Well, now that my artoo has been doing events for almost a year now parts do ware out. Nothing has really worn out yet but because my artoo’s legs are my own scratch built design I’ve seen spots for improvement. So, the older legs will be installed on my new artoo R2-A1 because there are working fine as there are. However, my newer legs, which we can call legs 2.0, will follow the same basic building technique except for I will be including a compartment for booster rockets that pop out whien the booster covers slide down. Anyone who has scratch built these things knows its not easy and require a lot of thought because once you’ve begun gluing and covering it’s too late to go back and change. Anyway, here are a few pictures to give you an idea of how I’m going about it. And yes, I have already scratch built the booster rockets. Those pictures and how-to I will post a little later

This was my second major event this Fall. This time it was a Childs Convention (Underbara barn) in Stockholm. It was a pretty good event and I even got to meet some Swedish celebrities. These celebrities never usually come to SciFi events so it was extra cool. Everyone, kids and adults love my artoo. And with my new dome it made artoo look and feel even more “real” to the spectators and attendees. The funny thing was that no one considered that I even built him. They assumed that its the artoo from the movies

Yes, I haven’t stopped working on my R2-A1. I just didn’t want to re-post every step by step of this build. If anyone wants to know more about building the frame like I did just ask or look into the previous posts. Okay, saying that what new with this build besides it being black. Well, for starters I have used 2 different kinds of paint. The main frame is painted with “car-bumper” black. Its not totally a flat black but very close to it with a kind of “stealthy” finish. All of the parts like the vents, arms and such are painted with a semi-glossy black. The coin returns are silver but i actuality the front coin return should have been black as the other parts. this was a choice that I made so that everyone who see’s my artoo will know that this one is mine, as I have already seem 2 builders of this R2. As for those copper coloured panels I have no idea why but yes they are supposed to be that way. It looks cool anyway. Anyway here are a few pictures and by the way, yes my first artoo has finally the new aluminum dome installed as you can see in one of the pictures.  I have give it a semi-polished surface to give it a real and used look feel about it and when the periscope comes up and own you get a metallic clinging sound to it, that is just priceless

And here’s the mystery third panel on my R2-A1:

I guess you can call it a major part because its not little, lol. Yes, the dome is done with LCD lighting and such. I added a 3rd LCD screen like Calvin did because the screen is black like R2-A1 paint job so it looks like a “regular” panel until it lights up. It looks so cool!!   The paint job was a a little tricky because you paint it once, fill and file the imperfections ( a boo boo in layman’s terms) and repaint and so forth. Once it was done it looked so cool

Well, I promised and update on the LCD front and rear logics and here they are. Keep in mind that the video camera can’t give you a picture of how rich the colors really are.

this is how rich the colors appear on the LCD screens:

I’m going to be building the R2-A1. Because I have a new dome which I am working at the moment I thought I’d repaint and install the LCDs as logics in the old plastic dome. At the same time I’m preparing my new aluminum dome with all the goodies I made earlier.

Okay, the new LCD screen that I ordered from ebay has finally arrive it’s 2.4 inches and works perfectly. I will perhaps change out the internal battery for a little longer running time but at present it lasts for hours on one charge. Next from ebay is a 5 inch version for the rear logics. I will post pics when they arrive. As I mentioned in a earlier post this is a simple solution for those that have issue with LEDs and the wiring. That should be anyday now. Keep in mind once again that video cams can’t give the LCD display justice. The still pics give you and idea

This summer has been a work on the house kind of summer, but as my new events season is just around the corner it’s soon time to fix, repaint and change domes. Changing it to the metal aluminum dome, finally. While I was in the mists of changing out the domes inner electronics I got an idea while reading Calvin’s R2 blog. I’m not sure where his idea’s come from but from his I begin to rethink my major artoo issue and presto!!!  Because of the 1001 LED lights and fiber optics as well as other things in there I always had a lack of space in there.  Now I finally figured how to make this no longer an issue and it only costs around 20 dollars. Yesterday I bought a key ring with a 1.5 inch LCD digital photo album to test an idea I had.  I dismantled it down to its prime parts and then made a sequence of displays in Photoshop and the results speak for itself. This is looking to be a great way to increase the space and lessen the weight. I may change out most of the LED for this in the dome. By the way, the display was almost as bright as my LED version. And, the LCD screen lasts for 8 hours per charge. Here are some pictures and video. Keep in mind that the colours are rich in reality but video filming an LCD screen just doesn’t look too great

Well, in the past I’ve seen some historic places and places that left me in awe. Tunisia was something above it all. The Sahara desert, waterfalls in the middle of nothingness, the world’s largest dried lake bed that stretches for hundreds of miles in all directions  and most importantly the places where they filmed, Star Wars, Gladiator and Indiana Jones. The Muslims have their Mecca but we Star Wars Fans have Tunisia!!! Every die hard SW fan has to at least once in their lifetime visit the place where it all began for us. I’ll try and keep my boasting down to a minimal and let you just enjoy the pictures. I will say this much. I plan to visit again within the next year and it will be a SW only excursion. Who knows, I may even find a way to bring my real artoo along