Where do I start?

Guys.  Big update.

I have been very busy, and made a huge amount of progress.

So, let's start with the dome.  After getting a nice snug fit and having the dome spinning nicely, I decided to paint it.  Then I saw a picture of Vallisk_61 using Rub n Buff on his dome and it looked incredible!  So, I got me hands on some of that and got stuck in.

First up, I primed it!

Next up, I had to rub n buff!

I used my hands to rub this in before resorting to a cloth.  The trick is to rub it hard to build up friction.  When I started getting blisters I thought a cloth would be better ;)

To begin with I didn't like it.  I felt it was too dark!  I think this is because of the contrast going from the white to suddenly a silvery colour.  It's grown on me now for sure, and looking back at these pictures I think it looks great!

And here it is compared to a real aluminium dome!  Look at that shine ;)

I would certainly recommend this stuff.  It's really come out well!  I would advise however that you leave the primmer a good few days before putting it on.  I found in places the primmer started to lift where it hadn't cured properly.  It's not too bad, but it could have been better :)

With all the silver - he needed some blue.  So I primed the dome panels, sprayed them silver (not rub n buff, it's a waxy thing you can't paint on) and used some of the dykem layout dye on them.

And suddenly there's an R2D2 standing in my bedroom!  I now see an Astromech rather than a pile of unfinished jobs.  He still has a lot of work to go, but he's certainly starting to look the part.

And that's not all ;)  Blog update part 2 coming soon.  The exciting bit :D