Latest news and some fun upgrades underway

As I mentioned in my last post, R2's frame is in need of upgrading.  With Celebration 6 coming up at the end of August, I think I might need to get a bit inventive.

The second R2-D2 might get taken over...one thing I could do is just use that frame and attach everything to it.  The second R2 is my Uber Model, essentially a better version of the first.  The first one was going to be re-painted...all the blue would be replaced by pink, giving us a "girl" R2.  All of this depends on how quickly I can get the frame pieces replaced.  More on this thought path later!

Now I'm working on something fun that I have high hopes for.  

About a year ago (or more), Jerry Greene designed and produced a limited run of the Booster Rockets, as seen in the STAR WARS prequels. These are beautiful pieces that took Jerry's machinists quite some time to produce in aluminum.  I couldn't afford these beautiful pieces of aluminum goodness but I had hopes that someone would cast these in resin at some point.

Well, Wayne Orr has done just that.

And its amazing...and...a LOT of pieces that will require a lot of work to make function like the metal version.

The aluminum JAG Booster Rockets

The Resin version

My box full of individually bubble wrapped pieces arrived Friday and today I began the work of unpacking them.  Once the bubble wrap is removed, each piece gets a bath in warm, soapy water to remove any remaining release agent that is used in the molding process.

Lots and lots of small pieces

Once all the pieces were washed and rinsed, it was time to bring them outside to dry.  I used an old window screen and placed all the pieces on it.  This way both sides would dry quickly in the afternoon sun.

Drying time....note there is also a radar eye there on the right...may as well do them all at once!

Since we are dealing with resin, prepping for paint is a bit different.  After cleaning the part thoroughly and drying, you should use adhesion promoter.  Otherwise, most paints will chip or begin to fall off.  Many sites will suggest many things but the Duplicolor videos on YouTube were very informative.  I also checked what Smooth On, the makers of the resin and molds used for these pieces, suggests.  The steps I am going to go with is the adhesion promoter, dry for 10 minutes, spray primer rated for plastics, sand, prime again as necessary and then paint.

Be aware that Ultra Cover primer goes on very fast and heavy!  

Once I had all the parts laid out, it was time to apply the adhesion promoter, which goes on clear...

As I mentioned in the caption to the spray primer, the stuff goes on FAST and HEAVY.  Thankfully I planned on sanding as a few areas got blasted a bit heavier than intended! 

I'm letting this all dry overnight and then I'll start the task of sanding!  The bigger pieces won't be bad but those small ones...well, I think I'll be sanding for a long time!