Dome Progress and More Parts...

Well, after quite a bit of work I'm getting closer to finishing the dome. This dome I guess you could call my "starter dome" as I'm excited to be getting a new 300mm dome soon enough. The styrene dome was a great way to get my feet wet and I haven't decided weather to see if another builder could use this one and get a new styrene or repaint this but my plans are to paint this to match a background droid from ANH, a red and white dome. This will allow me to be a little more flexible if needed. Again, this was a great learning opportunity.

This is the styrene dome, with front and rear PSI's from Mike Velcheck and the radar eye, lens, and logic surrounds are from Azman. I'm waiting on the JEDI display for the logics. There is also a micro controller (roboduino) that is moving the front HP.

I love the look of R2 in ANH, I love the beat up dirty look that really projects a great story behind each scratch. I'm details the panels and will be using a few techniques for the dome, I'm pretty happy with the styrene dome and think after weathering it a bit more, things will blend much better.

Here's my solution on how to attach JAG's new skirt to my wood frame. I'm sure there are much better ways to do this, but this is how my brain came up with it, it attaches perfectly and looks good, strong, and stable.

I'm waiting on the foot drives to come in, JEDI controller, motors, and I'm working on soldering the slip ring connection boards to the slip ring to bring power up to the dome. I'm also working on a few details that will be hiding behind a few panels, once I'm happy with the fit, I'll glue up the frame and then get starting really putting things together. Once the frame is glued, I'll start cutting out panels and painting the skins before things get cold and wet around here.

It looks like I'll be going to R2LA and look forward to visiting with some other builders.