Flashback Friday: 9-30-2009, Day 22 of building R2-TD

Day 22 brought work on the center leg. Syrena and I sanded all the leg pieces and than began gluing them.






Steve continued work on routing out and cutting his frame.



Jayson worked on his skirt than cut some more on his dome.



Then we all took turns working on shoulder hubs.

Celebrity Sighting: Cindy Williams and Eddie Mekka

Bruce Crawford's Omaha Classic Film Event has announced it's next movie with a  showing "American Graffiti".  The show will be screen on November 2, 2012, 7 pm at the Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Hall. The event will bring Actress Shirley Williams and actor Eddie Mekka in as special guests.  Tickets will be $20 and proceeds from the event will benefit the Nebraska Kidney Association.

In 1973, American Graffiti is considered a movie which launched and started many careers. Some of the most notable cast included Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford and Suzanne Summers. It was written and directed by George Lucas and produced by Francis Ford Coppola and Gary Kurtz .  Cindy Williams played the part of Laurie who was Ron Howard's high school sweetheart.

In 1975, Williams appeared as Shirley Feeney in an episode of "Happy Days".  She was a girlfriend of the character 'Fonzie' (Henry Winkler) along side another female character named Laverne Defazio (Penny Marshall).  This launched the beginning of the popular TV show "Laverne and Shirley" which aired from 1976 to 1982.  Williams appeared in 159 episodes of the show. In 1977, she auditioned for the part of Princess Leia in the movie "Star Wars"only to be beat out by Carrie Fisher. In the 90's, she went on to co-produce both "Father of the Bride" 1 and 2.

Also appearing at the event is Eddie Mekka. He is best know for his part as Carmine Ragusa on "Laverne and Shirley".  He also went on to have a part on the very popular soap opera "Guiding Light".  On the big screen, Mekka can be seen along side Bette Midler in "Beaches" and also as Madonna's Boyfriend in "A League of their Own".

More information can be found at http://www.omahafilmevent.com/upcomingamericangraff.htm.

Celebrity Sightings: Eric Crouch and Grant Wistrom

Our friends at Fan House Sports are presenting a set of of signing opportunities in the very near future.

Heisman Trophy winner Nebraska Cornhusker and former Omaha Nighthawks quarterback Eric Crouch will be signing autographs at Fan House Sports in the Gateway Mall, Lincoln NE.  The signing will be on October 27th from Noon to 1:30 pm.  Autographs are free on your own item.  Fan House Sports will have items to purchase also.


In 2001, Eric Crouch won the Heisman Trophy, the Davey O'Brein Award and the Walter Camp Award.  He was also the Big 12 Conference offensive player of the year. He is one of a few quarterbacks in Division 1-A to rush for 3000 and pass for 4000 yards in a career. Eric was the 13th player in NCAA history to rush and pass for 1000 yards in a season with 1115 rushing and 1510 passing yards. While at Nebraska, he held records of single season total offense leader with 2688 yards and single game record for total offense of 360 yards. He holds the total offensive touchdown record at 88 and has the most rushing yards by a quarterback at 3434. Eric also has the record for longest run from scrimmage at 95 yards.  

Also coming up is one of the greatest Blackshirts of all time: Grant Wistrom!  Grant will be at Fan House Sports in the Gateway Mall, Lincoln NE on November 24th. VIP signings are available for $75 with a time from 12:30 to 1:30pm.  Public signing is from 2 to 4pm. Autographs will be $25 per item on your own item.  Fan House Sports will also have items to purchase which includes one signature.

Grant Winstrom was member of 3 National Chamionship teams at Nebraska - 1994, 1995 and 1997.  He was first team Big 12 in 1995-1997 and First team All American in 1996 and 1997. In 1996 and 1997, he was also Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Also in 1997, Winstrom was the Lombari Award Winner and the Nagursk Award finalist. He holds Nebraskas record for tackles for a loss at 58.5 and is second in school history in sacks at 26.5. Wistrom was selected 6th overall in the 1998 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams and played in the NFL from 1998 to 2006.  He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009.

For more info on these signings, please call Jeff at Fan House Sports at 402-601-6257. 

Flash Back Friday: 9-23-2009 Day 20 and 21 of building R2-TD

Days 20 and 21 of R2 brought work on the center foot and work on Steve and Nate's frame's.
Here's some action from Sunday.

Steve works on routering some pieces

Nate works on cutting a few pieces.


Moose and Steve begin to assemble R2's legs.

Steve got a good start and dry fitted his frame.

Denny worked on cutting on his costume.

Day 21 was the regular Tuesday build. 


Nate begins to dry fit his frame.

Moose and Steve routers a few pieces

Brad and Jeff work on routering shoulder hubs for all the droids.

Flash Back Friday: September 9th, 2009 - Day 19 of building R2-TD, TOUCHDOWN!

Day 19 was a slow night. I began the night grinding the last little bit off the bottom bolts.

Than Moose and I drilled the holes in the center support pipe so the legs move as one.

After a quick trip to the hardware store, The legs now move as one! Heres R2-TD as we score! :)

Flash Back Monday: September 4th 2009 - Day 18 of building R2-TD, more support and dome motor holders

Its a Flash Back Friday Monday - (Happy Labor Day!)

Day 18 of R2 brought more work on the internal support and dome motor holders. Here I finished assembling the pieces for the motor holders and actually got the motor on it. I had to modify one of the pieces because the motor I'm using is larger than everyone Else's. I also got the internal support bolted down so now R2 will be solid on his legs. Here are some pictures of tonight's build.

Celebrity Sighting - Cornhusker Heisman's, 9-1-12 Lincoln NE

The Fan House in Lincoln NE will be hosting an autograph signing with Heisman trophy Winners Johnny Rodgers (1972), Mike Rozier (1983) and Eric Crouch (2001) on 9-1-12 at their store in Gateway mall. A VIP session is available from 9 am to 10:15 am ($100 get photo with players and tropheys and a personalized autograph picture) and than the a General Public session from 10:30am to 12:30pm. Cost per item - Mini Helmets $50 with autographs, Full Size Helmets $150 with autographs, Footballs $50 with autographs, Photos $25 with autographs, Your item $35 with autographs. For more information, call Fan House at 402-601-6257.

Flash Back Friday: August 29th 2009 - Day 17of Building R2-TD, Dome motor holders

Almost 2 years-  Heres this weeks Flashback Friday of building R2-TD.

Day 17 of building R2 assembled the Dome motor holder. Remember those white plastic looking pieces I cut back on Day 2... I finally get to use them! Moose helped me align everything in place and showed me where to cut to allow for the plate to hold. He also drilled a few of the mount holes for me. Just a few little tweaks and this will be all mounted. Heres some pics of us in action.

We also glued a little more on Steve's legs so he would be caught up with everyone elses.

Celebrity Sighting - AMC's The Walking Dead Zombies

More info at Their Facebook page or Their Web Site.

Flash Back Friday: August 8th 2009 - My Other Love: The Big Red!

Today is Fan Day in Lincoln so I thought I'd Flashback to 2009's fan day experience.  This year will be the 8th year I went in row.  Photos soon of the this years event! 

We know I love autographs and but I have another big hobby. I'm a pretty big college football fan. I enjoy college football much more than pro because the players play for the love of the game and not money like the pro's often do. Living in Nebraska, it's pretty obvious I follow the Nebraska Cornhuskers pretty close. I've grown up following them for as long as I can remember and it's a pretty big thing in my family. Today, the Huskers hosted "Fan Day" and I made the trip to Memorial Stadium to join the fun. This is the 7th time in the last 10 years I've went and it gets bigger each year. My Dad is also a big Husker fan and he usually makes the trip down and we make a day of it. He couldn't make it this year and because of the heat, Dawn didn't go so it was just me this year. I still had a great time. I try to get as many signatures as possible in the alloted time. It's pretty hard to get more than a hand full of players with 10000 people all tring to do the same thing in a hour and half time frame so I started "2 year" signed ball. The first I did was 2006 - 2007 and I got about half of the team. The newest ball, 2008 - 2009, I managed to get the entire team minus the Offensive line and tight ends. There just wasn't enought time. I got 40 defensive and special teams sigs last year and added 37 offensive players this year. Heres some photos of the madness today and some of the future Husker Stars. Enjoy!
Some Crowd shots showing the madness!

QB Zac Lee

WR Will Henry

WR Niles Paul

WR Menelik Holt

LB Phillip Dillard

I Back Quentin Castille

I Back Roy Helu Jr

Head Coach Bo Pelini

Me at the end of the day with my nearly complete team ball. :)