Is this the end ??

I guess not!
For the ancient Romans it would have been the 28th of february, but because of thecfact, that we use the gregorian calendar for quite a while now, this is the last day of the year now!
I wish every blog reader a nice slide into 2018!!

X-mas

OK, this post is some days too late!
But i hope you had some great xmas days.
I guess, i was a nice guy over the year, because Santa brought me a nice present!

Shoulder Flanges

..or what is the right description for these rings?

my cnc shop buddy made me a small series of them. looking pretty cool on every droid!
and, just by the way, they aren´t available on this planet at the moment!!!

Second troop

...tomorrow!
another cinema, but again with my daughter and bb-8.

 Here is a picture from the thursday troop with our local radio hosts Sascha and Clara:

Cinema Troop

yesterday we went to the local cinema for the troop, organized by a local radio station and the cinema itself.
they invited us for a troop beginning at 6.p.m. unfortunately there was a big car accident on a main crossing inside the city and we almost got too late for the show.
we only had 5 minutes for changing clothes and ran into the cinema, where already all the spectators were waiting for us.
3 minutes for a short interview with the radio crew and we were out of the room so the people could see the film!

the time after that was a little bit more "relaxing". i built up the display having r2-t4 and bb-8 in the middle.

our team was great and we had (as always) a big time! (picture above shows my daughter in the episode 8 costume) the people were great, we made some funny and stunning pics! later, a woman from the radio station interviewed us and got on air the next morning in the local radio.   

by the way; these porgs are really everywhere!!!

As expected...

...was the newest episode of star wars, the last jedi.

they made several trailers before the premiere, in which the audience should be led into the complete wrong way by having put scenes or text together into the wrong context... funny in the end but...as expected...

but for me definetely one of the best films in the long row aof already made films, sequels or whatever was made in the star wars empire...

Erwartungsgemäß...

..gut hatte sich der star wars film herausgestellt. stellenweise mit ein paar wirklich lustigen stellen, spannung und unerwarteten handlungsabläufen (ich will ja nicht spoilern!!).

und die trailer haben (auch wie erwartet) durch ein geschicktes aneinanderreihen oder weglassen von bildern und text eine teilweise falsche auffassung von handlungsabläufen und spekulationen entstehen lassen, die letztendlich so nicht im film abliefen.

aber alles in allem einer der besten in der langen reihe von bereits entstandenen filmen des star wars imperiums...

Day Zero

today will be the day!
premiere day of "the last jedi".

we will troop this evening in our local cinema and there is still so much to do! preparing bb-8 (doing the last electronical stuff on the body), preparing r2-t4 (change the left battery box) and clean it and so on...

because i am the responsible person for this evening´s event, i have to be earlier in the cinema. before that i have to pick up my kids, all their costume stuff, have to load the bus with the droids and and and...

Shiny and new...

...the ali battery box is.
i removed the worn out shabby styrene/wood left battery box from r2-t4´s foot.

the harnesses found their way to the new box. i used some glue to fix them, because they are made of resin. later, when the ali feet will be mounted to r2-d2, the ali battery harnesses will replace them.  

Star Wars Episode 8

tomorrow will be the day of the year!

we will do a troop at the local cinema and after it we will see the film.

yesterday i got the leather parts for the episode 8 rey costume. a darker brown and wider belt, the strap for the arm and the holster. everything in top notch quality from a good friend.

today my daughter is doing the tunica for the costume together with my mum. luckily my mother had a rest of textile in the right color for the belt area to complete the costume.

Ali Shoulder Ring Update

good news on the ali shoulder ring update!
i could already check the prototype this noon instead of this evening and gave an OK for a small series.
it took a long time, but now it will be finished soon.

more news on that later!!

Ready to rumble !!

bb-8 is ready for the troop on thursday!!

but unfortunately my daughter isn´t ready with her episode 8 rey costume!! the tunika and the shirt have to be prepared. she thinks to begin (!!!) with that tomorrow! one day before the troop!!
i think she is completely nuts!!

Dome electronics

Of course the dome must have some lights and sound.
Therefore i bought some led's in the right colours. And Ian had a small box with additional led' in different colours and sizes, too.
Here is the dome with a look in side...

On the Internet i bought some battery boxes (with on/off switches integrated) for 3 and four 1,5 v Batterie. So i can usd the soldered electronics and the single led's. They run on 4,5 v and 6 v.

Primering and Painting

you guessed it; again a time consuming part of the build!

oh, i forgot to mention the dismantling of some of the ring elements! the inner shells didn´t really fit into the rings! here is what i mean...

so "breaking" the four segments, adding the inner shell, put everything back together and glueing them again.
after this action, there were some small gaps, that had to be refilled. therefore i used some fine putty. sanding was the next step.

when the surface was smooth enough, a grey primer could be applied as to be seen on the above pic!

then again some fine sanding and the first of three layers of orange paint found it´s way to the plastic surface!

Panel works

It's time consuming to work on the shell parts of bb-8.
There was a big issue with the sectioned parts of them. I had to reopen the outer ring elements, to get them better fixed to the inner shells.
And after this another masking of the inner panels was necessary; the outer rings got a new special glue and the surface had to be smoothened with some fine putty.

After the sanding process, another coat of primer had to be applied. Then again some sanding and the final step, the orange paint could be painted.

four more to go!!

Time out

after a two day time out, the compressor is working again!!
the technician came in this morning and repaired the heart of my enterprise. without it nothing works, well almost!!

this means, the battery boxes, waiting for the sand shower, could be sandblasted now!

and here they are, freshly mediablasted and ready for a primer job!

Disco Droid

the electronics are ordered! a full sound and light system called "disco droid". this complete kit will come from the phillipines.
i hope to get this right in time. the guy told me the last time it took 7 days to get to another builder in germany. and some days of this time it was on hold at the customs!!

plan b is (if it doesn´t come from the phillipines right in time), to build a low budget version of it with the electronics i bought two weeks ago.
some blinking here and there, everything not so perfect, but with lights and sound (from a bluetooth speaker connected to a micro sd card).

Inner Panels

the inner panels are finished now. except the electronics (led´s) they are ready to be mounted to the outer rings.

but these aren´t ready! i have to cut them at the gluing areas again after checking out, that the inner panels doesn´t really fit!!
this will be a tricky thing but i hope to get this managed.

Just a little bit...

...of paint here and there, some lights and you're done he wrote...
Well this sounds easy, but it's not what anybody else would have expected.
Well, for me this always a sign for ' there is plenty of more work to do on that!!'.
And i was right!!
Mounting the frame took a lot of time! Tiny M3 screws and nuts are NOT good for big fingers.
Primering the shell parts at temperatures around 0 degrees isn't good, too!
Finding out that several screws in the kit were missing, as well four ali rods with threads for the frame construction.
So a short trip after work was necessary to get this project done right in time!
I bought an aluminium rod as well 200 screws in two different lengths.

BB-8 Droid

Yess!!!
A new project!
This lifesize bb-8 has a mixture of an inner "rollcage"; lasercutted aluminum parts and 3d printed parts.
They are forming a highly solid base.
Here you can see it; Trillions of tiny screws and nuts are holding the structure together.

Preparing the outer sheets; sanding and one of several layers of primer/filler we're applied on the outer shell parts.

Don't ask; the fourth one is damaged.
The outer sheets are 3d printed parts, as well is the dome.

Next step was to get the small printed parts into the dome. Tricky, but successful in the end!
The first outer panels we're fixed onto the inner frame structure:

Looks like a real Droid now...  :)

And He can 'talk' now...

The secret...

...is no more secret!

the postman rang only once but had a big parcel in his hands!

this was inside:

Bientot... Soon...

vraiment bientot les pièces pour mon prochain projèt vont arriver!!

mais au moment, c´est encore un super secret!!!

je pense que les pièces vont arriver aujourd´hui... ben, j´espère!!


it will be really soon when the parts for my next project will arrive!!

but at the moment, it´s still super secret!

i think to get the parts today... well, i hope so!!