I repainted and weathered a Home Depot animatronic R2D2. This is the same one I had before, but the hand painted weathering and mismatched paint job didn't sit well with me. So I redid it.
Finally have Boba!
Never in my life did I ever think I'd buy an R2D2 from Home Depot, and then try and make it look presentable.
The wife is very pleased that she comes home and is greeted by a little R2, booping and beeping. The cat? Not so much.
He got a repaint from the feet up. Almost everything was repainted, weathered, and some components were replaced. It's a cheap animatronic so I wasn't going for full prop replica, but he's still good enough that it fools my wife's Star Wars obsessed dad.
The lights and sounds are still stock. For now.
I wasn't going to go balls to the walls on a mod journey with this guy but after a week I've realized thats what's I've done
I wanted a nice R2 for my wedding this year so I materialized one
I have one more part coming to replace one of his front ports but I like what I've done here
I was lucky enough to snag a Home Depot R2D2 and wanted yo have something Star Wars at my wedding this year. The wife wants to have a lightsaber duel so what's an R2D2, if not a great addition (to my collection).
He arrived broken so I crappily repaired him and repainted him. I left the abdomen the stock color but in retrospect I should have painted it white. I spent 2 days and $20. Easily worth it. I have some 3D printed parts coming, and some pinstriping for some other details, but really repainting him made the most difference. I modified him to be lit up off his base, so he's very mobile.
The entire family wants me to RC convert him. Not now lol. Everyone is excited to see him at our wedding.
And coming home and seeing R2D2 in my hallway is the greatest thing.
There is no comparison in my eyes. The green is brighter, more vibrant, more SATURATED. Standard neopixel blades are just not as punchy.
Every color but red is more vibrant and brighter. Red is just not a great color to shine anyways.
If you're on the fence about a Quantum blade, get one. Absolutely worth it.
I was 16. Two weeks before this, I had been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. I guess it was so bad the gastro told my mom I was on borrowed time. I was living the life, drinking milkshakes (liquid diet) and building all the Lego my parents were buying me.
Then, on February 11th, it happened. I had felt good enough the days before, so my gastro let me eat one solid meal a night. It took 2 nights to do the damage that would land me in the hospital.
I woke up on the 11th in shock. Couldn't feel anything. I went upstairs and sat on the couch drinking a pitcher of ice water and then decided to get into the shower. After about 10 minutes, I vomited. What came up was just water and bile.
My dad heard it and woke up, asked me what I was doing in the shower for so long. I told him I didn't feel good and he pulled the curtain aside. I don't know what he felt seeing me but I was white and had purple finger nails. He got my mom up, and she took only one look at me to decide it was time to go to the ER.
It should be noted that at this point it was hard to breath. What we didn't know was that so many ulcers had formed in my colon, and those ulcers broke when I ate the solid food. My colon was, at best, a colander. Sepsis was now running its course.
The gastro at the ER thought I was just dehydrated (no shit) but the ER doctors knew better. They ordered a chest Xray thinking I was having heart problems. From what he said, he was about to toss the Xray after not finding anything when he looked at the bottom where my abdomen was. There was a thin black line. He ordered an abdominal Xray to discover that there were no longer empty abdominal cavities. All of the bile and fluid had filled up everything. I was dying.
It was at this point the severity of the situation was made clear to everyone. Except me. I knew it was going to happen, and all the while I was on autopilot.
The only things going through my mind were happy memories and all the good things I liked to do as a kid. I thought a lot about my dad and I building Lego together, and every memory of me sitting in front of the TV at Nana's, watching Thomas thr Tank Engine.
It was a Sunday and it was 8 o clock in the morning so there was not much of a surgical staff on standby. I heard the surgeon who would later work on me scream over the phone to get people into the hospital as soon as possible - from 3 hallways down.
I waited for about 10 hours. I was given Annointing of the Sick, and by this point, most of the immediate family had arrived. I remember seeing my cousins scared, something I've never seen before or since. My parents were in shock. I've never seen either of them so quiet. I found out later they blamed themselves for everything that happened. In reality, anything anyone did before this would have only delayed what happened.
At 7:30, I was finally ready. I didn't think I was going to wake up, so I quietly said goodbye, to myself. I remember the last touch I had was high fiving my uncle. I passed thru the surgery doors and was prepared for surgery.
The last thing I heard, I shit you not, was the Star Trek theme being whistled by the surgeon.
I dreamt pretty well. I saw people and heard voices. I am a kid who loves trains and did dream about a train that couldn't enter a tunnel. I got out of the train, and looked at the tunnel.
Then I opened my eyes. I remember it being sunny. I was in a room, and I was on a medical bed. I looked at the clock and it said 11 AM. I had been asleep for the last 15 or so hours.
I didn't feel any pain. For the first time in 8 years, I didn't feel my disease. I honestly thought I had died. Thru the morning I learned everything I told you. I learned that my colon had ruptured, and that they could not stitch the sections back together because I was so sick. I had colostomy bags for 3 months.
Now, 8 years later, I'm in remission. I'm preparing to get married in November, and I'm on Inflixximab infusions. I am the happiest guy ever. I am taking life one step at a time because I understand how close I can be to losing it. I lived.
It really does look a whole lot cooler this way. This is the Dark Hero 3 V2.
What I did was:
-Use steel wool to wear away some of the factory weathering. Steel wool will remove aluminum black and whatever airbrushing these people use. I didn't remove all of it because it made sense to keep some of the original weathering.
-Brush dark grey acrylic paint onto some of the main hilt and used a paper towel to dab away. I did this in layers. For some areas I brushed in specific spots to create wear and tear.
-Painted in the tan rails on the control box. Previously, they were a brass or gold color.
-Used Tamiya Panel Wash to emphasize certain panel lines, although there are not many on this saber.
-I weathered the PCB board. Added grime and paint and then wiped them away in layers.
-Added a black fake circuit board inside of the control box to emulate the cave saber electronics. I stuffed a red wire in there too just because.
-Added drops of glue to the D ring so that there is more tension on it. Keeps it from moving around during movement.
Next step is adding tape to the inside of the emitter cups so the blade doesn't wobble. I will end up drilling and tapping new M4 screw holes so I can have 4 screws holding the blade, instead of the two that are there now.
I'm not going to do more than this. Too much will overdo it. Plus, none of this is permanant, even if I clearcoat it. So, I can take it off and keep it clean if I want.
It really does look a whole lot cooler this way. This is the Dark Hero 3 V2.
What I did was:
-Use steel wool to wear away some of the factory weathering. Steel wool will remove aluminum black and whatever airbrushing these people use. I didn't remove all of it because it made sense to keep some of the original weathering.
-Brush dark grey acrylic paint onto some of the main hilt and used a paper towel to dab away. I did this in layers. For some areas I brushed in specific spots to create wear and tear.
-Painted in the tan rails on the control box. Previously, they were a brass or gold color.
-Used Tamiya Panel Wash to emphasize certain panel lines, although there are not many on this saber.
-I weathered the PCB board. Added grime and paint and then wiped them away in layers.
-Added a black fake circuit board inside of the control box to emulate the cave saber electronics. I stuffed a red wire in there too just because.
-Added drops of glue to the D ring so that there is more tension on it. Keeps it from moving around during movement.
Next step is adding tape to the inside of the emitter cups so the blade doesn't wobble. I will end up drilling and tapping new M4 screw holes so I can have 4 screws holding the blade, instead of the two that are there now.
I'm not going to do more than this. Too much will overdo it. Plus, none of this is permanant, even if I clearcoat it. So, I can take it off and keep it clean if I want.
Maybe you'll be able to hear the saber sound from Kyberphonic over the music
I compared two Luke ROTJ sabers.
I added a PCB card on top of the electronics inside the control box, that looks close. In future, I may take an old Xeno black board and trim it to fit inside. I then tucked a couple wires where there was empty space. I like how the lights from underneath shine through the top card.
I also took off some weathering by using steel wool. I intend on removing more and maybe doing some of my own. Nothing permanent though.
It's super tiny details that only I in real life would notice.
Great lightsaber. I love this thing. It's an adult fidget toy.
I replaced every font roll call with a new name
First model I made around 2017 or so. I did not know what I was doing.
The second iteration that I started in 2020 has been going much better. It's all handpainted. Literally no spray paint. Please help me I'm insane
Something that does annoy me about these LGT sabers is that the D rings are insanely loose. I like the jingle when I carry them, not when I swing them. How have you fixed them, or do you not care?
By the way I loaded Kyberphonic's Return V2 on this proffie saber and MAN I'm obsessed. I also changed out the voice lines with different ones. The originals were just too cringe and annoying.
I bit the bullet and bought the proffie v2.2 ROTJ saber from Vader's Sabers, and opted to have it weathered.
Holy smokes what a cool lightsaber experience. It has amazing sound in comparison the XenoV3 I blew up a couple weeks back. Having an issue with the SD card being corrupted but Russ and customer support are getting that straightened out.
It took a week and one day from point of ordering to arrive. That's from China to me. In a week.
This will make a fine addition to my collection.