Weekend! So free during the day, day light and it was dry outside,
this means I could get started with the paint.
First layer.
And turning the case a third for the next piece.
Taking it easy, one piece at the time. After the third layer I will add some pinstripes.
Thought off another idea ! An R2 without the bleeps and the bleeps isnt really any good right?
After some searching ( mainly size and budget-like ), I came upon this high-tech
Ipod look-a-like speakerset for a measily €3,49.
Dismantled it. I tested the "set", and it runs just fine on the PC's 5 Volt.
Now the best part; Where to put the speakers? Inside the Dome? Inside the Body ?
NO! In the LEGS! If you compare my legs with the "real" thing, you see I am missing
the outside hinge-axel. At first it didnt bother me one bit, but since the speakers are made
from reflecting material....
I marked a nice spot on the shoulders.
With a sling-shot drill ( my dutch translation ) I made a hole for it.
The edges need some work, but be cool, I have that covered.
And this is how it will look like, left and right.
My friends Sting and NoTo helped me with a playlist of R2 sounds with a minute programm
called TrayPlay. With the aid of Audioconvert I made a whole lot of -empty- MP3's
with silences of 10, 20, 30 secinds etc etc. Together with the real R2 MP3s into one
large list, shuffled at random, this will give me random beeps at random silence intervals.
Made two rings for the speaker edges. Made them into large hexa shapes, to resemble a nut.
( well ..sortoff )
And here there on.
The 4 UV-LEDs for the backdoor print were way to obvious in sight. So I made this:
A couple of old circuit chips....
Soldered together under about 45 degrees....
Glued them on top of the LEDs...
And this is how it looks like.
A view from a distance. With the lights on, in the semi-dark this looks really good.
Have been tinkering with pinstripes.
AARRGHH!! When I was mounting the right leg through the body, I accidentely ripped
the wires, and I had to disassemble the whole thing. Here is how the new wires
look like.
And from the front.
To keep it simple ( KISS ) I used a regular audiojack to connect to the PC and let the
wire go trough the plate via the USB slot.
Total of the rearside.
And there he is.
All lights are in working order, and the sound is quite good for such el cheapo speakers.
Gonna tidy up all the small bits that I left, paint some more here and there and finish it.
For all of you who are still here after this long worklog, I made some small movies for your entertainment.
I'll PM you for the URLs, but I just browsed through ebay for these deals
This weekend (21-3) there was the T.i.M.e.S. lanparty here in the south of Holland. It was full again with 470 entries but only 300 seats ! I was glad to hear they had a casemodcompo, so I could take my little friend with me to see what people thought of it.
Here are some of the participants.
The radarmod from [EXC]EéVé and it really turns all the way !
The very cool Entono Xtrauma # 0137 from Warkel
He also brought his server which is also quit neat.
and the superb Shuttle from Brutus.
But this topic is about my little R2... here as co-pilot...
( You should have seen the faces of people passing by....... LOL )
And here it stands beside me at the table.....
The back.
close-up of the modded circuitboard.
The jury thought mine was the best there and gave me nice cup :-)
I made a list with some TO-DO things for the R2, but most is internal and not worth another photo.
I will start a new project ( well, actually I have enough material for 3-4 new projects ) but havent got the
time for all of them.
I want to end here with a big thankyou to everyone who helped me with tips, tricks, links, remarks and
critics and ofcourse new or used hardware for all my projects. Thanks Salland, Space Promotion, Sapphire, Revoltec (Listan) en Zalman (Essers).
Untill the next project!
greetings Frenkie
Frenkie at the HME 2008 in Utrecht, The Netherlands
and the result; 2e with the pro-jury and first with the visitors-price.
Re: Project R2-D2 by Frenkie
