Flashback Friday: 4-28-2010, Day 37 of building R2-TD

Brad, Steve and I finally got a moment to work with my A&A skins. It took a while to get everything ready to mount because those guys use every little piece of styrene for various parts. Each piece is taped down and came out very easy once the tape was removed. I already have some of the parts so I have extra pieces to use for reinforcement or a spare. 

We opted to staple the inter frame as its not likely to be removed. The outer frame is screwed on. We lined everything up with the top top of the frame but after doing it, I wish we should lined it up with the bottom. Anyways, heres some photos of R2 getting some skin! 

Here I remove all the tape and begin to pop out the pieces.

R2 before we begin

We test fitted to make sure everything fits.

Things are startingto look good.

We optedto staple the inter skins


I cut a back access door out of the back piece so I can access the batteries easier.

Things are looking good.

And R2 has skin... now to paint!

Flashback Friday: 3-31-10, Day 35 of building R2-TD

R2 is finally standing on his own feet! I had to sand the third leg a little to get it to fit. One it did, I was able to bolt it on. Than I put the motors on the legs. Than Brad and I inserted the omni balls to the third foot. There you go! A standing, rolling R2! I also found out the hard way R2 rolls around. I was almost in a car accident on my way home. I made a sudden stop and R2 went flying. Only thing I see wrong is one of the rocker bearing bolts is bent. Should be an easy fix. Anyways, heres the photos of the work.

Flashback Friday: 3-2,4-2010, Day 32 and 33 of building R2-TD

Well, this weekend will be the third time I've attempted to paint R2's dome. After the last attempt, we had crackling again in the paint. This time, I've sanded way down to the primer of the previous owners and will add my own primer on top of it. Some spots are all the way down to the original dome. I still have a little more sanding to do but heres my progress so far. 



R2 took a big step today. 1 Motor holder complete. I started the night widening the hole for the motors. Than Moose showed me how everything went together. We did a test run to make sure the motor worked. Things are looking good. We will finish up the motors next time than start wiring. 







No pictures but Motor holder number 2 is assembled. Now I begin work on getting the third leg finished. Hopefully the next photo you see of R2 will be one of him standing on his own with wheels and casters! 

Also, I hope to be able to get the dome all painted with the warmer, above freezing weather here. I'm also going to start painting the legs if everything goes right. More to come later!


Chance of rain this weekend and with the sun out and the temps finally above freezing, I thought I had better get moving. I had a chance to paint a little today so I did! I'm letting the paint cure over night and still have a coat or two left but things are finally starting to come into place for the dome.

Flashback Friday: 2-27-10, Day 31 of building R2-TD

Now I've used many glues before but today I used something and was absolutely amazed. I went to work on R2's dome today. I slipped on a patch of ice and the dome slipped out of my hand. When it was all said and done, there were 5 cracks. Brad had some tech bond handy so I thought I give it a shot. Worked like a charm. With the accelerator it made a perfect "weld" in seconds. With a little sanding and a coat of paint, you can't even tell anything was wrong. Check it out. 




Anyways, I went to work on R2's dome today with Brad. I sanded everything smooth from the mishap last week with the crackling and than we were ready to begin. We put several layers of primer on to make sure no 'foreign' substance was reacting to the paint. Things looked good so we moved to the white. After 3 light coats things were looking good. The forth, something happened and the paint began to crackle again. Not near as bad as last week but still a little there. We stopped for the night and made sure we had the dome in a warm place and will take another shot at it Sunday. 

Flashback Friday: 2-22-2010, Day 30 of building R2-TD

R2 got lots of love this weekend. Saturday, the gang got together at Mooses and worked on our parts. I started to assemble my motor holders only to find out the hole is cut too small. I have to now file it out to make it fit. It's going to take forever!! 




Than Sunday, Brad heated up his garage so we could all paint. I finished off my pie pieces and started on the dome. Something weird happened and my dome paint crackled on me. I'm now sanding it off and will try again with a coat of primer.

Flashback Friday: 2-2-2010, Day 26 of building R2-TD

We had a good turn out for build night. LC and Dash worked on their domes, Moose worked on some skin and I worked on my motor holders. After some "trouble" with the pop rivet gun, we got everything together. Heres some shots from the night. 

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.