About the new R6 unit in production

Just got the new publicity release from Brad about R5-PQ. Too cool for words.

R5-PQ Done !!!!!

My good friend Brad miraculously completed a project he's been working on for a year. Brad built a prototype R5 droid in memory of our son Paul. He named it R5-PQ and used Paul's favorite colors. Paul was with us at MegaCon in 2007 and I'm sure he would be honored from all the hard work Brad poured into this project. It's just amazing to me that he finished it on time. Brad is an AMAZING builder.

I consider the promoters of MegaCon friends of ours and when they found out what Brad was doing they asked if they could print a writeup of Brad's project in the MegaCon program which is pretty cool to Yvonne and me.

But on another note ... I don't know why people are uncomfortable with the fact that a droid was built in honor of our son. Pictures were posted by someone on the R2 forum about R5-PQ and there was not a single response. I have to be honest, that bothers me. It's something that was built by Brad to honor Paul. I think it's one of the nicest things someone could do. I only mentioned Brad's project once before on the R2 forum when I announced MegaCon and got the same zilch response. Must be too heavy of a subject for most people. But it is what it is.

Robotic road trip

Moving 7 robots is no easy task. Especially the delicate ones. Acrylic bubbles, neon and impossible to replace parts make it a challenge. It just takes one slip. Another problem is if you're not always tearing them down, it's easy to forget how the internals are put together. Most of the robots I build are fairly easy to take down and put together as I tried to label a lot of the wire connections. But some of my robotic controllers have a rats nest of wires in them and aren't that well documented. So if they get messed up, it's back to square one.

Another problem with moving these robots is the sheer weight of some of the parts. B9 weighs a ton and moving the treadsection and legs can be a real challenge. Because there's no good places for your hands. If I had to build the treadsection again, I would use sturdier materials. The plans called for thin plywood in some areas and if I were doing it over, I would use something stronger.

My last minute R2 repairs are not working too well so it's going to be a race to the finish to have R2 ready. The other builders will know all the imperfections that need fixing but 999 out of 1000 spectators won't see them. Kids don't care.

Yesterday we finalized plans for dinner on Saturday night with the builders group. We'll be going to a buffet at a nearby hotel and then attend the Ghostbusters AfterLife party. Complete with a full group of GhostBusters in authentic GB attire. And ... with Beatlejuice to keep things lively. Ought to be fun.

Frequencies and side project

More last minute details. I know for a fact that at least 3 of us use the 12 channel remote to control something in our robots. In my case I use it with the CFII Sound card. Last time at MegaCon I remember a few builders controlling each others droid with the 12 channel remotes. So tonight I modified my remote and receiver to use a different frequency. The hardest part was removing the boards from my droid so I could solder them. You have to solder a few connection points together on a bank of pins on the receiver and then match the solder point to a similar connection on the remote. I need to break down and buy a fine soldering iron as mine is a little bit too large and clunky (but I love it).

I also fixed my Robby gyros which got busted at MegaCon 2 years ago. Not a real big repair and only took an hour.

Yesterday I had my jawa nephew over and we worked on our "side project" that we would like to have done before MegaCon. It will be a life size foot from a droid that will look like it was blasted off from a battle. We hope to put scorch marks on it and melted wires coming out the ankle and make it driveable. It's close but with the tight time limits between now and MegaCon, we're not sure we'll have it ready by then. My assistant Jawa is working hard so we'll see if we can get it done.

Bluer than blue

The paint job on the blue panels of the dome just didn't cut the mustard. So I took the time to tape off the mounted top panels and applied some fresh paint to them all. It took care of a few scratches and other blemishes.

I also made a little top nipple out of a Phillips head bolt by filling in the place you stick the screw driver (not sure what you call that) with liquid nails and then I filled it with several coats of glazing putty. Surprisingly it came out nice. Then I painted a washer and used that in place of the part that came with the dome as they were the same size. Looks outstanding if I have to say so myself.

Now I need to summon the courage to install robart hinges on the dome panels. That's something I keep putting off and will probably install after Megacon. I need to talk to the other builders and get some more hints before I try that.

So now my dome top panels look a nice deeper shade of blue than what they were. I'll probably have to work some other ones in the future but looks great for now.

Spitz Lift

I got the new Spitz lift yesterday and have to say I'm impressed with the quality of this lifting crane. It's the old saying ... you get what you pay for. Unfortunately the crane was about 3-4 inches too short for this massive escape pod. I can get the pod into my truck but that means a little bit of tilting of the box which I'd rather not do. So I contacted the manufacturer and after conferring with their engineer, they are sending me a slightly extended (extra 6") main shaft of the lift. This will be perfect but I'll have to wait while they have it custom manufactured and powder coated. I'm in no hurry so no big deal.

Spitz Lift is one of those great American companies that takes care of it's customers. I'm glad I bought it and to me it's worth the extra money. Oh and I was also impressed with how quickly I can deploy and take down the lift. Which means if we're being chased by storm troopers or bounty hunters, a quick getaway is always something you have to consider.

Minor details .. and BOMS AWAY !

I have approximately 2 million minor details to attend to before MegaCon and that's just what I've been doing. Nothing that blogworthy so I haven't been posting much and probably won't until MegaCon.

Today I finished the Escape Pod and I'm ready to take my droid a travelin. I should get the spitz lift Tuesday and then I can try it out. Yvonne came up with the idea to latch the ramp from the inside so I don't have hardware on the outside of the ramp to keep a slim profile (so it can get in a standard doorway). I also built some heavy duty handles on the sides so if something happens to the crane, a couple guys could probably lift the droid in the pod into a truck.

I have trouble staying focused lately but today I kept busy working on the dome. I used some superb all metal polish and sealer called BOMS AWAY ! It was recommended to me by Darren who I bought my dome from. This stuff is amazing. My dome is starting to look pretty spiffy.

Other projects I wanted to have complete by MegaCon will not happen. I was going to motorize the B9 torso and Robby's head using a computer module so they would appear to be looking around. It would have been really cool but I just didn't have the time and I'm not going to stress about it.

Well off to do some more polishing BOMS AWAY !!!!!!