Chrome Domes

I had my other dome "shined on" by Hands off Polishing of Garland, Tx. These guys are great and not too expensive either. These guys have been written up in motorcycle magazines for their chrome and aluminum machine work. They have done such good work in the past that they even held the NASA contract for the Mars Lunar Rover project for some of the drive parts and assemblies. This is the dome for the Dallas Children Hospital Project. If you guys are looking to find someone to buff out your domes then I would recommend these guys. 1 more week and my aluminum parts should be back from the painters! I feel like a child waiting for Christmas morning!!

T minus 80 days and counting.......

Plano Comic Con is Oct 20th. Maybe My droids will be ready by then to run up and down the halls of the Plano convention center in a finished state. I am waiting for Stuarts Paint and Body to finish my R2 and R5 painting.

My astromechs will be R/C'd with the Dx7 Spread Spectrum RC system. Inside Electronics consist of the following items: Vantec RDFR23 for the Drive Motors, RET411P for the dome controller, Robotic servos for the doors and dome panels, CF3 sound system, 12ch RF remote from Cold Fusion, Footdrive motors are NPC 2212's. My Goal is for both of them to eventually look something like below

Waiting for the paint to dry

Right now I have sent my Aluminum parts to be painted professionally to get a beautiful lasting finish. The auto body shop is rather backed up so it will take a little while to get them back. In the mean time, I just got my 2nd 300mm dome from Daren Murrer. If you have the means I highly recommend them. So I guess my next step is to start cutting out the doors, polishing the domes and attaching hinges...Robart Hinges that is!! This dome I took to Hands off Polishing in Garland, Tx. They are the ones who have the contract to polish the parts for the Mars Rover from NASA! Here is what one of the domes looks like after polishing the lines out. The picture does not do it justice.

It's Alive!!!!.......well kind of.........

C4 was the first Star Wars convention I had ever attended. It was a trip. So much to see and do. Coming to the droid room was amazing. So many droids and different levels of craftsmanship. It was a great learning experience. I assembled my basic droid in the builders room and boy was I intimidated! This droid was assembled and did its first RC move at C4. Such a good Feeling!! At the time I thought I was way behind but after talking with my new friends I found out that this went very fast .....I was a proud poppa.....

Darren Murrer donated 1 of his domes for the Dallas Children's Droid. Cole cut the panels out and he also used my dome in making the tutorial for the new 300mm domes.

When I started wiring my Vantec RDFR23 controller it didt work originally. Tom Jozwiak help me correct a slight wiring transposition. Once that was done he started moving around. One of the things I learned very quickly was that the powered wheel needs to be to the front of the droid where as the omni balls needed to be toward the rear. I had it reversed. So while he was on the carpet it was very difficult for him. But move he did!!! That was all I had hoped for out of this trip.