Welcome to my new R2D2 Astromech blog. I’m hoping to document and share the build process of my new astromech.

My name’s Chris and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of you may know me as Bothan Jedi on The Replica Prop Forum (RPF) or as TK721 with the 501st Golden Gate Garrison.

Over the last few years I’ve gotten burnt out on costuming and looking for another creative outlet. I’ve mostly been collecting and building Star Wars props, but thought it was time to think about R2 again.

I’ve been lurking on the R2 Builders Group for years, and even had one failed attempt at buying an R2 Kit. Unfortunately UPS managed to mangle him in shipping. So I put the idea on the back burner till now.

A lot has changed since I first joined the builders group back in 2001. Part are more readily availability, of higher quality and more accurate. In some ways I wished I’d jumped back in after Celebration III as it seems like that was the sweet spot for availability of some hard to find Aluminum parts.

So the plan is to build a mostly aluminum R2 with all the bells and whistles, including remote control.

If you’re a fellow local builder drop me a message. Would love to meet up and share.

So that’s it for now.

oh! and don’t forget to check out my gallery for photos.