More work on Styrene Pocket Vents and Coin Slots

This evening I took a few minutes to get another step done in the styrene parts.

First, the pocket vents.

This was a bit tricky to line up and clamp...I was afraid the clamp was too strong and might crush the plastic. But, it worked! It took some patience to line up the face piece but once in place, I went heavy with the Testor's Plastic Cement....


While the pocket vents dry for the night, I moved on to the coin returns.

The tabs needed some careful filing to make the edges smooth. Once that is done, its just a matter of fitting them in. Once the fit is snug and complete, glob the glue to it!

I'm letting these dry over night before moving on the next step!

Styrene coin slots

This evening I spent an hour working on the styrene pieces

Piecing together the parts that make up the coin returns is pretty easy.

After referencing Alex Kung's website for instructions, I got the pieces laid out and ready to go...

One very, very important tool I use are popsickle sticks. They are about the same thickness as the styrene. I use them as guides, I apply pressure onto the side of the stick, this way the parts bond correctly.

And here is about 10 minutes of work, getting all three coin slot pieces glued up. I'll let these dry for 24 hours before moving on to the next step.

More tomorrow...then once they are together, some gentle pre-primer clean up.

Styrene Pocket Vents

I've started working on the pocket vents that came with the A&A Skins.

Its been ages since I played with little plastic pieces and glue. And its starting to bring flashbacks of all those model kits I couldnt wait to build....but had no patience for!

However....I'm trying.

For these small pieces, I am going to wind up buying the brush-applicator model glue. My fingers are layered in Testor's Model Cement from the tube!

Here's how things looked the other night, starting out...



Here's where I am tonight. I have the pocket pieces glued, some of the slats and I have clamped to the face plates up. This way, in a few days, they'll have the proper curve to glue things up.

I'm trying really hard to not make a mess with the glue.

I'm curious how well the chrome spray paint will match up with the aluminum version of this part! Time will tell.

That's all for tonight.

More skin work, center ankle details and the quest for magnets!

Another day off so I used it to do some more work on R2.

I've been meaning to work on the center ankle and the details pieces for quite some time. I finally remembered what I was missing to complete them and picked up some a few days ago. Now they are bolted into place and look pretty sharp...



And now, placed on the center foot, you get the idea...

While out and about, I thought I would try to find some magnets that could be threaded onto a machine screw. The side vents need a way to be mounted in place and another builder suggested such a method. The problem is, the hook-type do not unthread. The type with the clips have a hole, but not in the magnet itself. Grrrr. More on this challenge another time.

And finally, I glued the center vent piece. It was real tricky to get in and clamp in....small clips and lots of popsickle sticks are your friend!

More skin work, with the right glue!

Today was Patriot's Day, which is a day off for many of us who observe it up here in New England.

Between gym, errands and chores, I resumed work on the skins.

I unclamped the outer skin from the right side, so I can access the portions that need gluing. You have to be careful how far you open them, if you hear crackling sounds, you've got some re-gluing to do!


I used the Elmer's Model & Hobby cement, since it doesn't have a nozzle/applicator, I put some on some plastic wrap and used a thin paintbrush to apply it.

Glue applied, time to clamp for an hour...

While that was drying, I surfed the web for local retailers that sell good ole Testor's model cement. I was amazed that the local Super WalMart didn't carry it. After checking places like Target and KMart out, A.C. More had it!

With the right glue I glued some of the lower panels. As you can see, its tough finding a spot to apply clamps on some of these areas. (Kind of why I dread doing the rear skins on both the plastic and aluminum skins!)

You can also see there's some residue there on the left side panel. It should clean up easy enough.

And here's where I am at tonight....I'm finding all kinds of boo-boos no one else would ever notice...but ah well!

Attaching more skin panels, debating which adhesive

Today I decided to also tackle attaching a few more panels to the plastic skins.

One thing I am noticing with contact cement is that while it takes a bit longer to dry, when it does, any excess looks like dried up mustard. Its too bad because for the spots it doesn't ooze out from, it goes on nicely...its thick, not watery.

Here you can see I've attached two panels and have them clamped...you can also see the 'Grey Pupon' oozing out the edges...

One of the gentlemen at the hardware store swears by this Goo Gone stuff, which comes in a spray gel. I'll have to see how this works at removing the excess.

Here's where I am at tonight...

After using contact cement and experimenting with the Model Glue for Plastics, I'm going to buy a few tubes of the Testor's model glue. At least that has a very small nozzle, dealing with the smaller pieces won't be as hard as it is now.

More work planned for tomorrow!

Re-painting A&A parts, messed up the center vent panel

Today I work up with a killer headache...working with adhesives that put out strong fumes can do that!

Once I slept the headache off, I decided to salvage the day and fix up a boo-boo I made yesterday. While on my final coat of blue paint, an insect decided to land on the edge of the piece. By time I came back and noticed it, the insect had completed its kamikazie mission and become a part of the piece. I tried to remove it very carefully, but it took a one inch piece of the paint with it.

Now I've acetoned, sanded, painted and re-painted the aluminum parts more times than I wish to confess to. However I was concerned acetone might harm the plastic.

Well....only one way to find out...so I started in on it...


After about 30 minutes of using a cloth soaked in acetone, the paint is finally all gone. The one hassle was the lint from the cloth seemed to stick to the pieces. I got most of it off after washing and filing off the remaining blue paint off the outside edges.

Now that that part is prepped and ready to go, on goes a coat of Krylon primer for plastics (2 coats)...

Next up is two coats with Rustoleum Deep Purple Metallic (7255)...15 minutes apart...

Next up, the Dupli-Color Anodized Blue ( #MC201 )...again, two coats. Best way to judge how much is the part should look wet all over. 15 minutes between coats.

After two coats of Clear Coat, the part is all set to go. It just needs 24 hours to cure.

No suicidal insects this time around!

More A&A skin work..cleanup and mounting

Today I spent some more time working on getting the A&A skins ready to mount on the frame. First up was cleaning them...Windex works nicely!


One of the biggest problems I had...wiping off the cat hair. Thanks to the static charge or something, cat hair just loves to stay on these things!


As you can see in the above picture, there is some plastic debris remaining that needs to be removed. So, while most of the tabs can be popped out with a fingernail, you still want to file anything remaining smooth...

My next tough challenge was how to glue the skins together.

Since the outer skins are slighly longer than the inner, in order to fit in layers on R2's body, you can't simply lay them on top of each other and glue.

Unlike the aluminum skins, which are rigid and can stand up, the plastic ones are not. What I decided to do was mount them on the frame. I drilled holes in the skins so they mount to the frame.

I had another issue to worry about...which adhesive? Superglue would be too fast and an excess would be very difficult to remove from the skin.

I decided to go with contact cement. I also bought a set of paint brushes for the areas that are harder to reach.

Here's where I am at now...I decided to start gluing and work my way from one side to the other. Contact cement gives you a minute or two to dab it where you need, then try to clamp as best you can. Its not easy, since there are a lot of areas you can't reach with the frame in the way. We'll see how this comes out.

I already have a few spots that need clean-up, but its a start.

A&A Skins continue...removing more panels

Well I worked on the rear skins this afternoon, removing the pieces and labelling items.
Here's the "stack" so far...


As I've learned from dealing with skins before, labelling anything that looks alike is a VERY good idea. I have also tried to keep as many of the "extras" together for their assembly later.

Now I have to clean the skins pieces and with any luck, can start gluing panels together soon, then work on the details.

A&A Skins on R2-D2 # 2

This evening I figured it was time to open up and check out the A&A Skins I reeceived last week

I have to say, I'm quite impressed with them.

Here's a before picture of one of the front skins. Popping the panels is a cinch. I've been working for weeks on my aluminum skins because its such a challenge to pop out panels without damaging or warbling the skin.


Just pulling the tape off the coins slots area pulls up the pieces you need to remove. This is nice!

Here's the front outer skin will everything removed. The skins will need some cleanup with Windex or something...and you might find yourself drifting from the fine smell of burnt plastic from the laser cutting process....its not terrible but you will notice it.

Of course, make sure you label where some of the panels go to make the gluing process go a bit smoother later. Some of the slabs on the bottom strongly resemble the ones under the vents and vertical door. Note that Andy and Alex have used all available areas of the skins for extra goodies. As you can see here, there's a rear logic display template and center vent pieces in there.

And with some strategic clamping with the inner and outer skins....here's how it looks.

So if you were an aluminum snob like me and hesitant about using plastic pieces, think again. The quality of the laser cuts and value is incredible. Since this droid will not have any doors opening, these skins will go together quick. Drop Andy or Alex a line on the Astromech.Net forums if you are in need of some of their componenets/parts!

JEDI lights wired up

I wired them up and wow....they look great!

JEDI Light system arrives

Just a quick picture of the contents of the JEDI lighting kit for R2-D2.

I haven't had a chance to read the instructions and piece it together....yet!

A&A Styrene Skins arrive

Yesterday I received my A&A Styrene skins that Andy Schwartz and Alex Kung designed and produce.

I haven't used much of their items since my droid and parts have all been aluminum. However, I wanted to try them out. Since my droid is going to be wandering around hospitals, my thought was that these could survive the disinfectant wipe downs better. My worry with the aluminum skins, which are painted, is the disinfectants would kill (remove) the paint.

Here's how they look outside the packing...


As you can see below, Andy and Alex have made excellent use of every bit of free space the plastic offers. With it, they've had the laser cutting cut out plastic templates for other parts for R2.

I'm going to wait and see what all the various pieces and panels go to before I start taking anything apart. I need to use a small Sharpie to label things and figure out how to mount them onto the frame.

More stuff arrives this week...such as the JEDI lighting system!