Building in the North Woods

View of the lake

The Substitute DCB

       R2-M5 has made the journey to the cabin in Northern Michigan to be constructed.  The Toyota Sienna has become the DCB (Droid Construction Bay) for the month of July.  The weather up here has definitely been better for the spray painting portion of the resin parts than the humidity of Central Indiana.  The first thing I decided to do was to fix my past problem with the resin parts and get those cleaned and painted.  What? I didn't write about my problems with painting?
       If you know me, you know that I am not exactly a patient person when it comes to doing things that I want to do.  Getting ready for a Disney trip, going to a movie, giving a present, I am just not good at waiting for those things to happen.  Well, I really wanted to get the legs done and ready for DroidCon to show them off a bit.  It had been rainy and very humid and hot, if you don't know anything about spray paint which I did not, these were not good conditions for painting.  The paint came out too wet and was globby.  Some of the paint came out ok one day but then the second color on some of the pieces was bad.  I had to give up on it on day two of painting.

New metallic red with the stripped primer.

My wilderness set up.

       After DroidCon, I had a week before we left for the cabin and I really wanted to get these cleaned before leaving.  After some research I decided that acetone would be ok and eat the resin.  I was correct.  The paint came off but it was not easy and it took me four days using a toothbrush to get into all of the detailed areas.  That mistake will not be done again.

Shiny new dome bumps.

       Painting became a lot easier when we arrived in Michigan.  I was patient and waited a day between taping and second colors.  the product has been stupendous.  I am loving the red color that is coming out even with a couple missteps and redos.  The parts are looking great and I am trying to get R2 cosmetically completed by July 26 so I can take him to the Makers Faire in Detroit at the Ford Museum. Apparently Astromech makers are treated like royalty and I really want to have a Con under my belt before GenCon in August.  Things are looking good for completion and hopefully for driving him around as well.
        I have made a lot of headway in the past three days of work, even with a travel day to the beach and nearby sites.  I have gotten the center leg primed and painted (still tacky wet right now, picture next time), most of the ankle cylinders, the booster covers (which have been giving me many problems), dome bumps, and just this evening all of the other leg ornamental pieces are done.  Tomorrow is the 4th of July and there will be no time for work, and then Saturday I travel back to Indy to take my daughter to Girl Scout camp for the week.  I will not get anymore work completed until the following weekend, but I feel comfortable with the amount that I have gotten done this week.  I hope to get the small things that I still need at Lowe's while at home before coming back up for more work time.  This project is getting really fun right now because I am finally putting it together.  Good times!