Is this the end ??

I guess not!
For the ancient Romans it would have been the 28th of february, but because of thecfact, that we use the gregorian calendar for quite a while now, this is the last day of the year now!
I wish every blog reader a nice slide into 2018!!

X-mas

OK, this post is some days too late!
But i hope you had some great xmas days.
I guess, i was a nice guy over the year, because Santa brought me a nice present!

Shoulder Flanges

..or what is the right description for these rings?

my cnc shop buddy made me a small series of them. looking pretty cool on every droid!
and, just by the way, they aren´t available on this planet at the moment!!!

Second troop

...tomorrow!
another cinema, but again with my daughter and bb-8.

 Here is a picture from the thursday troop with our local radio hosts Sascha and Clara:

Cinema Troop

yesterday we went to the local cinema for the troop, organized by a local radio station and the cinema itself.
they invited us for a troop beginning at 6.p.m. unfortunately there was a big car accident on a main crossing inside the city and we almost got too late for the show.
we only had 5 minutes for changing clothes and ran into the cinema, where already all the spectators were waiting for us.
3 minutes for a short interview with the radio crew and we were out of the room so the people could see the film!

the time after that was a little bit more "relaxing". i built up the display having r2-t4 and bb-8 in the middle.

our team was great and we had (as always) a big time! (picture above shows my daughter in the episode 8 costume) the people were great, we made some funny and stunning pics! later, a woman from the radio station interviewed us and got on air the next morning in the local radio.   

by the way; these porgs are really everywhere!!!

As expected...

...was the newest episode of star wars, the last jedi.

they made several trailers before the premiere, in which the audience should be led into the complete wrong way by having put scenes or text together into the wrong context... funny in the end but...as expected...

but for me definetely one of the best films in the long row aof already made films, sequels or whatever was made in the star wars empire...

Erwartungsgemäß...

..gut hatte sich der star wars film herausgestellt. stellenweise mit ein paar wirklich lustigen stellen, spannung und unerwarteten handlungsabläufen (ich will ja nicht spoilern!!).

und die trailer haben (auch wie erwartet) durch ein geschicktes aneinanderreihen oder weglassen von bildern und text eine teilweise falsche auffassung von handlungsabläufen und spekulationen entstehen lassen, die letztendlich so nicht im film abliefen.

aber alles in allem einer der besten in der langen reihe von bereits entstandenen filmen des star wars imperiums...

Day Zero

today will be the day!
premiere day of "the last jedi".

we will troop this evening in our local cinema and there is still so much to do! preparing bb-8 (doing the last electronical stuff on the body), preparing r2-t4 (change the left battery box) and clean it and so on...

because i am the responsible person for this evening´s event, i have to be earlier in the cinema. before that i have to pick up my kids, all their costume stuff, have to load the bus with the droids and and and...

Shiny and new...

...the ali battery box is.
i removed the worn out shabby styrene/wood left battery box from r2-t4´s foot.

the harnesses found their way to the new box. i used some glue to fix them, because they are made of resin. later, when the ali feet will be mounted to r2-d2, the ali battery harnesses will replace them.  

Star Wars Episode 8

tomorrow will be the day of the year!

we will do a troop at the local cinema and after it we will see the film.

yesterday i got the leather parts for the episode 8 rey costume. a darker brown and wider belt, the strap for the arm and the holster. everything in top notch quality from a good friend.

today my daughter is doing the tunica for the costume together with my mum. luckily my mother had a rest of textile in the right color for the belt area to complete the costume.

Ali Shoulder Ring Update

good news on the ali shoulder ring update!
i could already check the prototype this noon instead of this evening and gave an OK for a small series.
it took a long time, but now it will be finished soon.

more news on that later!!

Ready to rumble !!

bb-8 is ready for the troop on thursday!!

but unfortunately my daughter isn´t ready with her episode 8 rey costume!! the tunika and the shirt have to be prepared. she thinks to begin (!!!) with that tomorrow! one day before the troop!!
i think she is completely nuts!!

Dome electronics

Of course the dome must have some lights and sound.
Therefore i bought some led's in the right colours. And Ian had a small box with additional led' in different colours and sizes, too.
Here is the dome with a look in side...

On the Internet i bought some battery boxes (with on/off switches integrated) for 3 and four 1,5 v Batterie. So i can usd the soldered electronics and the single led's. They run on 4,5 v and 6 v.

Primering and Painting

you guessed it; again a time consuming part of the build!

oh, i forgot to mention the dismantling of some of the ring elements! the inner shells didn´t really fit into the rings! here is what i mean...

so "breaking" the four segments, adding the inner shell, put everything back together and glueing them again.
after this action, there were some small gaps, that had to be refilled. therefore i used some fine putty. sanding was the next step.

when the surface was smooth enough, a grey primer could be applied as to be seen on the above pic!

then again some fine sanding and the first of three layers of orange paint found it´s way to the plastic surface!

Panel works

It's time consuming to work on the shell parts of bb-8.
There was a big issue with the sectioned parts of them. I had to reopen the outer ring elements, to get them better fixed to the inner shells.
And after this another masking of the inner panels was necessary; the outer rings got a new special glue and the surface had to be smoothened with some fine putty.

After the sanding process, another coat of primer had to be applied. Then again some sanding and the final step, the orange paint could be painted.

four more to go!!

Time out

after a two day time out, the compressor is working again!!
the technician came in this morning and repaired the heart of my enterprise. without it nothing works, well almost!!

this means, the battery boxes, waiting for the sand shower, could be sandblasted now!

and here they are, freshly mediablasted and ready for a primer job!

Disco Droid

the electronics are ordered! a full sound and light system called "disco droid". this complete kit will come from the phillipines.
i hope to get this right in time. the guy told me the last time it took 7 days to get to another builder in germany. and some days of this time it was on hold at the customs!!

plan b is (if it doesn´t come from the phillipines right in time), to build a low budget version of it with the electronics i bought two weeks ago.
some blinking here and there, everything not so perfect, but with lights and sound (from a bluetooth speaker connected to a micro sd card).

Inner Panels

the inner panels are finished now. except the electronics (led´s) they are ready to be mounted to the outer rings.

but these aren´t ready! i have to cut them at the gluing areas again after checking out, that the inner panels doesn´t really fit!!
this will be a tricky thing but i hope to get this managed.

Just a little bit...

...of paint here and there, some lights and you're done he wrote...
Well this sounds easy, but it's not what anybody else would have expected.
Well, for me this always a sign for ' there is plenty of more work to do on that!!'.
And i was right!!
Mounting the frame took a lot of time! Tiny M3 screws and nuts are NOT good for big fingers.
Primering the shell parts at temperatures around 0 degrees isn't good, too!
Finding out that several screws in the kit were missing, as well four ali rods with threads for the frame construction.
So a short trip after work was necessary to get this project done right in time!
I bought an aluminium rod as well 200 screws in two different lengths.

BB-8 Droid

Yess!!!
A new project!
This lifesize bb-8 has a mixture of an inner "rollcage"; lasercutted aluminum parts and 3d printed parts.
They are forming a highly solid base.
Here you can see it; Trillions of tiny screws and nuts are holding the structure together.

Preparing the outer sheets; sanding and one of several layers of primer/filler we're applied on the outer shell parts.

Don't ask; the fourth one is damaged.
The outer sheets are 3d printed parts, as well is the dome.

Next step was to get the small printed parts into the dome. Tricky, but successful in the end!
The first outer panels we're fixed onto the inner frame structure:

Looks like a real Droid now...  :)

And He can 'talk' now...

The secret...

...is no more secret!

the postman rang only once but had a big parcel in his hands!

this was inside:

Bientot... Soon...

vraiment bientot les pièces pour mon prochain projèt vont arriver!!

mais au moment, c´est encore un super secret!!!

je pense que les pièces vont arriver aujourd´hui... ben, j´espère!!


it will be really soon when the parts for my next project will arrive!!

but at the moment, it´s still super secret!

i think to get the parts today... well, i hope so!!

Question

i have seen on astromech.net, that on an original epsiode 4 picture, r2-d2 is standing with alex guiness in the desert. on this pic you can see, that the ankle details are way more flat, than they are on the club spec pictures and blueprints... what do you think?

here an ankle detail made to club spec:

and by the way; do you see the missing octagon port and the connectors in front of the battery box?

Good kept secret...

it won´t take long anymore...

no, not the premiere of episode 8 of star wars, it´s the arrival of parts for a new project.

but until the parts won´t be here, i will not show you anything about them.

estimated arrival of the parts shall be today, but i am not that sure...
gonna have to check the tracking number again...

New steel battery boxes

Today i began the work on the battery boxes in steel.

The first box ist ready for a sandblasting job.

Tomorrow the next box will be made!

Ali sheets

Tomorrow morning i will go the CNC shop before starting with my work.
I already talked with my buddy there today on the phone. To be sure to get the right parts, i will visit him.
The ali parts will be for a new project; all three ali feet.

And there was somwthing i really had to laugh about today; r2 builder Commando 8 announced that he would be the only one building and offering steel center feet...i guess he can't look over the pond...america first...LOL...

Steel sheets

I receiver the steel sheets for the battery boxes...
So i think to manage it to get the boxes built weithin this week...hopefully...

Electronics

The most hated thing i have during the construction of r2. Many of you will think the same.
Anyway, to get small er circuits done easy, i ordered a soldering station for a few bucks.

 In front of it you can see two small circuits i soldered with the new station.

Running out of time

To get all the work done right in time, i cannot take any more orders at the moment. That's why the bigger sandblasting projects coming in in at the moment have a waiting time until january!
I will concentrate my power in the making of the new Episode 8 Rey costume for my daughter. ( and for a small 'secret' necessary for next month.)

Finished Ali Battery Boxes

ok, the finishing works on the ali battery boxes set are done!

some light grey primer was added and now the parts can be painted.

beyond the battery boxes you can see the next parts...sheets for the battery boxes in steel... let´s go!!

Captain Phasma

a long time ago i started the building of my new costume, captain phasma.
having almost the same height (gwendoline christie is 6"3, i am 6"4), this costume will look good on me in the end!
a girl working for ubisoft had a phasma helmet, so i immediately said "i´ll take it". but she wanted to do her own costume.
two months later she stopped her plans to realize this and gave me a call. the price was good and the owner changed!
then for a long time i did nothing.

some months ago i started to build the very first parts in aluminum. the hand cover and some finger ring elements looking very similar to the ones from phasma / c3po.
cheap black gloves were bought.
then again a stop.

now i continued on it. a friend of mine has the possibility to paint the helmet with a silver nitrate system to get the chrome look. i saw some youtube videos about it and i can say it´s really impressive!!
my part before this is to prepare it. so sanding, adding a filler coat, sanding, sanding and sanding is on my to do list the next days.

three weeks ago i ordered a neck seal, the same as the stormtrooper version. last week i got it fom england. very good quality and price.

the phasma blaster (3d printed parts) is ordered in the netherlands. i think it will arrive after xmas.

now i have to look for some shoes. hope to find a very similar to the (expensive) trooper shoes on the internet.

more certainly in the next weeks!

Rey´s Blaster

i got this blaster months ago, but didn´t managed it to finish this project. now was the time to do this!

with the new star wars film coming in a few weeks, we, my daughter and me, getting in a state of weirdness, finishing the new rey costume for her.
the leather holster is in production, the blaster wasn´t. so getting the parts out of the box and lets get it started!
the parts were from a guy in sweden. the price was ok, so i ordered it.

first of all sanding, then a primer job was necessary.

after this a coat of silver base paint for the metal look was applied.

The grip parts were painted in black, too. Plus two layers of a clear coat.

a coat of dull black was painted with a small brush into the gaps and the square areas.
the next step was applying some toothpaste into the painted gaps. another coat of silver was painted over the parts.
after the parts were dry, i brushed the toothpaste under flushing water out of the gaps.
playing around with dull black from the spray can with wiping it away using a towel was necessary to get a used look. some light metallic blue for the front end of the gun and i was ready!

and here is the result:

  

A finishing touch

...on the ali battery boxes had to be done.
Some grinding and some putty here and there to get a good surface and afterwards some fine sending and i could add the light grey primer...
Pics tomorrow.

Very good !!

a not so good guy was banned from therpf.com . i ordered a long time ago a blaster for my phasma chrometrooper costume and paid in advance half of the money.
the following weeks and months almost nothing happened, only one small answer and three tiny 3d printed pieces for the blaster photographed on his living room table. that´s it. further requests havent´t been answered by him until today.
now i saw he was banned from the forum. well done forum admins! (by the way; after this long time i never expected anymore to get the chrometrooper blaster or my money back.).

i ordered the blaster now in the netherlands and hope to have more luck this time. unfortunately the delivery date will be after the premiere of episode 8 in december.

Stormtrooper Helmet

this evening i will go to a comedian show with a famous german guy called hennes bender.
he is a great star wars fan and often includes scenes or funny things about it in his program.

i think i will take my EP7 helmet with me and put it on my head during the show for a short time. the theater is not that big, so i guess he will see it and certainly will laugh!!! 
(pic taken from "der westen")

Battery boxes finishing works

Today i could manage to do the last "fine tuning" on the two ali battery boxes.
The second box had to be grinded, both were smoothed with a fine putty for a perfect finish.Now some fine sending on both of them and i could paint the primer!

Aluminium Parts Update

I told you about the leg to shoulder rings some days ago. Now a small update; the first set will be reafy this week, so i guess to get them in the next days.
When they look good, the other sets will be produced too.

Aluminium Battery Boxes

due to not on stock parts in steel, i decided to build a battery box set in aluminium.
so no standard steel welding (MIG), no, it is an aluminium welding process (WIG), which is much more difficult than steel welding.

here is the result; battery box one almost ready. welded and grinded, only minor gaps have to be filled and a light media blast and primer painting is necessary:

 

Finishing works on outer feet

Glad to have a part time employee; he will do my work this morning while i can take care of the outer feet finishing work...

More Star Wars Films

what i was thinking of, will become reality! disney will bring out some more new star wars episodes. with new characters in the same old universe, far far away!!
let´s see, what they will create... i hope they ask george lucas for bringing in some old spirit in a new storyline...
but...will kathleen kennedy be still on top of the production? she is in her mid sixties now... retirement is coming....

rian johnson is the choosen one...well, the choosen director for the new episodes...

Leg to shoulder ring

No news concerning the leg to shoulder rings. I hope to get positive news within the next days!

Welding works

Today on the to do list: drilling holes and making threads into the ali ground plate for the center ankle.
And finishing the second outer ankle. Welding, grinding, sandblasting and primering plus pressing in the ball bearings.
Now on to the second outer foot...

Exchange

in exchange for some of my parts i got these R5 dome parts in aluminium:

and a gear set for the dome drive:

Late arrival

Yeszerday evening i gör a late delivery from my CNC shop buddy.
He brought me a bunch of the ordered diet ankle details in aluminium.

Looking pretty awesome!! As always!!

PSN Frameworks

i can´t believe it myself!!! i could work on number 2!

i installed the three actuators in the ali frame! yihaaa!!

 

Leg to shoulder hubs

The correct description for the shoulder rings.
Anyway, we all know what we are talking about, don't we??!!
Small update; a delay on these pieces.
But I will keep you updated! For sure!!

Pre X-mas

My Buddy from the CNC Shop was quicker than expected; he has finished the diet ankle details for me!!

Pics later!!

I think to get them this week from him.

F11D Blaster Rifle

Okay, here is the latest news for you!
I just ordered a DIY Blaster in the chrometrooper version.
After getting the Captain Phasma helmet a long time ago, this is the next necessary acquisition for my chrometrooper costume.
What's Up next? The gloves. The character wears some C3PO lookalike gloves, so let's see if there is something similar around...
Disadvantage; 6-8 weeks waiting time until delivery.
And in between? Getting Aluminium to build the handmade armor.

Aluminium Diet Ankle Details

Today i gör the first pic of the diet ankle details from my Buddy at the CNC shop.

As you can see, the parts have received the first steps of milling... They 'll soon be ready.

R2 parts "collection"

just a pic of some of my parts i built in the last days and weeks...
(from left to right: outer steel feet under construction, outer steel ankle under construction, aluminium leg. upper row: finished center steel foot, finished outer steel ankles, finished center ankle)

Finished

one more ankle is finished now.

but there is still plenty of work to be done. cleaning up the mess on my workbench has a high priority!
and the working and storage room for my dust free stuff must be cleaned too!

some r2 parts must be ordered at the lasercutter. unfortunately my buddy there, responsible for these parts, is on vacation until next wednesday. so i have to wait a little bit!

meanwhile i will take care of a pair of outer feet. superlight version, of course! some small parts are missing, but i can produce them on my own...

I found some time...

...to continue on my parts...

today another outer ankle has to be welded!

let´s see, how far i´ll come...

ah, did i mentioned that i must do the outer feet too?

Shoulder Ring and other Updates !!

hey, we have a go for the shoulder rings. they will be lighter than the JAG version. not that much, only a little bit.

thanx to my brother in realizing them! let´s see, when they will be ready.

another update is on the diet ankle details. the cnc shop will do them in the next days.

Shoulder Rings

unfortunately nothing new concerning the shoulder rings in ali!

both enterprises i asked for a price haven´t answered yet. but i am on it...(using the force:) they will give me a good price and build them as fast as possible for me!!

The day after

getting to bed very early, after 7 hours of highway driving yesterday, i feel way better now!

my jedi suit was wet after the FACTS event in belgium!

now that same old procedure got me back again....sandblasting, car restoring, primering...and i still love it!!

i hope to get some more free time for me the next days...maybe next week. two free days in one week...i might combine this to get a full week free of sandblasting and taking care of building on my r2 unit... let´s see...

Und jetzt in deutsch, die lange Version !!

sooo, mein wochenende war voll mit eindrücken, die man so schnell nicht vergisst.
samstag die tollen blecharbeiten an tommy fontana´s käfer, die mir super gelungen sind, sonntag der belgien trip mit insgesamt 7 stunden autobahnfahrt und einer tollen expo messe in gent. mit cosplay, comics und ner menge merchandise!
naja, leider waren die comics auf holländisch oder französisch, manche in englisch. nicht so doll, wenn man beim lesen der comics sein langenscheid sprachlexikon rausholen muss...
total verrückte kostüme gabs zu bestaunen (oder deren träger zu bemitleiden, da die sich darin nen ast abgeschwitzt haben.
ich selber hatte damit auch zu kämpfen, lief ich doch als jedi meister mit umhang herum. jetzt sind die klamotten erst mal in der wäsche, weil nassgeschwitzt!
die händler hatten sich anscheinend alle abgesprochen, da die preise überall gleich waren. überall gleich hoch!!! 😞
tochter und sohn fanden es auf jeden fall toll (naja, bis auf die stundenlangen autobahnfahrten)!
das nächste kostüm für die tochter ist schon geplant...und meins auch! fehlt nur noch das englische rad! dann kann ich meine rüstung für den chrometrooper aus alu komplett selber machen!!!

So incredible !!

After a long rainy trip to belgium we arrived at the City of Gent around noon. We found a fantastic place, not far from the entrance on the IKEA parking lot.

After entering the FACTS exhibition center, the weirdness began!
Cosplay, Comics, Merchandise, everything for the Geek.
And of course Star Wars!!
Too much to list, too much to tell!!
It was great!!

UK Forum

hi guys!

stéphane from france was so nice to mention me in a thread on the UK forum concerning r2 parts. if you have any questions concerning the parts i build, feel free to ask me!
you can do this here via the comment function (just send me a message "anonymous"; only i can see what you have written, so it´s up to me to publish it (or not, LOL)).
or you can contact me on facebook. use the search function and type in "R2-T4".

we´ll see us (if you will be at facts the coming weekend)!!

Konkretere Pläne

facts rückt näher!
ich plane, mit der ältesten und dem sohnemann dort hinzufahren.
könnte ein schöner tag werden. wenn wir sonntag um acht uhr losdüsen, sind wir gegen kurz nach elf da.
und vielleicht will die holde und der rest der bande ja auch mit?? das meer ist nicht mehr weit davon entfernt, ebenso unser letztjähriger urlaubsort in holland. 

mal sehen, wer mit will...

FACTS

die belgische messe facts ist ja kommendes wochenende in gent. da war ich noch nie. soll aber gut sein.
von star wars über star trek, star gate und harry potter, bis zu game of thrones und etlichen anderen science fiction und fantasy sachen gibts da alles! comics, panels, der ganze merchandise schnickes und natürlich auch ne menge cosplay!
mal sehen, was die älteste und mein sohnemann davon halten, verkleidet dort hinzufahren...

hier noch der link dahin:   

www.facts.be

Information

Hi to all builder doing astromechs from series r2-r9...
Thank you for visiting my page! I'd be happy in getting some comments concerning the parts i build. And if you have ans questions; just use the comments function here on the blog. Only i can see what has been written.
Finest greetings PSN

Success !!

Luckily i could do more work on the second ankle today.
Only a gold friend came to me working on his VW beetle.
So the ankle is ready for a (sand-) blast and a coat of primer before pressing in the ball bearings.

Here a pic before drilling the holes for the capsuled ball bearings...

And Yes, the ali ankle cylinder fits perfect!

Second outer ankle works

I will finish the second outer ankle today. Well i guess...lol.
In the last time there was always someone disturbing me on Saturday keeping me from working on my R2 parts.

Having only three hours to work on the ankle, nothing may go wrong today!

J4-K3 Roaming Droid

sehr interessant! der roaming droide J4-K3. sieht bestimmt gut aus...wäre ein interessantes projekt für vater und sohn...

New version for outer ankles

i am thinking about an easier way to build and weld the outer ankles. therefore i have to update my dxf plans. i think a visit at my buddy at the local metal- and lasercut shop is quite necessary...

Second outer steel ankle

The outer legs are ready to be media blasted and primered. And the ordered hollow screws came in today!!

This will be done tomorrow. Today i concentrated myself in welding parts for r2.
The next part is the second outer steel ankle with ball bearings and a hollow screw...unfortunately a customer and good friend "stole" my time and i couldn't get as far as i hoped...

Two months to go...

and episode 8 will be on screen!!