Video: Howard the Duck Animatronic Head

Not exactly Artoo related, but at the Hobby Expo Charlie Bailey (ILM Model Shop Alumni) brought along an animatronic Howard the Duck head to show and tell. It was loaded with tiny Futaba servos and I can only imagine how much they cost back then. We used many of the same control principles to control our droid gadgets.

Posted by Chris on February 12th, 2013 in Events | Comments Off on Video: Howard the Duck Animatronic Head

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Hobby Expo

Some photos from this last weekends Hobby Expo in Petaluma, CA. It’s a relatively small show, focused on model builders. Fon Davis from Fonco Creative organizes a display room with larger models, some screen used. We were asked to participate with our replica droids.

Highlight of the show was the Model Maker Panel Discussion with local ILM Model Shop Alumni (incl. Don Bies, Nelson Hall, Kim Smith, Grant Imahara, John Goodson, Larry Tan, Charlie Bailey, Lorne Peterson.)

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Charlie Bailey brought along one of the original Howard the Duck animatronic heads and we all got to see it up close.

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Posted by Chris on February 11th, 2013 in Events, General | Comments Off on Hobby Expo

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Utility Arm Trimming

Someone recently asked how much I trimmed off my utility arms to get them to fit thru the skins. Here’s a quick photo. It maybe a little more than is needed, especially if you have resin arms which tend to be smaller – but once you add on a few layers of paint it was about right. It’s also very important that there’s no sag in the arms as they open up. I can guarantee you’ll have issue if there is.

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Posted by Chris on February 11th, 2013 in Body | Comments Off on Utility Arm Trimming

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Thank you poster

Johnathan hand delivered a huge thank you “poster” signed by the children from the Vacaville Concert we participated in last week. It was a big surprise and much appreciated. I had a blast and the event.

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Posted by Chris on May 16th, 2012 in Events | Comments Off on Thank you poster

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Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend!

We’ll be at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend, May 19th and 20th, and Education Day on Thursday May 17th.

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Posted by Chris on May 15th, 2012 in Events | Comments Off on Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend!

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Johnathan’s First Drive

Over the weekend I helped Johnathan wire up his JEDI Control system in his droid ready for Maker Faire this coming weekend. You can’t tell because of his beard, but he has a huge grin on his face.

Johnathan's first drive

Posted by Chris on May 15th, 2012 in General | Comments Off on Johnathan’s First Drive


Vacaville Concert

Fellow builder Johnathan invite Artoo and I to participate in a concert he was organizing with local schools in Vacaville. He’d been planning it for quite some time, and had composed some new songs for the children to sing. One of them was Star Wars’ish themed, so he thought it would fun to have Artoo and a few stormtroopers to participate during the performance.

When I arrived at the theater, Johnathan and his 3 year old son were busy with one last rehearsal

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There were hundreds of kids in two choirs backstage, and I was asked to sneak Artoo in without causing too much of a disturbance, so I quickly ushered him in under a blanket and hid him in a side room.

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Once we’d gone through our rehearsal, I hung out with 501st until it was our turn to go on stage

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After the interval the troopers suited up and we hung out just off stage with the other performers waiting their turn. Of course people wanted to take photos

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Little Johnathan, overcame his fear of the troopers and before long he wouldn’t leave them alone.

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When it was our turn, the stormtroopers made their way to the front of the theater to enter and walk thru the audience “menacingly”, as the children sung a Star Wars themed song. Are then enter the stage as the stormtrooper were seen away by padawan jedi instructed by Yoda.

Alas, with operating Artoo and being behind stage it was pretty much impossible to get photos of Artoo and the troopers on stage, but I’m hoping someone captured some good shots.

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After the little Johnathan was done conducting he came straight over and started talking with the troopers again – going so far as talking one of them out his helmet.

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Posted by Chris on May 14th, 2012 in Events | Comments Off on Vacaville Concert

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Maker Faire 2011 – belated post

Here’s a selection of photos from last years Maker Faire.I got sick right after the event and forgot I hadn’t upload my photos.

Only 7 more days till Maker Faire 2012 !!

We had an awesome turn out last year, with over ten builders in attendance at some point over the weekend. Don Bies and Grant Imahara joined us for a group photo.

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R2 has become so popular at the faire, that they now provide their own droids for people to take photos with

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As always lots of children at the faire, some more adventurous than others

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Artoo loves to see Star Wars tee’s

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Mark demonstrated his awesome 2-3-2 droid

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And Artoo always appreciate the hard work from the Make team who put on the faire

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Johnathan, our droid security guard, was there again

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And there was a ton of Android/Arduino robot mashups

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This young girl stopped by to say thank you to Artoo for being there, she gave him a personalized note

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The family later emailed to tell me Artoo inspired them to make their own droids

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Posted by Chris on May 11th, 2012 in Events | Comments Off on Maker Faire 2011 – belated post

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