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.