Hollywood Christmas Parade - 2024

Tonight was the 2024 Hollywood Christmas Parade, and for the 8th time R2 joined in on the festivities. As I neared Hollywood and Highland, I tried to get a picture of this Star Wars Skeleton Crew billboard. I need to wash my car.



I arrived right around 1pm for the 6pm parade. I arrived extra early because many of the streets in the area get blocked off as the day goes by.



Shortly thereafter, William Miyamoto and Gordon Tarpley arrived. William would be driving his Bumblebee car with the Star Cars, while Gordon would be joining my R2-D2, as C-3PO. We were also joined by Darren Moser, who would be marching in the parade with the Southern California 501st Garrison.



With a lot of time to kill, we checked out the cars (including William's shiny yellow Bumblebee), and then grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets.



On our way back, we stopped in front of the Chinese Theater, where R2-D2's, C-3PO's and Darth Vader's footprints live. William has costumed as Darth Vader in the past, so we each filled the footprints of our respective characters.



Before we knew it, it was time to get set up. Gordon unpacked his pile of C-3PO costume, and we got ready.



We were joined by Chewbacca (Frank), and made our way to the beginning of the red carpet, on Hollywood and Orange. The three characters would only be going 1 city block, ending up at Hollywood and Highland, before making our way back to the parking structure while the rest of the Star Wars characters would be continuing on the 3+ mile parade route.



The Star Wars clubs were #19 in line, so while we waited, I took various pictures, including one of Grand Marshall Jeremy Renner's car, and another when William drove by.



When Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack's car drove by, I yelled, "Landon, thank you for the championship!". He yelled back, "You're welcome!"



Almost exactly an hour after the parade started, the Star Wars clubs arrived. The 501st was in front, with the Rebel Legion following them. We were to jump in just in front of the Rebel Legion.



As usual, I don't have many pictures until after we were done, but I usually come back later and add some pictures/video, so something should materialize. I "borrowed" this pic from Sandra Collamore as we were wrapping up by Highland.



We headed down the scary alley, back to the parking structure. Inevitably we are stopped for photos, and oblige.



One last quick pic before we wrapped up.



And after the fact, here are a couple of pictures from the telecast on the CW network from Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 8PM PST.



It was a great (and thankfully uneventful) parade. Hopefully R2 and I will be back again.

Halloween 2024

Once again, tonight R2 joined me in the garage to hand out candy for Halloween trick-or-treaters.



A fair amount of kids and families showed up, as it started getting dark around 6:15pm. Between operating R2 and helping hand out candy, I'm not able to take many pictures.



In all, I'd say I had about 30 trick-or-treaters come by, and I wrapped up a little after 8pm. People in the neighborhood look forward to visiting with R2, and I'm happy he can make it out year after year.

R2LA XVIII

Today was the big day, R2LA XVIII, hosted by Mike and Amy Senna!



I arrived right around 11am and unloaded droid #1.



We had a special guest, all the way from Australia, R2 Builders Club founder Dave Everett! We had a nice chat.



People started filing in and setting up their cool and unique droids and props, including two studio-scale sandcrawlers.



The Paul Thompson wing of Treadwell droids.



The Miyamoto family wing of droids.



Who are these kids with Mike and I? Well, they are Ryan, Robert and Kyriana, and hopefully folks will become more familiar with them in the not-too-distant future.



Around 3pm it was time for our first ever R2LA droid parade. Since we pretty much take over the neighborhood curbs with our vehicles, Mike thought it would be nice to do a little droid parade up and down the block for them. We made our way to the front yard, and started the procession.



Once we were done, it was time for the droid group photo, followed by the human group photo. Mike did the stunt work on the tall ladder to get the shot.



I stayed terrestrial-bound for my picture, and I also jumped in for a picture as well.



Once we returned, I checked out some more droids that I missed on the first pass, including William Miyamoto's appropriately-named "Fire Mouse," that appeared in flames on the Disney+ series Kenobi.



After 12+ hours, we finally wound down and started stacking chairs and taking down the shade cloth, and another R2LA came to a close.



As always, it was a great time, and I already look forward to doing it again next year!

Moffett Elementary 5th Grade Clap-Out Ceremony

Today R2 participated in Moffett Elementary School's fifth grade clap-out ceremony, in Huntington Beach, CA. We were joined by several members of the 501st.



This middle school goes up to fifth grade, and when the fifth graders graduate, they get to march around the decorated blacktop, as family members and students in the younger grades cheer them on. The Star Wars characters were invited as a surprise to the students and most of the faculty, and they got quite a cheer when they emerged and led the fifth graders around the blacktop.

I was busy operating the droid, so I only got a couple of pictures at the finish line. The characters stopped after the first lap, but the fifth graders did a second lap and we were there to receive them.



Afterward, students got pictures with the characters, as did some of the staff.



The students were ecstatic (like screaming-ecstatic) to have us there, and it was a lot of fun.

Cutting Keyways and Keystock with Mike

I recently swapped out my old foot motors on droid #1 with new ones. I plan to keep those old motors on stand-by, and I wanted gears on them. I ordered the 14 tooth gears with a 1/2" bore, but those gears lack a keyway. Thus, I bugged Mike Senna, who has a keyway cutting broach and collar for this task.

This picture is from August 2, 2008:



And this photo was taken today. Some things don't change much.



Two keyways cut, and ready for keystock.



I went back home to cut a couple of segments of keystock. For these motors, the end of the keyway is hammered such that the keystock cannot slide out when the gear is installed, and the motor shaft is cut a bit taller than the gear height, so I don't need the keystock to be welded in place.

I marked where to cut the first piece of keystock.



I used the Dremel with the cutoff wheel to cut the keystock.



I then fitted the keystock into the keyway slot on the motor shaft. Again, the ends of the keyway on the motor shafts are pinched shut slightly.



With the gear in place and locked down with its set screws, the segment of keystock is captive in the keyway slot.



I repeated the process for the second motor.



These motors are ready to go, should they ever need to be pressed into service.