Square One
Back to square one! I really didn't like the skins R2 has. They were rushed, painted poorly, weathered even worse and just made me feel bad looking at them because I know I can do better. I've set it as my mission for 2020 to get myself sorted out and get him some new skins. Mark from the UK Builders group has been able to secure a run of styrene frames and skins so for a couple of hundred I can get some CNC cut styrene skins. Here's a link to that run if anybody wants to read up and get some — Styrene Frame Run — Whilst his skins are off, I'll be taking him to a friend of mine that has his own workshop and see if he can re-make some parts for me and with any luck may be able to get a rear hatch.
R6 Panel Sanding
I have also done some work on R6 since I felt he was being neglected a bit. I started by filling and sanding the panels and making sure they fit. I haven't
glued them in yet because I've learned from doing R2, leave the gluing until last unless the part requires gluing straight away. Using 80grit, 120, 320 and
then a very fine sanding sponge these panels have come out lovely and smooth and when the weather warms up they'll be going outside for priming.
There is a really satisfying feeling when you take your time on something. Ended up spending a total of about 24-30 hours on a couple of panels, hands were
red raw afterwards but it was worth it.
Star Wars - Rise Of Skywalker
Plenty of time has passed now at the time of writing this post for people to have seen this film if they wanted to. I absolutely loved this film. Answered so many questions I had after the last one and really surprised me at how good it was. I wont be sitting here discussing all of it but just know that I loved it and highly recommend anyone who is on the fence to go and see it. Of course there are parts I wish were in it, for example at the end when Rey heard the voices of Jedi, I do wish there were Force Ghosts instead of voices and I also wish there was an epic fight scene with the light sabers, I mean, the one between Rey and Kylo Ren was good but something a bit more at the end would have been perfect but that's just my opinion.
R2's Radar Eye
R2's radar eye was a bit of a disaster originally. The printer has messed up printing some parts but I think I know why. My theory is that due to the
orientation of the piece, the nozzle began to print above the flat line in which the extruder was at when pulling the filament in. If you imagine the
extruder pulling in filament, to start with its below this line and at max its level with it. My printer went above that line (that wasn't the problem)
but the problem was the extruder from what I recall was the original stock one and essentially pulling the filament upwards into the extruder was a bit too
much for the extruder to handle so it started to under extrude.
Since then, I have bought a resin one from DJ Designs. Came very quickly and it is very nice, slight bit more sanding needed as I have stated in a previous
post but now I have actually painted it. I have given it light sand after the paint dried as when it dried there was a bit of dust and a few slight bumps on
it so, again once the warmer weather comes it'll get some more coats. I do need to find a better way to secure the bolts into the eye though as hot glue just
doesn't cover it, and they're easy to fall out, perhaps some epoxy glue would do the trick?
Just an FYI, the picture shows the whole eye as blue, I actually gave it a silver base code and masked off the parts that stay silver but since I'll be
repainting the blue later I couldn't be bothered pulling the tape off to stick it back on later.