Star Wars Miniland Grand Opening at Legoland Florida!!!

November 9th was the grand opening of Star Wars Miniland at Legoland Florida. The droid got to attend the opening ceremonies and had a great time. Here are some photos and video snippets from the event.



Some clips I collected from various sources...





Getting suited up and ready to head out to the park....










Seann, my handler for the day, did an amazing job and I didn't drown and/or die. Always a good sign!


Artoo.... I'll be gold soon, don't worry.


The parade of mini-Vaders was pretty neat.










By the time the crowds got into the miniland area I had been in the suit for almost 3 hours Time to head back!






Waiting with some snow toopers before the area opened


Group photo



Jango!









 Also, a few shots from Halloween, the trick-or-treaters were amazed. ;)

Random Productivity

Just another rambly update...
Some metal experiments, new mask progress, new resin eye, etc, etc...

Where Science Meets Imagination at the OSC

BACK!
This post: Orlando Science Center and a few updates...



Sorry for speaking so quietly. I made this video in the early hours of the morning and didn't want to wake the family.

A few photos from my first troop event at the OSC























Getting better at packing the droid with each event....


Everything fits into this box except the arms. (and my tool box of extra goodies)


I've been using one of my skateboards to roll the whole setup to and from the car. Works great. Eventually I'll get a proper folding cart...


New helmet progress update...
These are two resin cast faces from my mold.
Left is straight from the mold, untouched copy.
As a test, the one on the right (also worn to the Orlando Science Center in the photos above) has the lip added, similar to the prequel trilogy helmets. I used exact measurements off of my other face to sculpt the ring. I like this part of the design and this mod will most likely make it into the GT Props kit along with neck tabs that match the newer style helmets.


Mated to the back of my Starbuckcylon fiberglass head. The opening slightly squeezes the face making it appear slightly narrower. This will be my temporary setup until I finish the new back half.
 


The existing rear half I'm working from is really beat-up...



...but has some great detail that even the later screen-used helmets lack. This makes me believe it was cast from a fairly early version of the helmet, ESB or ANH...




Head was silvered (new version on the right)
The Zorg eyes (used in the photo above) are slightly too small in diameter (notice the slight gap) and about %30 deeper than the actual eye sockets in the mask. I trust that the mask is screen accurate, new, custom eyes have been 3d modeled and printed


They almost perfectly match the screen used eyes in the photos below..





Compare this to the shape of the Zorg sized eyes and there's a big difference in depth.



The size is PERFECT for the new helmet...


Molds of the new eyes are being made now to go along with the kit....
First half of the silicone is curing as I type this....

Golden Examples

Since my suit is already all silver, I'll be using the ink tinting method. I've figured out a good way to get the shine back after making this vid.

If I were to start from scratch, I would do the Alclad blend of gold I used on the back of the shorts. Eventually, I'll redo my parts this way.
It's not quite as durable as the ink tinting method (still pretty good though) when it comes to general handling but very easy to touch-up when needed plus very easy to keep a consistent color and look. The durability of the alclad increases by a huge amount when some time is put into the buffing stages.
I'm experimenting heating the area slightly using a heat gun along with buffing with very good results.

Ah, new acquisitions! You are a protocol droid, are you not?

I've got some photos to got along with this updated. I'll add them after work today... 

R2-D2, it is you!

Quickie update. The metal tutorials are still in progress a few more days to go before the next installment so until then....

METAL!!!

OK, finally started the metal tutorial!!!


















It's going to be a multi-part process and I'll be keeping all the parts here.
Once it's done, I'll edit out all the excess rambling, amend anything I missed and combine the videos into one long vid.

Ready to get started?!

NOTE! before starting, if you plan on doing gold, I'll be showing a few other techniques not recorded yet. One of the techniques may require one of these earlier steps to be altered... I'll be sure to make a note as soon as I figure it out.


PART 1


 PART 2
 

 PART 3