Wondercon 2019 - Day 3

Today was the third and final day of WonderCon, at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, CA. R2 and I were joined by several of our droid building friends, and their droids to wrap things up.



It didn't take long for people to find us way in the back of the convention hall.



This is the best WALL•E costume I've ever seen.



We did a little Mouse Droid parade, and stopped off at the 501st booth for a moment.




Our booth drew a good crowd until the end.



And speaking of the end, that's a wrap on WonderCon 2019! I'm sure we'll be back again next year. And in greater numbers.

Wondercon 2019 - Day 2

Today was day #2 of WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, CA. I rejoined all my droid building buddies and their droids for the busiest day of the convention.



It was my turn to bring the donuts, and I performed admirably, if I may say so.



We kicked off the morning with a Mouse Droid parade.



And I was able to get a picture of Kevin Fox as Bossk on the way back. Always a good day when you encounter Bossk and he doesn't capture you.



We had a good mix of droids running around, entertaining the folks.




We followed up our Mouse Droid parade with a regular droid parade, and stopped midway through for people to get photos.



Back at the booth, there's no party like a Jawa party.



Cylons!



I didn't recall there being Tusken Raiders on Endor.



A few of us ventured outdoors to join costumed characters for the big Star Wars group photo.



Once back inside, it was time to get ready for our 5:00pm droid building panel, it was well-attended. (A couple of these pictures were swiped from Tina Bosse and Kyle McMaster.)





And, of course, our post-panel selfie.



We survived another fun day, one more to go.

Wondercon 2019 - Day 1

Today was day #1 at WonderCon, at the Anaheim Convention Center, in Anaheim, CA. My droid and I were joined by lots of members and droids from the R2 Builders, WALL•E Builders, BB-8 Builders and Mouse Droid Builders clubs.



I come for the convention, but I stay for the donuts.



Fridays are well attended, but they are not as busy as Saturday and Sunday. We set up before the show opened around 10:00am.



The Rebel Legion had a nice bunker that debuted at the show.



According to the WonderCon brochure, I'm moderating a panel tomorrow evening. I should probably slap something together.



We had a nice mix of droids.




Today was nice and busy, but tomorrow will be the crazy day. Can't wait!

Installed UBEC

Mike Senna recently mentioned to me that he switched from using a LM7805 12 volt-to-5 volt regulator, to a UBEC (Universal Battery Elimination Circuit) supplied by HobbyWing. This is a switching regulator which is much more efficient and capable of regulating more amps than the LM7805 (3 amps vs. 1).



The LM7805 has 3 pins: voltage in (12 volts in my case), ground, and 5 volts out. I detached the LM7805 (see red oval at the lower left in the photo below) from the wooden frame in preparation for desoldering, so I can reuse the 12 volt and ground wires coming from the droid's power bus bars.




Then, it was a simple matter of soldering the UBEC in its place.



The UBEC plugs into the 5 volt battery supply on the receiver.



I mounted the UBEC itself with Velcro, a short distance away from the receiver, as the installation instructions recommend, to avoid electrical interference.



So far, so good in limited testing. This will get a more thorough workout at Wondercon in a few days.