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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

I need a time machine

I'm not into posting on this blog much as this project is winding down. Nevertheless, the last couple weeks much progress has been made and most of the outstanding miscellaneous tasks are now complete. Paint fixed, hinges and magnets mounted to skins for doors to open and close, and the rear door is just about ready to mount after much back and forth how to do it. It will probably be attached with magnets for easy removal and access to the electronics.

As the end of this project is nearing, I sometimes wish I had a time machine knowing what I know now. So many things would be done differently. I absolutely do not like how I mounted my skins. My "better idea" of having the mounting blocks with threaded rod coming out really was a disaster that I'm living with. Putting the skins on is now a major job and those front skins will hopefully remain there for a long time. I also installed the "breadpans" to the frame but then noticed that the door steel for magnets were in the way so I had to pry those off my skins. Good thing I didn't use JB weld. So now I'll have to mount pieces of steel inside my breadpans for the magnets to catch.

Power couplers are now mounted and I have to say they look pretty good. Last night I did a little bit of weathering but not the way most of the guys in the club do. I don't like the layer of brown smear on droids much so I just used some black acrylic paint and a few rags to darken up the edges and cracks ... more like a grease / oil look. It still looks pretty clean but there's more contrast. Weathering is one area I think it's wise to take very slowly.

The two power boards have new mounting hardware and brackets and they are more functional and look more professional. Much easier to remove too. After I finish coming up with mounting techniques for the rear door/skins I can tackle the last remaining big project that I've been putting off. And that's creating a panel to cover the outer feet holes that were needed to mount the motors. That will be a very challenging project and I'm still not sure how it's going to happen.

For side projects, my nephew and I are in the final stages of building his blown up R2 which is basically a full scale R2D2 foot / ankle that looks like it was torn off of a droid in battle with burn marks and wires hanging out. This foot drives via remote control and we made the drive extra heavy duty so it can climb over obstacles and carry a heavy load. So far it looks pretty cool and it's a good chance to do some building with my 10 year old nephew. I'll post pictures when it's done.

4 comments:

danf said...

Jim, let's see some pics of that weathering!

Jim said...

Hey Dan, the weathering so far is pretty subtle and I'll be adding a little as I go. I'm going to hold off on pictures until I get humpty dumpty back together again : )

Anonymous said...

Good to see you posting again Jim.

Gary(fordfun)

Jim said...

Thanks Gary ! Hope you're doing well. It will start cooling down here soon in Florida and make garage time more enjoyable : )