Dome Paint Part I: The Blue Bits

OK, so while I was waiting on the other paint jobs to cure (and since the hackerspace is closed on New Years Eve), I decided to start in on the dome. Now, the dome consists of an inner (solid) dome, and an outer one with all the bits and pieces cut, as you can see here:

So the first thing to do is to break those pieces out so that they can be painted.  A word of caution: it is possible to break things more than you want to, as I found out when inspectign the dome:

(It wasn't me.)

Anyway, using some reference photographs, I went around the dome removing all the bits that needed to be removed and sorting them into blue, silver, or scrap.  When I was done, I had a nice set of stuff to be painted:

(Note the top half of the large data port in the corner.)

Now, before you can paint, you have to do a little fixing. See, these were attached to the outer shell with little "tabs" of plastic, and they're still there. See here:

So it's a question of getting rid of those tabs. Depending on circumstances, sometimes I used a file:

Quite a few fell victim to the sanding block:

Anyway, when it was all done, I gave everyone the Krider Blue treatment and in between coats worked on removing the "tabs" from the outer dome so that it would be ready to paint. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few coats down on that tomorrow before heading out to the hackerspace and printng off some more parts. Vacation is almost over.

More painting and dome arrival

So, I woke up thsi morning and checked the blue parts I painted yesterday. They looked really good, as it happened, and so I went ahead and one o the power couplings together to see how it looked in one piece:

I wish the picture could do the color justice. It's a very deep, rich blue with metallic sparkles and it changes a little as you move it in the light. I also made the mistake of thinking that just because it felt dry meant it was completely dry, so you may see the lower-right corner piece isn't as smooth as it ought to be. Well, lesson learned: the next batch is laying in state for 48 hours.

And speaking of the next batch:

That's the other power coupling, large data port, and the radar eye. I went over them with the same formula as yesterday, and so we'll see how it looks in 48 hours.

(Incidentially, I was reading up on the forums and they said not to worry about weathering and such until the entire droid is assembled, so I've put those activities aside for now.)

In the meantime, my dome has arrived. Check it out:

The top picture is the base of the dome, with the R2-D2 builders' club logo on it, to show it's officially approved. You can see indentations going around in a circle: those are for the Rockler bearing from yesterday, and as far as I can tell are an exact fit for it. Neatness.

Below is the dome itself, pre-cut with another dome that goes underneath, I resume. Still not sure how it all goes together. You'll notice the top segments are out. They actually come in a little baggie separate. I guess I paint them and paste them back in, or something. I've got to find some documentation on it. In any case, it's very light and flexible, but obviously precision cut and a very nice little set up. Can't wait to prep it and decorate it up with the lights and the radar eye and all that jazz.The pieces aren't quite coming together yet, but they're showing up in any case.

Lazy susan and painting

So today is a paint day. First off, I set up a paint area in my workshop, and by paint area I mean cardboard box with newspaper. Then I lined up my paints:

I hope that's enough. Note the XTC-3D on the far right.

Now, it's time to see about aging some of this stuff. I'm scuffing up some of the chrome bits to make it look old:

That looks nice and scratch-and-denty. Now let's see about adding some rust:

The one on top is the "Before" shot, the one below has been aged and had some Testors rust applied to it here and there. Taking a light touch, but enough to make it look like it's been around a bit.

Now, it's time to start in on the blue bits. I'm using the Krider Blue method because I'm a cheapskate. To wit:

• 2 coats of Rustoleum Metallic Blue 7251
• 2 coats of Duplicolor Anodized Blue
• 3 coats of Rustoleum Crystal Clear 7701

15 minutes between each coat, and 48 hours to cure. I'm starting with the blue bits for one power coupling. If these go well, then I can go ahead and do the rest. Wanted to make sure it came out all right before I tried it something big like the radar eye.

Meanwhile, my Rockler lazy susan showed up. This is a surprisingly heavy bit of hardware, but it's good and solid:

Also, my dome should have been shipped off today, with any luck. So, off to a solid start.

Painting and Printing

Got in to the Hammerspace this afternoon and managed to print out the Large Data Port:

That'll be at the top middle of the barrel once I get the fame and all that. The bit above gets glued to the top of the bit below (it's printed that way to avoid having to do support structure). It gets painted blue.

Speaking of paint, I picked up all the paints and things I'll need (I think) and started doing that while waiting on the print jobs:

Now, I've used the XTC-3D on the parts above. If you see some shininess then that's why. It seems to do rather well, but I'll have to see how it looks once painted.

Here you can see some of the parts that have been painted. This is a very good chrome paint (Valspar metallic). It gives a good look. You can see one of the shoulder hydraulics which I have also painted.
I'm going to see how to age the metallic finish on these parts, but they already don't look anything like the printed originals, so that's promising. More painting tomorrow.

Power coupling

So I printed the second of two power coupling assemblies today. It's pretty interesting, actually, in that it is broken down into six different pieces:

Basically, the main bit in the middle gets painted gray or silver, I'm not certain...probably gonna go for a tarnished silver. The bit on the left goes up into the middle part through the holes, and the bits on the right go into the corner slots in the middle piece. Here's how it all looks assembled:

Obviously, this is before treating with XTC-3D and painting and sanding and all that jazz. Will show you that when it's done.

Score!

So today I was on the astromech.net forums as usual, looking for parts and I did rather well for myself. First off, I found that the Rockler lazy susan, the standard for mounting the head to the body, has gone on sale with free shipping, so I went and took advantage of that real fast (still had to pay sales tax but eh, worth it).

Secondly, I had started a thread about the dome itself. Now, a steel or aluminum dome is expensive as hell, and I didn't want to do that. The fiberglass ones are cheaper and easier to work, but from what I'd read the guy who did them was kind of out of business. The styrene ones were great, but there was no sign of a new run of the many time soon. So, I was digging and saw that the old Ikea lamps were once used as a substitute. The lamp in question is 18x9 hemisphere in steel, whereas the R2 is closer to 18.25x11 or so. Anyway, I got several messages from folks saying basically don't bother, wait until there's a part run. One person suggested I keep an eye on the junkyard, where used stuff gets posted. So I wander over there, and dang me if someone hadn't posted this:

It's an unused styrene dome set from the last part run, perfectly pristine, pre-cut and ready to go. And terribly cheap too. It was first-come-first-sell, and I managed to pounce on it before anyone else. So I've got a primo dome coming pretty soon. YES.

More parts printed

So it's been a productive week at the Hammerspace, excepting xmas of course. But I've managed to print out several bits and pieces:

These are the shoulder buttons, two for each outer leg. As you can see, they came out pretty bad. Going to take lots of sanding and such to get them up to scratch.

These two pieces make up the octal port assembly. There are actually two of these, one front and one back. I've shown these because had a little trouble with the filling so as you can see there's a bit of a gap at the top of the inner piece. Still, it's a start.

Radar Eye complete

Swung by the Hamemrspace this afternoon. The office is closed, but I was able to pick up my print which had completed:

As you can see, the bit where it closed up the circle is a bit rough, plus lots of those little "dimples" you see on the right going all the way around inside the circle. This is going to take some serious sanding and prep work, not to mention there's a few tiny gaps here and there. Consider this the "before" picture.

Next up, Radar Eye

So I decided to do a big part today. It's the Radar Eye attachment that goes to the dome, where R2's "big" lens is. It's a tricky print with that big old hole in the middle, and over 4 hours long. It got to be closign time eventually, so I just went home to let it carry on printing.

Also, ordered some stuff called "XTC 3D" which is designed to help smooth out 3-D prints because they do tend to be a bit texture-y. Supposedly it takes care of 90% of your post-processing. We shall see.

First part

So it turns out that a lot of the parts can be 3-D printed. Unfortunately, my Buccaneer hasn't shown up at my door yet, s it's off to hammerspace I go. Hammerspace is a great maker space here in KC, with multiple printers, CNC machines, a full woodworking shop, the whole bit really. I re-upped my membership, got a quick tutorial on the new 3-D printing staiton, and created my first piece, viola:

This bit is called the "Coin Slot", for reasons which may occur to you.

Anyway, it's not much, but it's a start. Not bad for my first day at this. I'm going to come back each day of my vacation and try to do at least one other part until I run out of the stuff I can 3-D print. The CNC is unfortunately out of commission, so I'll have to wait on the legs. Bummer.

Begun, this clone robot has.

In exactly one year from today, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens wil be released to theatres. In celebration of this and out of a new hope that htis trilogy won't be quite as bad as the last one, I have tasked myself to build a fully working R2-D2 in time for the premieres, or better yet in time for Halloween. In any case, the clock is ticking, and I'm already off and running.

Over the last week I have gotten in on my first part run: a Commando 8 B(udget) frame. This is a nice aluminum frame, designed to be price-comparable with wood or styrene ones. I might have done a styrene one had this not come along but it was worth getting into.

This is someone else's, but you get the idea.

Anyway, researching like crazy now. I know I want to do wooden legs because styrene won't hold up the aluminum frame. Still trying to work out what I can make, what I can buy off the shelf, and what I'll have to wait on a parts run for. Hopefully, this will all come together. We shall see.