Back from the BBQ

[Originally published on Yahoo! 360°]

What a FUN time I had at the Mid-West R2 Builders BBQ last weekend! I saw several astromech droids there plus a C-3PO, a "Lost In Space" B9 Robot, the K9 robot dog from "Doctor Who", and one of three robots from "Silent Runner." I met some seasoned droid builders and some beginners (like me). It's hard to put into words exactly all that I saw, which is why I took lots of pictures and a few videos.

I'm using Photobucket now to store my droid pictures and videos. Use the following link to view each photo and video I took.
Mid-West R2 Builders BBQ
I hope you enjoy them.

As for my progress on R6 himself, I was able to do a little more work on him last Friday before I left for the R2 BBQ. I cut the grooves into Disc #3 for the ribs and then I glued the ribs into Disc #2B. But then I discovered that four of the ribs did not line up with the grooves on Disc #3. Upon rechecking both disc, I discovered that my Dad had miscalculated the position of one of the ribs, thus throwing off the position of the next three after it. So to fix this, I'll have to cut off the four misplaced ribs, sand down what's left, cut new grooves into Disc #2B, and then make four new ribs. Luckily, I have the master rib to copy off of. I would have done this by now except the tempature has been near the hundreds this whole week, making it too hot in the shop to do any work. Hopefully it will cool down soon.
What I had of R6-C9 to take to the BBQ got high praise from some of the other builders. They said I had done fine work. It's good to have support from others who have been down this road before.

Until next time,
John