Saturday, August 25, 2007

Dome Work





Finally the paint cured and I was able to install a few more dome parts.

Below the rear logic I installed the thin blue ring. Now I left the split between the panels silver, Because there are different opinions about this area being all blue or having the silver splits and I like the silver showing. The other part for this area, I will install after I fix that little bad spot with some paint.

The front logic bevel and the parts on each side I also installed today. I have the Logic's that the club built and I have the same problem about mounting them. They're suppose to stick out more than what mine are showing, But the Logic pc boards are too large for this tiny area and they bump into each other. Some of the other builders have solved this problem by reworking the boards, But I don't have the soldering skills to go this far into the logic's. So I'll have to settle with how they look.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great Calvin!! You should see the splits in between my panels and dome.....you could park a car in between them!!!! How's Brenda's droid coming along? I managed to add some panels in my dome today too. These are the bottom ones that will be hinged. I will hinge these in the future...and I used silicone, so they wont be hard to take off when I get to that point. I still gotta get some more JB Weld for the hinges to mount to the pie panels. By the way, your logics look great to me.

Calvin Thomas said...

Thanks!!!
There was a big discussion about that area and either way is correct. Brenda will have an update tommorrow on her progress.
How you like that Silicone?
On the Pie Panels, Make sure you add a spacer between the pie and the hinge. It works much better that way and you can add screws to remove the panels if you need to in the future.

Anonymous said...

The silicone is easy to work with, just takes a while to fully cure. And I can get tons more of it at work. I wish I had bonded the domes that way, less cleanup. But, there is still a little JB Weld in alot of the seams that seeped out, and I'm not too worried about it. I did cleanup most of it, but I do want my R2 to be "slightly" weathered, so it does look kinda cool in those areas. I like to think of it as "SPACE DIRT"...LOL.
The best thing about the silicone is that I can take off the lower panels in the future to hinge them. I only have enough hinges for the pie panels at the moment. I have to stop buying parts I dont need right now. What kind of spacer do I need for the pies? I have some scrap aluminum that was cut out from the inner dome. Or, do I need something thicker?

Calvin Thomas said...

Back in December, I used some 3/8 Alumium as spacers between the pie and the hinge. This allowed the hinge to have more travel and a flat area to attach it to the Pie.
I also drilled the screws through the spacer to remove the pie if needed.
I got the idea from Wayne Orr, He had done his pies this way. He used a plastic spacer which works just as good, But I wanted alittle extra weight and used Aluminum.

SuperDad said...

Beautifull!!! All I can say is how great it looks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Victor Franco said...

Dang, that's a great looking blue. Very nice job. I am planning on repainting my dome panels soon, I want them to look like these! :)

-Victor

Calvin Thomas said...

Thanks guys for the comments on the paint. I wish I would have had a dust free area to do the painting, Because I wanted them to look like glass. But painting out doors, This was the best I could do.
Calvin

SuperDad said...

It looks really really good!

It's not dust..its tattoine sand...althought R2 was not painted on Tattoine...

:p

Anonymous said...

I love this shade of blue as well!!! So, with the thin blue ring, are you going to paint it while its on the dome? I was about to paint mine soon, but wasnt sure to do it before or after installed. Tattooine sand? Sounds good to me!!! LOL

Calvin Thomas said...

Thanks Jason, I value your opinions.

John, I painted the thin ring and then I installed it on the dome.
But it took about 2 weeks for the paint to fully cure so I could touch it.
The large panel around the Rear Logic, I installed it 1st and then I painted it. I had to do it this way because the Logic Bezels do not match the hole in a R&J dome.
Calvin