Skin work is almost done!

A brief update! Here are some photos of my recent skin progress!

All the skins are on, and now we're just awaiting some detail pieces. I have been currently building some center vents. I'd post a photo of both of them, but one is drying in clamps, so here's a photo of the other!

Thats the one that's drying.....they are truly a pain to put together! Tomorrow I will try to post a side by side shot of them both.

A special guest!

One of the fellow builders in the area stopped by for an evening! We shared tips, tricks, beers, and Monday night football! This post is coming a little late, but life sometimes gets in the way! So, for those of you who haven't been on the forums, let me introduce you to "Gru", otherwise known as Mike! Here is a few photos of his build. He uses a wood frame, styrene skins, Crash's Fiberglass Dome, various resin/aluminum parts, and let me say that without a doubt, it's one of the most quality builds you'll ever see!!

Aww...

Well. While you always try to be as careful as you can, accidents still happening. While I was fixing the rear panel, for the 15th time, I accidentally broke it.

To fix this, I went to my bag of parts and got out my surgical repair kit.

And a short time later, the surgery was complete.

Update on skins!

As an update, I have been doing some research and it doesn't look like attaching the outers will cause any sort of problems. It seems as though most pieces can attach to the skins OR to the frame, so, I think the disaster is averted!

Skin part 2.

Some updated photos with the blue tape removed!

Skintimate!

Well. So far, throughout this build, I have done a pretty good job of thinking ahead to prevent mistakes. However, I think I may have made one here, but I am certain there will be a way to fix it in the future. I went ahead and bonded the outer skins to the inner. Why I did this, I am not sure because it will eventually screw me over. I knew that parts had to be counter-sunk into the inner skins, but for some reason, it honestly never crossed my mind. With that said, I am sure I can find other ways to attach the few pieces left for the body. With all of that said, I am VERY happy with how things have turned out, and R2 is starting to look more like....well, R2 all the time! The outer skins are bonded with a combination of VHB tape and silicon. Don't ask why, it's proprietary!! Here are a few pictures of R2's current state! As with the dome, all doors are secured with silicon so that they can easily be removed in the future when I decide to hinge them!

Attaching the Skins!

After having these aluminum skins for a LONG time, and now having a newly renovated frame, it's time to really make R2 come alive and add his skins! For starters, I am using Daren Murrer's "Skin Snaps." The premise behind them is that one piece attaches to the skins, and the other is firmly attached to the frame, then the two pieces attach to one another and become one. Daren provides a tutorial to mount these, and as helpful as it is, I decided to do some of my own modifications and make this a little easier of a process. I will not go into details of everything, but you can look at the photos and see the modifications I made, and as always, you're welcome to ask questions! Here are some photos of the current progress. The rear skins have not been installed yet, just the front inner skin. Tomorrow, I hope to get the rear inner's attached, as well as getting both outer's VHB taped on.