What Six Hours Will Get Ya

Yep, you read that right: I spent six hours working on Dizzy today. You are about to see how much little one can accomplish in that amount of time!

First I must say that every building session involves a bit of housekeeping. It might be tidying up the area, gathering tools/paint/hardware/parts, it might be a tiny bit of research/reading, and it might be making a list of what one wishes to accomplish on that day. Usually it's all of that. During the session there is often sweeping-up, clearing out bits of trash/droid-waste, uploading pics for the blog...you get the picture! Often one is test-fitting, adjusting, test-fitting again, and then perhaps actual gluing or bolting or whatever. So very glamorous, I'll tell you!

Today included all of the above...over and over and over and...

So, here was today's droid to-do list:

I began by sorting out all the hardware I'd bought yesterday into carefully marked baggies:

 Test-fitting the nuts I'd bought for the center ankle. I'd stupidly painted the threads, but luckily got the nuts all the way on!

Next I started enlarging the holes to attach the shoulder hub to the frame. The force knocked one of the supports right out! It was fine though, as I realized the holes not only needed to be larger -- they needed to be in a different configuration!

So I started on that piece I'd knocked loose. Here you can see the original small holes alongside my pencil marks for the new holes:

Pencil marks on the frame part that did not pop out:

And to prevent pop-out on the other side I clamp the area tightly:

Glueing the hub sections together and test fitting the bolts: 

Test-fitting on the frame. None of the holes lined up perfectly so this was a VERY LONG PROCESS involving boring out the holes and skin area with the two files in the picture. 

Before final test-fit I apply the silver tape. This looks rotten. I no longer care. This is about 4 hours into the build. At this point I'm tired and cranky and silently cursing those with the ability to make perfect droids. Okay not really. But...I wonder how that is even possible!!? *sigh* Then I tell myself: at least I'm making a droid -- even if he's messy. How many people do this? Not too many, Liz!

I had to hammer the last bolt in, but one hub is on!!!! O.M.G. Yes, I danced a little.

On the other side I see a half inch gap. This side has always had weird gap issues. I don't want to think about what that could mean -- I know I made a mistake somewhere long ago -- so I figure I'll deal with future, um, leg issues down the road. :-(

Avert your eyes if you don't want to see a droid-bottom...

I flip him over and begin marking to install his skirt!

Something smart I did (yay!) : drilled, inserted bolts through the skirt into the frame, then taped them in place so I could put the nuts on later when he's right side up.

As feared, my resin ankle bolts are configured differently than the styrene one would have had. So, time to drill fresh holes. Those are unnervingly close to the old holes. 

So I prepare an extra layer of styrene support that I'll glue in later. Here it is being test-fitted on the center ankle.

I flipped Dizzy upright and secured his skirt. WoooOOOOooooOOOOOooo it's dark inside a droid!

Not pictured: gluing in his large data port. Also not pictured: knocking one of the FLD wires loose while trying on the dome. Still. STILL!! Look at him! So near done!! Squeeeeeee!

Cleaned up a bit, then thought of one last little thing I could do -- pin-striping the horseshoes: 

Aaaaaaaand I'm calling it a day! Whew! Now how much on my list did I actually get done? Hmmmmm. About half. Which is typical. I did add a couple of things and remove one thing. And so it goes! THUD.