Mist system for R5-D4 - 1.0

I've always wanted R5 to have a 'mist' extinguisher system, like R2. I'd thought about this years ago on first seeing on on Mark Enright's 'Zoe' R2 astromech.

But there's always something that's distracted me lol. There are lots of different ways people have come up with in order to 'pull a trigger', 'press the nozzle', some technical, others simple. So as I was on Thingiverse, i had a look which has revived my idea for this project.

I found this servo mounted trigger, designed by 'sliptonic'. So I 3D printed it, on my works printer, and then assembled it.

Instead of screws I push fitted spirol pins in to hold the trigger arm in place, one on each side. I could of used one long pin, but I couldn't find one at the time.

Next up was fitting the trigger arm in place.

I did need to do some trimming so the servo found fit when fitted in the mount, as my servo housing was causing some interference when being bolted down.

Just now waiting on suitable securing bolts and to get hold of a test spray can.

Corsham Sci-Fi 2016.....????

One event, local to me, that I look forward to attending, is Corsham's Sci-Fi day in April.
This event & the group, raise lots of money for local charities.

But it looks like this year the event will be taking a break.

~~~

I first attended the event back in 2010 with my family and it was a big hit with them all!
Plenty to see and do, even the non-sci-fi wife was 'happy' lol.

2013 was R5's first time at the event, headless and motionless lol.
Tho Ian, brought and lent me his R3 clear dome.

2014 was R5's second year attending and this year he was fully assembled.
Another great event.

2015 was R5's third time an this time he was fully operational!

I look forward to the event returning soon.

My R5-D4 makes the grade!!

When I started building R5-D4, it was for the 'challenge' of attempting to build him.

When he was standing, head-less, at his first event, it was a very 'nervous' moment. As he was next to some quality, working, droids!

R5 with a borrowed R3 clear dome, thanks to Ian [pic]

Then when it was his first moving event, I was stupid 'excited' [note the grin on face in pic below] about him participating with Giles & Ian!

R5's not fully complete yet.....bout 99.5% lol, but representing the R2 Builders club at events, is something I take great pride in. He's still waiting on his sound link up for his bad motivator, but rolling around at events is a really good feeling,

bringing kids big & small the world of Star Wars to life :).

Yesterday, I received my club membership badge in the post.

This means a lot as a builder :).

Nice art work Colin! lol

Collectormania 23 Milton Keynes - Event Report

Had a great time on Saturday!

R5 had been loaded up into the rear of the car the night before, so the early morning start was all i had to deal with. Due to changes beyond our builders Group's control, we (the displayee's) only found out that we also had to pay entrance to the event for attending before 11am! After this time entrance is free!

So 5am I was up, and out the door by 5:30am. It wasn't long tho that roadworks and bad weather slowed my journey, so arriving almost an hour later than I'd planned. Then due to parking and the rain, two long walk trips were required to get R5 inside un-wet lol.

Once inside I saw lots of familiar group faces from MK Garrison, Mark and his collection of droids and members of The Joker Squad, before arriving at our club stand. There I found new faces and droids that I've only met on the group forum. Brad, Colin, Mat to name a few. James from X-Robots was there with his BB8 droid & his 3D printed Astromech Droid, check out his VBlog here.

Check out James' XRobotsUK video from Collectormania 23

More members of the club arrived to see the droid's and say hi throughout the morning.

Here are the pics...

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances, R5 was asked if he could 'stand-in' for the other droid that was now not available, for the opening part of a Cosplay best costume competition!

Here R5 was interviewed about if he was having fun etc lol,

where he replied with beeps & whistles lol. Lasted about 5mins :)

Brad with his R2 unit was interviewed also about the Club.

The crowds were kept entertained by the Droids, kids and grown-up's alike, pictures, videos, selfies lol. Lot's of questions were asked about build materials, costs, time and energy. Hopefully a lot of people were encouraged to join up and start a journey to build their own droid.

The crowds started to thin about about 3/4pm, but this just meant more people could then ask questions and some of the droids could 'play' lol.

We called it a day just before 6pm and we all headed back to our cars to load up droids.

This pic was taken by Colin lol.....

Then it was a not so long drive home.

Another great day spent doing what we enjoy doing,

bringing a small part of Star Wars to life.

Check out R5's Facebook page & twitter feed

Corsham Sci-Fi 2015 - event report & photos

Had another great time at this local event. This was R5's third year of attending but his very first event with all his systems operating. Feet motors, dome rotation and sound.
(His bad motivator and smoke system are extras still W.I.P. lol). 

The event was supported by lots of costume groups. Southern Troopers, Milton Keynes Garrison, exewing group, 1st Sensory legion (link) to name a few. Plus all the great guests; Dave Prowse, Mike Edmonds, Femi Taylor, Trevor Butterfield, Danny John-Jules and others....

There was plenty to entertain the kids too. A fancy dress competition with two age groups, this was not for us lol, just the public :). There were making stuff area, stalls and other displays, like the Alien heavy load lifter & Alien, also an endo terminator skeleton. And opposite, the appropriately name 'Skynet' satalite company stall lol.

R5 had lots of pictures taken by the public and group pics with Jedi & Stormtroopers alike lol

 Event opening

 All of these photo's were taken by my Son :)

Mark Enwright was there with his collection of droids and other props. Is always good catching up and getting build tips for tech looking things that are simple to make and don't cost the earth! He was also promoting his new company that he's set up turning a hobby for making props into a business. See his link at bottom of page.

R5 joined up with Mark of PodPad Studios, and his collection (only a few came today) of droids from Zoe, Izzy (Steampunk), K9 Borg, CID & his latest piece Bubo (from Clash of the Titans)


UK R2 Builders Club member, Paul, popped in too & was good to chat bout build stuff etc. Plus another builder, who’s name I've forgotten (sorry) also stopped to chat.

The main room quietened out in the afternoon, which isn't a bad thing as the droids got to roam a bit more. Loads of photos were taken and questions asked about building droids etc.

The event has even been in the local press, link here.

Day finished at four PM, and as I started to load R5 up, the rains came. The amount raised was split four ways with each charity receiving over £600 each!

Check out the groups at these links below:

Southern Troopers

MK Garrison

Exewing group

PodPad Studios

*** Corsham Sci-Fi Day 2015 ***

R5-D4's first event of 2015

Motor's = check

Dome motor = check

Sounds.......sort of.... check

(thought I'd posted this, but with all the sound system work, I'd forgot!)

2015 - R5-D4 & The UK R2-D2 Builders Club

So 2015 is here and the countdown to episode VII is literally less than a year away! I know my kids are looking forward to it along with friends, some who have surprised me with their almost hidden enthusiasm for Star Wars lol.

Im especially looking forward to getting R5's dome motorised and under remote control! With lots of events on and of course the film release, Star Wars groups will be more popular and be in demand than ever, so I've already 'booked' time off to be able to attend these and others with R5 and other members of the UK R2 Builders club, Ian, Giles, Stuart, James, Phil to name a few as well as costume groups like The Southern Troopers, Joker Squad, Milton Keynes Garrison at events like Corsham Sci-Fi family Fun Day (TBC), MCM events, Cardiff Comic Con (TBC). There will be more events to be confirmed as the year goes along. So check out these groups, all have FaceBook pages as well as Twitter accounts too, like and follow them for events they'll be at near you! Of course theres R5's own Facebook page and Twitter account, still getting used to using Twitter lol, so look up R5 under James R5-D4.

Not been well these last two weeks so not been able to work on R5, and its back to work next week......maybe........if antibiotics do their thing!

Next on R5's list for this year is to get his motivator working, smoke and sound effects too. All with what available spare cash I can find. As much as I want R5 to be fully operational, family life has to come first. Tho thankfully my kids are understanding (& proud) that R5 is going to be out and about

***** Events for the UK R2 Builders Club 2014 *****

If you want to catch R2, Artoojayzero, R5, Emy, Zoe and Astromechs

the UK R2 Builders, then check out the

Event's Calender

For a recap on past event's attended, click here.

On the UK R2-D2 Builders Club page

*** 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