isn't good and transmitter choice is limited for me unfortunatly. Due to more financial restrictions, this expense was the last thing I needed.

I did find on tho and picked it up from the shop on the Monday lunchtime.
(Would just like to say thanks to Rob for the loan offer of his spare transmitter until I was mobile again). Got the transmitter home Monday night and got to testing and setting up the transmitter/reciever.

It's a Volantex Exmitter EX7. Link (this is an example, product link)

It has a 7 channel reviever.

I wanted to first check it would work ok, so Monday night was just a plug everything in and power up. Then (due to limited free time), Wednesday evening I was able to continue setting up and adjusting the settings.

This post was written before MCM London, so once the transmitter has had it's first outting, I'll write up a report and add it below afterwards.


Swapped over the left stick mask and the stick 'pads'.

***********************

REVIEW:
Setting up was quite straight forward, once I had the control sticks sussed. Reversing was also really simple to do and the instructions are really easy to follow. The transmitter itself is very light, and after it's first outting at MCM London, there was no wrist ach, which was the reason for the hand strap I fitted to the Optic 6 unit. The sub-trim was easy to set up, again, thanks to the instructions and the fact that once you get the button order, it becomes second nature.
I've not added anything to the other controls yet.

I did have one moment when setting up where the reciever seemed to loose connection with the transmitter??? I was sat right next to R5 and the reciever was in an odd position.....

Nothing bad happened, as I had already set the fail safe positions to zero. This ensure that R5 doesn't carry on in whatever he was doing if the signal is lost.
This is one of the safety features all droids should have in their settings!

The transmitter now has a few event's to it's name and even though it uses four AA batteries, these have lasted well and from the on screen monitor, are still going strong!
I can say this unit gets the thumbs up from me.

MCM Birmingham - November 24th (weekend) 2018

MCM Comic Con @ Birmingham

It's one of the clubs biggest attended events,

with 15 club members & droids signed up for the weekend.

Really looking forward to this!

There wil be plenty of different Astromech droids to see,

plus one or two non astromechs,

chat to the builders and ask us questions,

as well as optertunities to have photos.

Myself & R5 will only be attending Saturday.

MCM London - October 27 - Report (..........at last)

What a day!

Awake at 4:30am! Out the door and transport away by 5am. Pick up Jamie en-route, just off the M4 motorway and arrived in plenty of time........

Well, that was the plan.....alarm set wrong PM not AM, I woke up at 6am and then it was a dash to pick up Jamie and on up to London.

Unloaded the car & met Sam, drove R5 to the lifts & up to the arena. Lee (P6B-LT2) was a surprise attendance as he was available & Simon (R2-FETT) were there. Simon was off else where so we didn't get many/any photo's of his droid.

Early door's opened and the event was crowded then till about 3pm, when it seemed to thin out a bit.

P6B-LT2 (track droid from 'Solo') R2-SHP & R5-D4(left to right)

For once, we didn't have an R2-D2 unit in attendance, though that did mean the rest of the droids got some attention lol.

The 501st display was right next to one of the stages for talks, so we were always swamped by people queing up and then leaving after each talk.

The kid who does cosplay (family) were there.
Have seen them at events but not able to catch up with them.
Managed to get a photo for Rogue One.

Other costumed people I was able to get a photo of with R5 were:

Qi'ra - Solo a Star Wars Story

A Rebel Pilot

The Tardis

Dr Who

We did manage to have a lunch break & ice cream too. The rest of the afternoon was a bit quieter and a bit more available time to take photos. Not that it looks quieter in these pictures lol.

There were loads of cosplayer's as well as general public in non cosplay outfits. Loads of stalls, brands, other displays to see. We did get to walk round once, and with both halls open, it is a massive complex!

The event eventually closed up just before 7pm, which was when we were able to pack up the droids & for me & Jamie, start our long drive home. Another fun day with Lee, Sam & Jamie, lots of laughs & chat's bout droid stuff lol

Next event is

MCM Birmingham, Saturday 24th November.

This will be a BIG one for the club, with 15 builders, with a minimum of 15 droids, some  builders may be bringing two droids! Only three of us only attending on the Saturday, the rest will be there both day.

Event's requests are already coming in for 2019 to the club,

so a lot to look forward to attending.

Optimus Comic Con - Bristol (UK) - Saturday 20th October 2018 - Review

For once, not an early start, only 20 minutes to reach into town & to Templemeads Train Station. The Passenger Shed is on the approach incline leading up to the station itself.

We had a change of floor plan on arrival.

We joined two other 'Star Wars' display's in the centre area of the hall. This was better as there was a lot more space for us all.

Early doors opened and the hall filled up with lots of people. There was a lot to see as well as stall's and guests. The droids were in demand with people wanting photos of the and also the Emperors chair, belonging to Carbonite Cosplay Props.

As per usual, getting around at these events is usually limited, due to people wanting to see the droids in one place. We did have a C-3PO standiee & also a Kenny Baker.

These guys came with a Chopper, that was outside having photo's taken.

We lined the droids up as people were wanting group shots, this made things a bit easier too.

And here's the photographer....

Some more group shots...

Size comparrison of R2-XL & R2-D2.

Paul Warren popped over to see us and had a quick catch-up chat.

I wasn't there at the time, but was told he'd asked to have his picture taken with R5!

~~~

Finally we had our photos taken with the Emperors chair.

photo credit goes to DC Photo's for this one, he can be found on Facebook.

Another well attended event, and a plus for it being local lol.

After packing up and loading R5 into the car. I popped back in to have a quick look around whilst everyone was clearing up. I spied a few movie posters that were actually ones displayed in cinemas. So I grabbed a few.

Three picture 'Solo - a Star Wars Story' ones and a plain 'The Last Jedi' one.

Similar to this picture, except mine have the actual release date on them.

Next event is London's MCM Comic Con