Another build day

Tom hosted another build day at his house. The weather was fantastic this time, as last time it was cold and rained on and off. We got a lot of work done on our droids.

First off I showed him my assembly of the center vents. I couldn't get the lower piece to fit inside the outer rings. Since it won't fit I'll take my time with this part and ask some others for help on how to do this right.

Now I'm working on my R2-D2 dome even though its mounted on my imperial frame and skin. So far I mounted the rockler ring, then the JAG plate, then the lower ring, then the plastic ring on top of that. I drilled out all the holes 2 drill bits up from what the holes came in. This makes it easier to take on and off.

Here are the two droids. Time to take the droid on the left with my 300 MM dome to Tom's and work on it.

So I bust this virgins dome's cherry and start cutting the outer dome panels. First I numbered them all with a marker so I know what belongs where. Its simple insert a hand saw like the one seen and slowly cut the tabs. It took me about 45 minutes to cut them all out.

I have to admit this is fun. Kinda of a once in a lifetime experience, or you have to build another dome, or become like Tiny P and work on a bunch of these. Out of all the parts of this droid I worked on this was hands down one of coolest things.

I then spend the rest of the day filing down the leftover slag on the outer dome. It took good hour or two. Then another good hour or two to file all the slag off the panels you just took out. So here is how the droid looks now with all the outer panels removed to see how the two domes line up. Its not bad. I think I'll have to make cuts to make it fit better. I'll need more help with experts on what to do next. I don't have any HPs or radar eye to finish this so I'm in no rush on this dome.

 Droid back at home with his panels all removed. R5 looks on.

 Now both of my droids are really starting to take on the look.