More frame work

Had a bit of time today to make some headway with the plates for the frame and the middle ring. Getting the hang of the router! Only issue i had preparing to route the bottom plate, my drill hole for the router to pivot round was slightly off centre. 1or 2mm. To correct it i didn't route the whole thing at once and did it in 2 halves so i could find the point where my bit might stray and correct the cut. Worked great. For some reason, lining up my angles on the ring and bottom plate, some are slightly off. Strange as i measured a few times to ensure it was correct. I'll be making sure all is above board when i cut the top plate tomorrow.

Aaaaaand disaster.

Bit off more than I could chew today. Went gung ho into the panel painting and went over the top on a few bits and i lot of paint collected on one area so i was getting a globby effect on some pieces. I got frustrated and tried to wipe it off. Big mistake! Just coagulated obviously. Will strip them back with acetone tomorrow and repaint. Thats what I get for getting too excited!

Moving full steam ahead...before a little build break

So I've been rather busy but I've dedicated a heap of time for research and bought plywood to start the frame. I bagged a bargain at the local hardware store and got a 1200x2400 12mm sheet of marine ply for the price of structural ply. Saved many dollars. Its AA grade and looks ace. Had to settle for regular ply for  the 19mm. Boo urns. This weekend i started drawing out the senna frame plans and got a nice present in the post. Laser Cut CS:L skins. So pretty. Looks like my coin slot is too small to fit the skins. Guess I'm already doubling up on parts! More drawing tomorrow and cutting hopefully. Really enjoying making the frame myself. I'd recommend everyone do it before buying a frame. So rewarding.
I'll have to move quickly. I'd like the frame done before Christmas. After that, I'm away for work until February. Mini build break will have to be in effect in that time.

Dome prepped, paint tested.

One last furious sanding effort got my dome to where I want it. Pretty much. A little cleaning here and there but overall I'm happy with it. I also tested paint combinations. The lighter blue was just cobalt blue duplicolor. No primer or base coat. The others were with the the metalcast ground then cobalt blue. I did 2 coats on the larger side of the pie panel. Again, happy that this will be the final blue.

Minor sanding, paint issue.

Not much sanding done today due to the fun melbourne weather. Managed to get out and do a bit though.

I also painted my radar eye.

Applied the metallic base coat, anodized purple then cobalt blue. All duplicolor. I was afraid of going too light so i left out anodized blue. Turns out i shouldn't have. It's way darker than I'd like. I may add anodized blue lightly over the top. If it works, yay. If not, I'll break out the acetone, strip it and try again.

Sanding....painting.....sanding....weathering...

Well that was an experience!! Sanding a dome is quite the workout. And its still not finished. I started with 230 grit paper then moved to 400 then finished with 1000 grit. I actually ran out of paper! It's almost at the point of me being happy with it. I also weathered my 3d parts and resin coin slot. I had heaps of fun with these giving them a metal look. I found a great metallic spray that looked really nice. Then went back and spattered it again with black enamel. Quite happy.

Dome arrived!!

And its glorious! These things are a work of art. Glad to finally own one! Did a dry fit straight away with some parts because i was so excited! Sanding starts next week!

And the parts keep coming!

Just a quick post. Don Jarr's (djdesigns.eu) resin holo eye and coin slot arrived today. They look great. These will be primed next week when i have a bit more time. ANH paint job is drawing ever closer!

Prime like a mofo!! And dome ordered!

So I've been priming my 3d printed parts i got from monkeyman over on the astro forums. Really nice pieces. But they need primer filler to fill in the gaps created by the printing process. I went with 4 layers in the end. May need a 5th! Looking good though.

Also, I ORDERED MY HYDRO ALUMINIUM DOME!!!! yep. Bit the bullet and went for the creme de la creme of domes. Can't wait to get my mits on it!

Progress......kinda

A little bit of progress to speak of this week.

I put up a parts request a few weeks ago in the Parts Junkyard on astromech.net. Just asking if anyone had any spare resin parts they weren't using. Builders club member toma2551 has been more than generous by building me R2's soundboard for absolutely nothing. Zero Dollars. His only request was a jar of vegemite and that i pay it forward with another builder when i have something to offer. Deal! It'll have pretty much everything i need to get him talking. Just need an amp and speaker. Easy.
I also put my interest down for mind2reality's Alu Skin run. Pretty much guarantees i get them too! Still waiting to pounce on that MARS dome run!!

So let's begin......again

So here's the short story:

There was a 1st build years ago. All 2nd hand parts. A&A frame that needed heaps of work. A bunch of resin parts and a few other bits. Never quite got started/finished. Move to Australia, Divorced, moved house. Moved house again. Threw parts away. Idiot. Many dollars wasted. Lesson learnt.

NEW BUILD PLAN:

MARS Dome
Resin Parts
Senna Frame (Home made)
Alu Skins
Senna Legs (Home made)
Feet....Maybe Home made
Nothing flashy really, RC feet and dome. Lights and sound. More on that in my next less rushed post.
At present i feel no need for any dome panels needing to open. Again, that may change depending on flexibility of budget which is around $3500-4000.

That's Australian dollars.

That's, what, $12.50 US???

First thing I've been doing is taking advantage of work supplies and printing off full sized blueprints. This will help when dealing with leg templates and the Senna frame design. I'll be learning as i go when it comes to routing etc. Will be spending a butt load on new tools in the next few weeks. Can't wait to get going. In the mean time I'm just writing up some leg plans as per Victor Franco's leg tutorial. His build log has been immensely helpful already.