October is just too much fun!

I've been slacking on the blog lately, tis true.  But I blame October and all it's amazing fun times.  (guess what I'm blogging about next??)  Between birthdays and house guests and parties...oh my....it's been a little rough getting to the blog.  But alas, more picture progress fun is coming today!

The last pic I posted was that R2 now has 2 legs.  Dan likes to surprise me with progress, so seeing his second leg done was pretty awesome.  But wait...it gets better!

He surprised me with R2's eye and coin slots too!  Finding the correct color blue has proven difficult.  Mixing colors is the only way to get what we want.

So now that the legs are built (and bondo-ed, primed, painted, repeat) now it is time to do a bunch of work that no one will ever notice.  Internal structure support, extra weight bearing blah blah blah.  When I come home Dan has something super awesome to show me and it honestly doesn't look all that different.  But it is stuff that needs to be done to make R2 run properly and not fall apart.  So bravo, Dan!  :)  

Once all the boring stuff is done (have you noticed the horse shoes are 2mm taller? I didn't either) we can paint and add fun R2 details.

You see that stuff around the edges.  Know what it is?  It's carbon scoring!  Looks like R2 has seen a lot of action. 

More mechanical stuff.  Like making R2 be able to move from 2 legs to 3.  

2 leg stance 

3 leg stance

At this point in the build Dan has shown me things day in and day out where I have to ask him to show me the detail he has worked on.  For about a week I haven't noticed much of a difference besides structural (aka boring) stuff.  So on this day I'm driving home from work getting text after text saying, "Are you almost home?" "When will you be home?" (Don't worry...I only responded at red lights.) After being throughly confused and intrigued as to why he was so anxious for me to get home, I walk in the door (to which he barely lets me enter) and he shows me this.....

Don't feel bad.  I have no idea what the big deal was either.  Something added to the ankle.  Yayyyyy....sarcasm...yayyy....

And then I walk in further.....

Holy crap!  R2 has a body!!!!!!!  And is standing!!!!!!!

See?  He likes to surprise me.  

He is standing on temporary feet next to our pool table.  But he is the correct height, so you can see how big he really is!  Somehow he doesn't look that big in the movies.  

For over a week he had been working on the frame (to which he did purchase and put together - I have to ask him who he bought it from.  The quality is amazing and this guy deserves mention!) and I had no idea.  What is even funnier is I actually saw the frame put together in his closet and didn't realize what it was.  My view was this (minus all the screws) and I actually put some of Dan's junk (I mean stuff, very important stuff) on top of it while I was cleaning.  

So R2 has a body.  And!!!  Guess who got a baby R2 for her birthday????  He is way too much fun to play with!  Just makes me even more excited for the big one!  :)

I tried to post a video of him but it wouldn't post for some reason.  Sad face.  

Thanks for reading!  More to come soon!

Progress

So I am crazy behind on the progress of R2.  Dan has been working for about 5 weeks now and has gotten so much done, I can't keep up!  After talking about how we would start, first saying we are going to start with the frame...no, no, the dome....we start with the legs.  Sounds like us.  So the fun now begins with pictures of the progress!!!  

This is one of the first pictures I took.  First leg, ankle,and center foot. (after the measurements were corrected)

Starting work on the center foot.  We are using wood and styrene.   

We got a wheel!

Some detail work on the center foot.

More detail work.  Started priming.  

Bondo, primer, sand....and repeat

So much work for such a little foot!

We got the shoulder hub and booster cover.

This picture makes me laugh.  I sent it to my Dad saying something like "look, it's a foot!" or something nearly as clever.  And his response was, "Lucille Ball?"  Wait, what?  He thought the red stuff was lips and this was a face.  I love you, Daddy-O, and your ability to see things in clouds. :)

All primed and ready!

Center foot painted and leg coming along nicely.

I leave for work, come home, and BAM!  Two legs! Holy crap!

Now again, I say "we" very loosely.  Dan has done all the work thus far.  (I helped today though!) And I'm almost tempted to post pictures of the increasing mess this build is causing too, just because.  In my kitchen no less!  

Stay tuned for more pictures!  Today (10/11/12 - and no we didn't plan that) was a MONUMENTAL day for the build.  And don't worry, I won't keep you too long in waiting.  

Thanks for reading!

It begins....

So, Dan likes to build things.  No, no.  He HAS to build things.  It's the weirdest thing.  If he doesn't get to create something with his hands, he gets antsy and fidgety and crazy bored.  It had been a few weeks since the Bane project (see, more to blog about!) so I knew the day was coming till I heard him say, "I just gotta make something!"  (And yes, every time I hear him say that I have a Dane Cook moment and think, "I just gotta dance!") But anyway....

I knew he was getting antsy.  I also knew that Star Wars Celebration 6 was coming up.  SWC6 = absolute nerdgasm.  So not only was I crazy excited to go and get my SW nerd on; but I knew this would be a good place for him to go and absorb all the fun fan created works of art.  And it worked.  Enter the R2 builders!

The R2 builders club is one of the most fascinating and kick ass group of people ever.  Not only do these guys and gals build awesome droids for fun, but they do it to make a difference.  One member, with the help of the group, created a pink droid for a very special little girl who had brain cancer. (She got to snuggle R2!)  And now this droid, adorably named R2-KT after Katie Johnson) helps raise money for the Make-A-Wish foundation and The Children's Cancer Fund.  Check out their website at www.r2kt.com.  They also take their droids to schools and functions to promote education and science.  Pretty awesome. 

R2-KT

This group is also unique in that they all want to help each other out.  I was amazed at how long we stayed in the R2 builders room at SWC6 just talking.  These guys want to share how they did things, how they accomplished all the hurdles of their builds.  I was told that this is very unlike most people in the effects industry.  We saw one builder had blue prints for his build on his table, so we ask him, "How do we go about getting blueprints, or how much are they?" And he tells us, "They are free on the website!" So yeah, free blueprints + Dan's under stimulated and over creative mind = Our R2 is born.  

We talked about it for about a week before Dan started buying materials.  Once he got the idea in his head, it was all over.  This was in September, so I am a little far behind with the timeline.  (He told me later that he had always thought about building a droid, but a stationary one.  He said I was the "driving force" to make it now and make it move and talk and whatnot.  And how great it would be to have our kids grow up with an R2.  SWOON!)  

This is a picture I stole from Pinterest.  We saw this droid at SWC6 (I wish I knew the builder to give him/her credit!) But come on, how freaking adorable is this?!?!?!  

Pics to come of our build very soon!  I have a whole month of work to catch up on!


If you would like more information on this kick ass group of people, you can visit their site www.astromech.net and check them out.  

The R2 Files - Beginnings

It Begins!!!!

So, Dan and I are building an R2 unit.  I say the "and I" part very loosely as I have very little to do with the actual build process besides moral support and finances.  And now this blog!  I thought it would be a fun idea to blog about the build process and Dan will be able to link this blog to the R2 builders club as well.  (Yes, there is an actual R2 builders club...and they are freaking amazing! But more on that later.)  Later on I can also show some of the other stuff that Dan has made and the future builds that he and I do.  Don't worry world, I'm getting myself back in the creative saddle too!

But for now, I am just getting this wonderment of the interwebs started.  This is my first blog ever as well, so please bear with me.  

Also - if and when I say something about the build that sounds technical and smart...it is most likely something Dan said to me that I'm attempting to quote or just interpreting into my own non-technical jargon.  Any technical questions that come up will most definitely be directed at him.  :)

And so....here we go!