JB Welded Left Rear Coin Return

Today I JB Welded the left coin return onto the back door. I scratch-built these coin returns quite a while ago, using scrap pieces from the skins.

I sanded the back side of the coin returns, and then cleaned them up with acetone.



Without much room to sand, I scraped the landing area of the inner skin with a razor blade, and afterward carefully cleaned it up.



I applied JB Weld to the back of the part, where it meets the inner skin. As with the back door panels I recently put in place, I used a toothpick to apply the JB Weld.



I clipped the part in place so that it is properly centered on the front side of the skin, and I'll let it set for 24 hours.

Finished JB Welding Back Door Panels

Tonight I finished JB Welding the last of the back door panels in place.

Having already used the clips as much as possible, it's up to the blue painters tape to hold down the center panel. It seems nice and snug.



I applied JB Weld along the back seam, and I'll let this dry for 24 hours.



I have a set of scratch built coin returns that I can use on the back door for this droid, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use them or not. They need a little prep work if so.

Another Back Door Panel JB Welded In Place

More of the same, only this time it's the right-center panel that's getting JB Welded into place.

I'm getting pretty good at painting with a toothpick.



The clips are locked down (hopefully not permanently), and this will dry overnight.



One more panel to go. And eventually, the coin returns.

Continued JB Welding Back Door Panels

Post #1000. Yea!

Tonight I continued JB Welding the back door panels in place. Only one panel, actually. I'm taking it a bit slower this time around, and by doing one panel at a time I'll have easier access to the panels as I clip them down.

I clipped and taped the left-center panel in place.



Like yesterday, I applied the JB Weld along the seam, temporarily moving the clips out of the way as needed.



I periodically loosened the clips to help prevent them from bonding to the back of the door. This worked for last night's session, so hopefully it'll do the trick again.



I'll let this sit for 24 hours, and then I'll move on to the next panel.

Started JB Welding Back Door Panels

Tonight I started JB Welding some of the panels that go on the back door.

After sanding and cleaning the surfaces to be bonded, I used my clips to lock down the large panel at the top of the door.



I applied the JB Weld with a toothpick. I temporarily moved the clips out of the way as needed.



Throughout the evening,I occasionally released the clips momentarily, to help keep them from bonding to the back of the door. On droid #1, one or two of the clips had to be pried off, and that may happen again this time around.



Moving to the smaller panels, I used blue painters tape to hold these in place.



Again, I applied JB Weld on the back side.



The clips can't reach most of the area on the small panels, but I did use a few to help keep them in place. Hopefully by tomorrow everything will be in good shape.

Las Vegas Meet-Up with Dave Everett & Friends

Time for another road trip, this time to Las Vegas, Nevada to meet up with R2 Builders Club founder Dave Everett, and some members from the Las Vegas area.

Mike Senna and I joined Las Vegas-area residents Mike Johnson, Efrain Lona (not pictured), Damien Metz and Dan Johnson, along with Central California builder Michael McMaster, to meet Dave Everett. Dave was attending a convention in Las Vegas, so it was a rare opportunity to meet the club's "lord and master" (his preferred title). :-)



Mike and I made the four-hour drive out from Southern California, while Michael McMaster started out from Central California. When you're in the middle of nowhere, road and town names get a little strange.



I call this "Dewback Mountain." You should drink Mountain Dew when viewing it.



We finally arrived at the Luxor, where we met up in the registration area, and then proceeded to talk about all things R2 and beyond, over a 3+ hour lunch.




R2 is never very far.



We had some time to kill between lunch and dinner, so we split up for a bit. By the time we got back together, Damien had pulled together an official R2 Builders badge for Dave, in record time.



Damien also shared some cool laser work featuring R2.



Mike Senna presented Dave with a special autographed picture of George Lucas, posing with Mike and Mike's droid.



The autograph says, "Dave E. All the best!" It is signed, "Michael J. Senna" I'm sure Dave will treasure it, and treat it with the reverence it deserves.



We wrapped it up with a guided tour of one of the casinos' surveillance rooms. I can't go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that a) we were amazed, and b) don't think you can get away with anything in any public area of a Las Vegas casino. We were even able to watch the recording of our group walking into the casino just minutes before, making our way all the way up to the surveillance room in which we were now standing. It was fascinating stuff.

It was a privilege to get to meet Dave. Without him, there is no doubt I would have continued to lead a more ordinary life, and not have been introduced into the crazy hobby that is R2 building. It was also great to meet up with our Las Vegas-based members, both those I met before and those I met for the first time. Oh, and Michael McMaster! Always good to see him too. It was a great trip.

The full photoset is here.

Started JB Welding Back Door Frame

Tonight I got busy working on the back door.

The first step is to apply JB Weld along the back side of the outer skin.



I used far fewer clips than last time. I guess I'm less insane these days. That, plus I think that the more clips that are used along the curved part, the more the clips straighten the curve and make it harder to keep the shape of the body.




I spent several hours using a toothpick to scoop out excess JB Weld as it glacially oozed from the seams. Not fun.

Down Syndrome Buddy Walk 2009

As was the case last year, this year R2 came out, along with several other droids and Star Wars characters, to support fellow R2 Builder Matthew Henricks' son Trevor for the 2009 Down Syndrome Buddy Walk at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA.



Once again, the group was able to change in the room that is normally reserved for the players' families.




After everyone was suited up, we headed for the concourse in front of the stadium, for photos and to await the crowd.



The makeshift memorial that fans set up on the "mound" area in front of the stadium to remember former Angel pitcher Nick Adenhart, who was killed along with two friends by a drunk driver earlier this year, is still maintained.



Droids in attendance were supplied by Ken Stubbert, Jerry Chevalier, William & Nikki Miyamoto and me. (R2 Builder Mike Senna was a stormtrooper and the 501st point of contact for this event.) Matthew Henricks also had his droid inside the stadium.



The Army had a couple of Humvees on site, and invited the characters over.



Soon, the thousands of Buddy Walkers descended upon us, and it was picture-taking time.






After the walkers passed, we retreated back to the room for lunch, and then it was out onto the playing field itself for a final group picture.



The full photoset is here.

Prepped Back Door for JB Welding

I've been Mr. Lazy lately, but today I finally got something done for droid #2. It's time to start putting together the back door, so today I did the prep work for the JB Weld that will hold the various panels together.

Long ago I failed to apply masking tape to the back side of the outer skin when I painted the skin white, so I had to sand and use acetone to remove a misty coat of white paint from the back side. I'm doing this because I want the JB Weld to adhere to a clean, roughed-up aluminum surface. This took quite a while.




Next I lightly sanded the inner skin, and cleaned it up too afterward.



The back-to-back layers are cleaned up and ready to go. Hopefully I'll get this started soon.

Halloween 2009

For the third year running, R2 helped hand out candy for Halloween.



As usual, the kids were semi-stunned to see R2, many forgetting all about the candy(!). Parents too were delighted to see the droid, and snapped pictures.






We'll do it again next year.