Latest Update - January 4, 2009

Ye gads, almost a year since my last update...

Forgive me... I just realized (while editing this page) that it has been almost a year sincemy last update. If this were the CUSWE, I might have been linched by now... Let's see... what to start with. I guess the big thing, and the thing that kept me from making more regular updates, was the fact that I was asked to contribute to the Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. All the hard work on the CUSWE finally paid off! I actually have two entries that are "mine". First is the character Vob Bitas (look for "Bitas, Vob"), who was created for me by Paul Ens and Pablo Hidalgo. The second is the Hamadryas race, which I created for the "What's The Story?" feature on the official web site. There are more than a few entries that are my text from the CUSWE... good luck finding them!

In the meantime, I also have been hard at work on RD-22. I managed to get the head/dome almost together. I got a dome motor from Paul Novak, and actually had it working shortly after the last update. I then put together the basics for the dome electronics. The second image below is the Mike Velcheck PSI system, and a flasher kit that will light up the holo-projectors. I also completed some battery boxes with the A&A kit and some braided pipe line from the local Lowe's. My wife had some printable decals left over, so I created some Industrial Automaton "serial number labels" for the droid.

Hmmm... then, we had an addition put on the back of the house (an office for my wife, and a new screened-in porch), and we sold the Mustang. Sort of like the yin and yang of events in the Vitas household. The office has continued to be a work in progress, as we get new funds to afford the next step. I installed tigerwood floors with a nine-tile insert in the very center of the room (my sole contribution!), and have since installed the custom doors. We're currently staining the new doors and polyurethaning (is that a verb?) everthing. In the image below, you see my younger daughter Meghan and our dachshund, Dixie.

Back to RD-22... I got a Spektrum DX-6 radio control unit off eBay, and have been using the credits from the "Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia" to buy drive parts from the Robot Marketplace and other robotics websites. I have a simple (albeit headless) video of RD-22's first R/C steps on YouTube. You can click here to see them! I used a budget drive set-up design by Mike Senna as the starting point, and used wood instead of aluminum as the core. More info as I get it. I've also started work on a drink tray, since my older daughter wants the droid to bring her a soda. A preview is below.

I promise to have more information shortly. I plan to have the next edition of the CUSWE out this month, and will upload some more pictures as soon as I can.