Screaming Tiki Con!

We had a blast at the Screaming Tiki Con! I'd like to personally thank Andy Schwartz for organizing the R2 Builders Club portion. We had Cole Horton and Darren Murrer from Southern Ohio with thier two droids. Awesome guys! I got a few nice photos in my gallery area for everyone to enjoy. Andy brought his B9 Robot and his R2 all the way from DC. We had Storm Troopers and Darth Vader from the Ohio 501st Garison interigating people all over the show.

3D Backgrounds

Since I'm a 3D artist I thought I'd pass along some nice shots I've been working on. Some of the photos I just rendered out from some free objects that I've found on the web and a couple shots I modeled all the objects and rendered out the shot for reference. Visit the backgrounds area to check them out.

Trip to Toledo, OH

I went over to Brians house to check out his droid and get some pictures. Now I have a shot that my local newspaper can use for the interview I did. I posted the photos in my gallery. The Goshen newspaper also did and article on us. R2-D2 is Real!

Michiana Droid Build Day!

Updated! We've changed the date to Sept 13th here in Goshen, IN. I have a new friend from ohio (Brian Byczynski of Toledo, OH) that will be bringing his R2 to show off. I went to his house in Toledo, OH to see it. I'll post some pictures next! If anyone is interested in joining us please don't hesitate to drop me a line and ask for directions. It looks like we will be having our very own little cookout. Email me @ thomas@backyard-power.com

Servo Magazine

I found a great magazine to help out with some of the electronics end of building our droids. Servo magazine has tons of great ideas and kits to check out. The May issue of 2008 has an article about the R2 builders club plus some great circuit details about controllers and PWM's. Check the store area under back issues to see it.

Video Tutorials!

I found a great source for tutorials on building your R2 Unit on YouTube! Chris James of http://www.artoo-detoo.net/ has a pretty advanced droid with all the bells and whistles. His video tutorials are located at http://www.youtube.com/

Blueprints

After reading where I can find the blueprints I finally figured out where they were. You have to subscribe to the yahoo group R2 Builders to get access to the files area. After download the files related to the body frame and skins I wanted to print full size blueprints. It seems Staples can print 36" x 48" for only $6 a sheet. You can upload them to thier website and go pick it up or take it in on a USB memory Stick.

Research!

I started collecting files and PDF's of drawings and parts from the r2builders@yahoogroups.com Staples only charges about $6 to print a 36" x 48" blueprint. I have about 6 different prints so far ranging from the dome layout to the body skins. I also ordered and recieved today a DVD of Celebration IV

R-Series Magazine

I really like the online magaine they have at astromech.net Downloadable files can be found here.

Research!

I've been collecting files, images and PDF's for almost a week now. I just recieved a copy of R2 Builders Celebration IV DVD in the mail to add to the pile.

I'm In love!

Day one! I accidently ran into a video on YouTube about someone building and R2-D2 droid. I was amazed at how the lights in the dome looked so much like the origonal that I remember from Star Wars. Its head turned and it was able to move around on the floor, all controlled by an RC controller. After doing about an hours worth of research going from one link to another I was able to track down the source of this madness! The R2 Builders club! I was hooked immediatly and signed up.