R2LA Day!

I'm still grinning!

Yes, I had THAT much fun at my first R2LA! For those not in the know, R2LA is an Artoo Builders Party hosted in Southern California by Senior Builder (I just made up that title) Mike Senna and his gracious family. Some travel great distances to attend these fun shin-digs! Food, drink and droids -- how can you beat that? Yes, folks bring droids -- both finished and "in progress" (like mine), so there's a "show and tell" component. Some years feature tutorials, sometimes funny videos are produced for YouTube, sometimes awards are presented...it's different every time. This year we had...chicken races!! When was that last time that happened at a party YOU attended, eh?

I had decided to bring only my partially-completed styrene frame as I didn't want to hog table space with my 4 bins of droid parts. I thought it would be fun to take pics of some of the stuff I'd left at home, so I spent the evening before unpacking some stuff and setting it out on my work table for documenting in all its geeky splendor!

Some styrene (Dave E. plans) leg parts, and wood shoulders:


Some of the resin parts and the battery hoses (which were the 1st parts I obtained!):


Some of the electronics/motor stuff I'm hoarding:


Dome (I ended up bringing it) and panels:


I set my body and dome, display frames with the pics above, my builder's notebook, and cards with this blog address all out on one of the tables provided at the party. I was happy to see new builders checking out the notebook! Please to ignore the adult beverage in the shot...



At several points during the party I took the frame out to hand around, so folks could see how light, yet solid, it is. I was kind of surprised I was the only one doing the styrene build in attendance, but then again -- most of the guys built their droids quite a while ago...

The chicken races were hilarious! And I picked the winning chicken, but not the winning number... hah! My hubby came along too, and was very interested in the various droids; he was struck by the variety of approaches to the project. He did doze a bit -- I'd warned him not to! - and got the "sleeping man" treatment...heeee!

The best part, for me, was getting to spend hours talking droid! I picked up sooo many tips (wrote everything down as soon as I got home), and really studied all the different builds. I think I chatted with almost every person there (a few got away early). I wish I'd written down every person's name, though...that's one of the weak parts of my memory :-( . Hopefully some of them will comment here (hint!).

I took only the one picture above (of my table set-up), but more pics and coverage are available at Victor's blog (see links to the right). Thanks Victor, for allowing me to share this group shot of the gang at R2LA VIII below!



I can't wait until R2LA IX!! Will I have a completed droid ready by then? Here's hoping!!