Wizard World Anaheim 2011 - Day 2

Today was day #2 at Wizard World. We had a few more droids today.

Obviously, the droids were still there this morning. (Perhaps they partied overnight, we really don't know.)



Before the show started, Chris Romines did a little rewiring as Gene Arena and Russell Rucker joined him in the booth.



You know the drill: The show opened at 10:00am, and it was pictures, pictures, pictures.










Whoever the Winner Twins are, they requested a picture with R2.



Lots of media and podcasts.



The Senna gallery, since he didn't bring a camera.

With droid and harem.



In Batmobile. Despite rumors to the contrary, it did not lose its wheel, and the Joker did not get away.



The Miyamoto women, including Kayla, the newest addition on Nikki's lap, with Zoe.



Wrong universe?



Today's droid builders and their creations: Chris Romines, Liz Wrightson, William Miyamoto, Ken Stubbert, Nikki Miyamoto, Russell Rucker, Mike Senna, Victor Franco & Gene Arena. Not pictured is late arriver Max Cervantes.



One more day...

Wizard World Anaheim 2011 - Day 1

Today was day #1 of Wizard World weekend in Anaheim. William Miyamoto brought two droids (including the R2-D2 on the right), while Gene Arena, myself and Chris Romines each brought one. Liz Wrightson also brought her droid-in-progress.



When I arrived before the show opened, Chris, Gene, and Liz were getting set up.




Guy Vardaman and his son also dropped by.



As always, once the show opened at 5:00pm, it was pictures, pictures, pictures. With all sorts of interesting people.








The OC Rollergirls, a women's roller derby team(!) was across from us, and also took pictures. (What's Chris looking at?)





A bunch of characters (and droids) were requested to ambush actress Elizabeth Röhm (from Heroes, among other shows), to wish her a happy birthday.



At the end of day, we manacled most of the droids together, using locks that William provided. Hopefully they'll all be there tomorrow morning.



Tomorrow is going to be a looong day.

Painted Legs

Today was a big day, I painted the legs. I've always considered this a milestone, since as Mike Senna once said, "He's all legs."

I started by very lightly sanding the legs with 400 grit sand paper, to smooth out the primer.



After I wiped off all the dust, I set up my highly stable leg-painting apparatus. I think that ladder predates my birth.



Several coats of Rustoleum Satin White later, and leg #1 was done.



Time for leg #2. I wonder how much more weight the apparatus can handle?



After going through the better part of a whole can of paint, leg #2 is done.



Finally, the center leg.



The group picture.



It was somewhat breezy today, and with so much crud in the air I decided to let these finish drying in the garage. I carefully relocated all three legs to the workbench there, and hung them out to dry.



I'll let these dry for a few days, and then decide if they need any touch-up work.

CHOC Spring 2011 Visit

R2's visits to the Children's Hospital in Orange County, CA are becoming a seasonal event, and today R2 paid his Spring 2011 visit to the hospital. He flew solo today, no costumed characters on this run.

The bear's still there. No remote control for him.



The staff really turned out for pictures today. Although I'm only posting a couple, I think at least 20 different staffers posed for pictures, possibly 30. We had to cut the staff pictures off so that we could visit the patients(!).




Fortunately, I got permission to take a picture of a fortuitous clone trooper (at least, I think he's a clone trooper). Several of the kids' jaws dropped when R2 paid his surprise visit. I love when that happens. Lots of stickers and Star Wars PEZ dispensers were handed out as we went from room to room.



Today was probably our longest and most enthusiastic appearance, and they've all been very good. I look forward to our next visit.

Finished Painting Horseshoes

Today I painted the white areas of the horseshoes.

I masked the aluminum inner perimeter that I painted yesterday, as I prepared to apply a couple of coats of gray primer to the top and outer perimeter areas. This was necessary due to some light sanding I had done a little earlier to get the top surface as smooth as possible.



Four coats later of Rustoleum Satin White, and it's blindingly bright. Or so it appears.



A tiny speck or two of gunk got onto one of the horse shoes. I will probably lightly sand that out and give a quick mist coat of white to finish it off, once the paint has fully dried.

Painted Shim Layers, Started Painting Horseshoes, Ankle Bracelets, Prepped Legs for Painting

Today it was time to start painting the rest of the aluminum-colored areas of droid #2.

First, I needed to mask the horseshoes so that only the inside perimeter would be painted. I should probably be painting the pockets for the buttons and hydraulics aluminum-colored as well, but on droid #1 the pockets are white, and they will be for droid #2 also.



Here's the collection for today's painting effort.



I applied three coats of Krylon Chrome Aluminum to each part. I started with the horseshoe shims.



After applying a coat of white primer, I painted the inner perimeter of the horseshoes next.



I followed that with the top sides of the ankle bracelets.



I guess things had been going too smoothly, because when I painted the bottom sides of the ankle bracelets, I ran into my old nemesis, spiderwebbing.




I sanded the crinkles off, and reprimed. I will probably try again tomorrow.



I wrapped up the day by applying some more primer to all three legs.




Finally, i unmasked the horseshoes. I will mask the inner perimeter next, and paint the rest of the horseshoes white next.



Tomorrow I plan to do some more painting, and final preparation on the legs for their final painting.