Frame work

I found some time this weekend to work further on Artoo. The weather wasn't that great this weekend, so painting any parts for the dome was out of the question. So..... I worked and was able to all but complete the frame on Sunday. Here's some pics of what I accomplished.

I have yet to attach the skirt ring on the bottom, and I've omitted the internal trays as the panels that will cover them are not going to open. The rear door is only temporarily attached with machine screws, so I can get an idea of how I want to open and close it. As of yet, I don't have a latch system in place. I have some of the hardware to finish off the frame and will have to find time later this week to work on that, but for the most part, it's finished.

I couldn't resist setting up the last pic....

More Dome Work

I found some time last night to continue working on the dome. I'm about 90% done with the cutting and *hopefully* I'll be able to get this painted before the weather turns bad. I also started putting some parts together for the A&A frame. This is the rear door, front utility arm carrier, and internal trays.

Frame Arrived!!!

My A&A frame arrived this past Friday!!!! Sooooooo........... Saturday was spent looking it over and cleaning all of the residue of the cutting process off of the parts. Parts were tagged and I even started assembling a couple pieces (the front utility arm carrier and the rear door are done)

Pictures to follow...

Dome Work

More panels cut. I was able to remove 5 panels yesterday. The two larger panels on the side and back are scored and ready to come out, but I'm keeping them in place for structural support. These five panels are already sanded and painted.

My A&A frame should arrive any day now. Can't wait to get that assembled!!!!

Radar Eye

Here is my painted radar eye. There are some imperfections on the piece that I chose to leave "as is". My design is not going to be too worn, but I don't want him having a "fresh out of the factory" look either. Slight imperfections, chips and scratches are welcome here.

On a side note, I finished cutting my pie panels out of the dome. Two panels are painted and complete. Four more with base coats of paint are currently drying. I chose to go with Rustoleum's Cobalt Blue Metallic without the purple undercoat... not quite true to Artoo's coloring, but close enough for my droid.

Early work

Here are some pics of work in progress. These are from earlier this year. So far, I have 4 panels for the body (skins) with pieces cut. They are almost complete, but waiting on a frame before I make the final cuts.

This is early work on my C&D styrene dome. The paperweight on the left side is actually the Radar Eye that will mount onto the dome. (I'll have a better pic of that later..) The panel layout is complete and I am in process of cutting all of the panels out. They will be painted and then re-mounted later in the build.

While many builders work with powered rotary tools, due to the type of material, I chose to cut by hand. I found a saw blade that fits my Xacto set, and this seemed to cut evenly. I have a long way to go, but so far, my cuts been pretty even. The blade size allow me to cut freehand as opposed to setting up a guide.

In the beginnning....

Welcome to my blog spot. This diary has been created to document my progress in creating a full scale replica of an astrodroid from the Star Wars universe.

At this point, I'll lay out the disclaimer - this is not an officially licensed replica and is in no way associated with Lucasfilms. This is a fan built project based on a character created by George Lucas. The intention of the builder, this diary, and project is purely for the enjoyment of the builder, visitors to this site, and of course, those who will eventually come in contact with a "real" astrodroid.

With that said, I welcome you to visit often to check on my progress. More will follow soon...