Hello Holo

Remounted the front Holo, So now there's no hole in his head.

I also mounted the Restraining Bolt. Now most builders attach this with a magnet, But this R2 will be around a lot of children and I figured if I plan to keep him in one piece it better be bolted down.

So I drilled and tapped the Bolt and screwed it to the skins for safe keeping. My R2 will be a family treasure after I'm gone and I'm building it too last. I don't ever plan to repaint R2. So if it becomes damaged or scratched, At that time it will get weathered and look even more like the real R2.

Now that the front is finished, I will complete the rear skins.

All Closed

The front is all closed now.

There is some fine tuning to do, But it will have to wait until I get most everything finished.

I knew once I got him together, I would have to go back and fine tune parts for a better fit. The doors I temporally tape them into place so when I get the hinges I can get them moving.

The Large Data Port had to be mounted after the skin was installed.

I don't know if this is normal, But it fits so tight that the skin won't pass the edges of the port. This will be a pain if I need to remove the skins, But it's all bolt on parts.

What a PAIN!!!

Man I tell you this was a REAL PAIN!!!!

Getting the Liquid tape on the slots and the priming then painting was terrible.

Once we got the blue dried enough to work,

We had to get the Liquid tape back off the slots and then Clearcoat the blue.

I don't look forward to the Octo. on the back of R2.

After this fully dries, We will do some touchup to the white and this will give me a sharp edge between the 2 colors.

Small Steps

Sorry the pic is kinda crooked, But I had to lay on the floor to get the pic.

You'll start seeing a lot of pics like this one as I make progress on finishing R2. This pic shows the installed vents and the Power Coupler. Behind the 2 vents, I have 2 nice speakers for the midrange/high sounds. The bass will come from the speakers I have mounted under the large side vents on each side of R2. (Yeah!!!, Booming R2 and his lead tune will be: Lowrider from the 80's)

I will be painting the doors today and will tape them on the backside as to close up the front skins.

Once I get the hinges for the doors, Then I will get them swinging and down inside the door pockets I will cover this area with styrene and paint the styrene white to give it a nice finish.

Lookin' Closer

He's starting to look more like the real thing.

Once I can handle the skins better, I will add the Large Data Port to his chest and install the Vents in the surrounds.

Well, This is where I'm at so far with the build.

Wet Paint

Yep, It's still wet!!!

It was alot of fun doing the tape work, But here's how it turned out.

I got 1 Boo-Boo at the tope of the Octagon Port so I'll have some touchup paint to do, But all and all I guess I'm happy with the results. Once it dries the shine will fade to the Satin finish.

It will be 1 week before I can paint the blue around the Octo. I need the white to be completely dry so I can tape it up and paint the blue.

Skin Work

I countersunk 4- screws into the skin to hold the Octagon Port in place and then I used Glazing putty and Bondo to smooth the edges and hide the screws. Now I know this is a permanent way of mounting the Octo., But I studied the pics and the blue around the edges is suppose to come all the way out to the skins instead of stopping just before the skin area and having a white ring around the Octo. Right now your seeing the primer and as soon as skins dry from sanding I'll start the painting.

The Coin Slots, I decided to go with the blue around the sides and bare aluminum on the ends. Someone told me since I have a shinny dome that my R2 looked more like the Empire Strikes Back version and from the pics this is how it looks. There is some loose paint from edging around the ends down inside the gaps, But this will be behind the skins and won't be seen so I didn't worry about getting the droppings out.

I'll post more pics as soon as I get the skin painted and hopefully it turns out nice.

Testing

This is a test, I did not know we could post Video on the Blog