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. :)

Celebrity Sighting - 2012 Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska Football Fan day is set for Friday from 2 -3:30pm at Memorial Stadium.  The photo above shows where each group of players will be seated. Some reminders:
-Gate 2 and 24 are the only gates open and is also where the restrooms will be.
-1 autographs per player or coach
-Husker Authentic will be on hand selling mechandise outside the stadium
-The event ends at 3:30.  Please allow coaches and players to leave on time.
-Parking is available in lots 5 and 8.

Omaha Nighthawk News! The UFL League is Still alive!

So Tons of UFL Omaha Nighthawks news and rumors over the last week. We learned last week CBS Sports had picked up rights to broadcast the games. Today, we learn the schedule and that all games are during the week and at night! (Times Central Standard) 9-21 Virginia Destroyers 6pm. 9-28 @Sacramento Mountain Lions 10pm, 10-3 Las Vegas Locos 8pm, 10-12 Virginia 6pm, 10-17 Las Vegas 8pm, 10-23 Sacramento 8pm, 10-31 @ Las Vegas 8pm, 11-9 @ Virginia 8:30pm and the Championship game on 11-16 8pm Site to be determined. TD Ameritrade Park posted the schedule on its Facebook page so one would assume that is where they will play again.

Rumor also has it from sources on Twitter and ESPN, Bart Andrus will be the Nighthawks' new head coach (He was last years Offensive Coordinator); league's Larry Weisman is not offering confirmation but also didnt deny it tweeting nothing had been announced yet and to kindly remove all tweets about the Nighthawks coach until an official announcement has been made. (yeah Right!)

Celebrity Sighting - Hacksaw Jim Duggan 8-5-12

Get your 2x4's ready..... Wrestling star Hacksaw Jim Duggan will be signing autographs and meeting fans at Glory Days in Council Bluffs on 8-5-12 from 6pm to 10 pm.  More details on Glory Days Facebook Page.

The making of Jabba's Door - A prop piece on display at Star Wars Celebration VI

Warning: Photo heavy post

With Star Wars Celebration VI just around the corner, I wanted to share the build of a prop piece I helped make for the event. Several months ago, Midwest Robots was contacted to help build a back ground photo piece for the R2 Builders Club room at CVI.  I jumped at the opportunity to help build Jabba's palace front door.  Here are some photos of the build.

Clay programmed the CNC machine to make precise cuts in some insulation foam.

We place the cut pieces together to begin to visualize the whole piece and to make sure everything aligns.

We stand up the pieces to make check the height.

 After we are satisfied with all the cuts, we begin to glue the piece together.

 I didnt have a camera on the painting days, but here you can see the main door all painted.

Rob begins work on some of the weathering of the side pillars. 

 After the pillars are done.  We stand everything up again to make sure everything aligns. 

 Clay found the perfect sandstone paint in a mis-matched clearance bin! 

 We add some texture to the paint to give it a sandy look.

 Clay  airbrushes some of the 'damage'. and 'Blaster marks'

The nearly complete door. 

 We added our mark to the finished product.