Holoprojectors and Bucket 'O Resin

This past week I got around to fixing the holoprojector holes in the head.  When I originally cut the holes, I made them too small.  So to fix this, I wrapped a piece of 200grit sandpaper to a cone-shaped plastic cup and slowly sanded the hole bigger.  Using a cone-shaped cup (or similar round object) is key because as you turn the cup in the hole, the sandpaper makes it bigger, thus the cup needs to get bigger so the sandpaper keeps contact with the edges.

Once I got the hole just right, the holoprojectors fit perfectly.  Once I get the head painted, I'll be able to permanently install them.

Something I forgot to mention that happened at Celebration VI.  After the room was all torn down on the last day, we held a prize drawing for various droid parts.  Everyone who volunteered in the room got a ticket-per-2 hours of volunteer work.  I got several.  In the end, I actually won something.  And that something is...........a Bucket 'O Resin!  No, it's not a bucket of raw resin.  It's a bucket filled with resin droid parts.  Almost every droid part that's made in resin by the Builders Club.  Some of the parts I don't need or already have.  But most I will be making use of.

Cool, isn't it?

And in Star Wars Episode VII news, J.J. Abrams is confirmed as the director.  Not a bad choice.  Thus far I'm feeling good about this new movie.  I hope they do the behind-the-scenes webisodes like they did for the prequels on starwars.com.

Later,

John

New Year Catchup

I'm sorry I haven't kept this blog up-to-date for the past six months.  2012 was somewhat crazy for with starting a new job at the beginning of the year, the Midwest Builders Gathering in the spring, Celebration VI in the summer and a lot of RL issues that kept popping up.  As such, I haven't made a lot of progress since C-VI, but I intend to make up for it this year.  So without further ado, let's build!

To start, some catching up.
Star Wars Celebration VI, August 23rd-26th, 2012, Orlando, Florida.

I didn't take as many pictures as I did last time.  This time around i wanted to focus more on enjoying the event than just documenting it.
I did participate in the Droid Races this time and had a blast.  Of course it would be this time around that they revise the course and make it more difficult.  Instead of just running around through a maze of turns, they added obstacles to avoid and 3 small cones that need to be pushed by your droid's foot into a small square before making for the finish line.  First droid to do all this wins.  I won the first round, but was beaten in the second round.  Oh well.  I did learn a lot about how well R6-C9 handles and will need make a few adjustments.  I discovered he's very quick on the throttle so will need to adjust my controller for a smoother speed adjustment.  Also there was some wobble in the feet that I'll have to find a way to tighten up.  I think I'll have to revise and replace the legs/center ankle so they'll attach to the feet more securely to eliminate the wobble.
Look around on YouTube and you'll find plenty of videos of the droid races.  You'll see me there somewhere.

GL sells LucasFilm with rights to Star Wars to the Walt Disney company.
I was in shock for a good two days I think when I heard the news about this.  As first I thought the world had ended.  But after thinking about it and reading other people's perspectives plus watching the videos on starwars.com explaining all this, I felt better about it and am hopeful about the future of Star Wars.  So now the long awaited Episode VII is coming at last.  My only fear all the years of expanded universe story and plot development might not be honored.  I'm a big fan of the novels and I hope the story told thus far in them will be maintained and built upon in the coming movies.
I think what Yoda said to Luke sums this up well, "Pass on what you have learned."  I think in a sense that is what GL is doing.  He's told his story, now it's time for  someone to get some play time is the Star Wars sandbox.  The next chapter awaits.

The past six months...
Now for the progress I've made since returning from Florida.
I haven't done much, but the progress I have made is on the skins.  The paint on the skin panels I painted a long time ago had faded some so I resprayed them and then clear coated them to help preserve the color as I have done with the foot shells.  Then I started to attached the panels one by one.

I haven't finished yet.  But it's a start.

This year in early August will be the second annual DroidCon and it is being held at the same hotel as before.  My goal is to have the head finished by then (3rd times the charm right?) so wish me luck.

I'll try to keep up with posting my progress this time.

John