Front Logic Surround and Eye Lens Trimming at Mike's

Today I dropped by Mike's so a couple of parts could get trimmed.

The first is the integrated front logic surround piece. I'm not sure that I'm going to use this piece on my dome, but if I do, the bottom part needs to get trimmed off so that it can fit above the dome ring. Mike trimmed the excess off with the band saw.



Not too long ago I ordered the high profile lens from Azman. In order for the lens to fit into the back of the resin eye I'm using, most of the lip on the outer circumference needs to be ground down. Mike and I took care of that on the bench grinder. No fun sparks this time.



I don't think I can put off working on the dome much longer.

Hangin' Out at the Lake Forest Snowfest

This isn't my event, but what the heck.

The city of Lake Forest held its annual Snowfest day. Since it was nearby, and since Mike and I had some items to return to each other that we were borrowing, I dropped by.

Given that this area of Southern California never gets snow, they haul it in. Kids had a great time on the sled rides down the hill.



Mike Senna has his R2 there, and Ian Martin appeared as C-3PO. Ian's girlfriend Amy poses with some of the characters.



Mike made a new friend. This might not go over well with his chickens.



Lots of pictures and interaction throughout the day.



When it was all over, Mike used the original Senna droid lift to load his R2 and head on home.



I might drop by Mike's for a visit tomorrow to trim my integrated front logic surround on his bandsaw.

Finished Skirt Finishing

I finished finishing the finishing.

The last couple of days I did some very minor sanding and filling of the uneven areas where the styrene meets the wood on the skirt.



It's not perfect, but I think it's close enough that it's ready for final sanding and primer. I won't paint until it gets a little warmer out.

Skirt Finishing Work Continues

Tonight I used a razor blade to scrape down the remaining bumpy areas where the styrene and wood meet.



Another shot of primer to see the results.



Getting closer. Maybe one more round (hopefully).

Yet More Skirt Finishing Work

More of the same.

I sanded down the Evercoat work from last weekend.



A couple of coats of primer are applied to evaluate the results.



Arg, still a couple of small areas where the styrene meets the wooden base that could use some smoothing over. I'll probably work on these before calling it done.



(You waited a whole week for this???)

Carpenter Avenue Elementary Video Shoot

Today R2 participated in a video shoot at Carpenter Avenue Elementary School in Studio City that will help promote preparation for the California Standardized Testing that is coming up later in the school year.



Staff worked as the crew, while students served as cast members, along with members of the 501st, Rebel Legion, and R2 of course.



The first scene shot was in the auditorium, with all the students and Vader. R2 was amongst the students in the seating area, while Vader was on stage.



Some scenes were shot outdoors.



Padawans gather around R2 during a break in the shooting.



Jedi get direction before the next shot.



R2 is ready for his closeup.




After R2's last shot in the late afternoon, we were ready to thank the staff/crew and head home.



I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result, although I'm not sure when that will be.

More Skirt Finishing Work

I've had no time to work on the skirt this week until today, and I probably won't have much time in the coming week either. What little time I did have today I spent patching up minor voids and imperfections, using Evercoat.




After the Evercoat had dried, I sanded off the excess (and then some).



There were a couple of spots where I sanded too deeply, so those got a thin coat of filler.



Hopefully I didn't make things worse than they were. When I have time, I'll spray some primer on the skirt again and see how it looks.

Meet Up with Shane Chiddy

Shane Chiddy is in town from Australia, so a few of the local builders met up with him tonight, in Anaheim, CA.

Mike Senna, Ken Stubbert, Max Cervantes and I joined Shane for dinner, and did the Chiddy chit-chat for a few hours. It was great meeting another Aussie, and we always look forward to visiting with folks from out of town.

Primer Work on Skirt, Cut Hole for Rear Logics on Inner Dome

Today I lightly sanded the primer that I applied to the skirt yesterday, to help smooth out the wood grain and any other variabilities on the surface.



Then, it's back to the primer, three more coats. There are still some imperfections that I will probably try to work out, so I'm not quite done with the skirt finishing work yet.



Next I pulled out the Dremel so I could cut out the hole on the inner dome for the rear logics.




The hole is just a little too small for the rear logic surround to fit through. This is due to the curvatures involved in the parts, it's not a blueprint or manufacturing problem.



A file makes quick work of the sides that need some material removed.



Now the surround fits.



Why, oh why, didn't I do this (widen the hole) on the corresponding outer panel that the surround needs to fit through before I painted it?? I will have to hack on the already painted panel sometime. This should have been a lesson learned from droid #1, but I guess I forgot.

Primer for Skirt, Trimmed Dome Ring

Time to apply primer to the skirt.

Before:



After the first coat:



I applied two more coats. Once the primer has had time to dry, I'll sand it smooth and check to see if the skirt requires further finishing work.


Next, I trimmed the dome ring that I had marked earlier in the week. The Dremel cutoff wheel does the job.




A total of four areas were trimmed. I used a file to smoothen out the cuts. I might need to file down the area for the front logics a little further.

Marked Dome Ring for Cutting

There are a few areas on the dome ring that rise above corresponding holes on the dome. One such example is the hole for the front holoprojector.



The front PSI and front logics also need a little more area on the dome ring, so I set the PSI and logic panels in place and marked these areas on the inside of the dome ring for future cutting with the Dremel cutoff wheel. Of course, it's very important to orient the outer dome to the dome ring so that it is aligned as it will be for final assembly.



The rear holoprojector hole clears the dome ring, but the cowling that goes around the holoprojector just barely bumps into it. This cut isn't really required, but while I'm marking things up I figured I'd give it some breathing room too.



Hopefully I can get a lot of hacking done on the dome ring and outer dome this weekend.

Sanded Inner Dome

Tonight I spent some time sanding smooth certain portions on the inner dome.

The first section I worked on was the area around the rear PSI. Recall that no panel from the outer dome conceals this space, so it's important to sand it smooth before painting. I started with 60 grit sand paper to work out the deepest spin lines, and worked my way up to 220 grit.



Once that was done, I wrapped some 100 grit sand paper around an old bottle and worked on sanding the hole for the rear PSI to be as circular as possible. I also did a fair amount of sanding by hand for fine adjustments.



I periodically overlaid the throwaway panel over the hole to make sure I was sanding to the right size and curvature.



The last item of business was to sand the area on the inner dome underneath the "picture frame" panel. This area also shows through to the outside world.



Starting with 100 grit sand paper and working up to 400 grit, I sanded this reasonably smooth.



I propped the panel that will eventually go on the dome in place, so I could ensure that enough area had been sanded. I may do a little more fine sanding, but for now this will do.



Incidentally, here are was these two areas look like on droid #1.

Filled Gaps in Skirt

There are some gaps between the skirt ribs and the styrene that need filling. This is more so the case with the ribs in the corners.



I'm using GE Silicone II White Paintable Silicone to fill in the gaps. This is the same stuff that I used on the skirt on droid #1.



I just ran a bead in the gap as needed.



A razor blade cleans up the excess.



Hopefully that'll do it. I'll probably apply a mist coat of primer soon to see where any additional filling or sanding is required.