Chapter 4, Part 14

As the sun went down, Jaka did what all good jawas do. He headed for the nearest cave to wait out the night. Unfortunately, the nearest cave was too small for him and his landspeeder. He couldn't leave the speeder in plain sight - the Imperials would figure out what was going on since it belonged to that lovey-dovey Hutt, and boy could she talk! If the stormtroopers got hold of this speeder, not only would Jaka be thrown into the nearest detention center, but could possibly be forced into the most depressing marriage in the entire history of the galaxy! He shuddered at the thought. Further into the canyon he went to find a bigger cave, something deep to hide the speeder in. Nothing caught his attention right away, so on he went as fast as he could without disturbing the peace.

After an hour he stopped to get his bearings. That's when he heard marching steps coming up the canyon towards him. I won't find the perfect cave, so this one will have to do. I'm out of time.... And so he went into what seemed like a very tiny hole. Barely able to push the speeder into the cave, he shoved it in as far as he dared, then wrapped his hood over his face, curling up into a ball very quietly. It was so silent except the very loud footsteps of the troopers marching by. The thumping of the AT-AT's were now at the mouth of the canyon where Jaka entered. Troopers and AT-AT's both heading his way. I wonder if they found AL yet.

A grueling two hours later Jaka got his answer. Several troopers were giving a report to an officer, saying they hadn't found the droid yet.

Well, you better! We've got orders to bring him to Vader immediately!
Vader? What does he want with this droid?
Who knows, but if Vader wants it, we'll give it to him!
Yes Sir!

And the troopers marched down the canyon. Good, they haven't found him yet. But I better get him soon or we're both cooked! Jaka knew he wasn't going anywhere soon, so he gathered up his robe and made like a rock. Don't panic, keep calm. Jaka didn't sleep much, nor did he rest.

And now a Rebel Legion Member, too!!!

Well, Jaka gets around! So, not only is he part of the 501st, but now an official member of the Rebel Legion (Mountain Base). Another logo I've gotta put on the sidebar here! LOL This is what you'll find on the RL Member's List:

Active Legion Member Mountain Base
Character Name: Jawa Jaka
Costume Type: Creatures and DroidsFormal/Canon
Species: don't know (alive)
Occupation: Purveyor of Junk
Home Planet: Tatooine
Character/Costume Description
Jawa Jaka is a blacksheep loner amongst the Jawas of Tatooine. He found an Imperial R2 unit in the deep sandy canyons, cleaned it up, repainted it a grey and bronze color, and made it into a rebel hero. Jaka and R2-AL go on many adventures, helping the Rebels as much as they can.... Or do they? What is AL really up to? And does Jaka really care? Lots of fun reading of this growing story on http://r2-al.blogspot.com. You can find the rest of the pics of Jawa Jaka's costume, and of course R2-AL. Please go to this blog for costume and droid pictures.

They make me look GOOD!!!!

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

I'M IN! DZ 5905

I am now DZ 5905 (that's a 501st designation for those that don't know). After a year of improving and trooping I finally got approved. So, I'm now one of Vader's "spies". I'm also applying on the Rebel Legion for dual membership (a jawa double agent? hmmm... ya never know). I think the significance of the 5905 is as follows:
5 droids to sell, 9 potential buyers, 0 sales, still got 5 droids to sell. heehee

Yesterday I did my first official troop at a new con in northern Colorado: CamCon. It looked like it was promoted as an anime con with anime films and artwork, but it ended up more of a comic con with anime films. We set up the Hoth set for photo ops but no one really showed up. Gil Gerard and Erin Grey (Buck Rodgers, the two have traveled together for years) were the main guests. Not many panels (I think they skipped the 501st panel altogether), no other guests, nothing for the kids to do (thank god for Azman's scrubber droid, kids played with that all day), only one other fan club (some kinda Medieval fair group), a few comic book artists, and a couple authors. Not much there, very poorly run (by a business man who had no idea how to run a scifi con), but has potential. Senator Palpatine will be watching the future of this very carefully...

This is the only official pic authorized to take, one photo on one camera. It was announced rather loudly by the organizer that any other cameras going off were going to be charged $40. Another slipup that alerted me to his ignorance in scifi cons (the other was him wearing a business suit, and answering the question "what is the target audience" with the reply "13 and up". Scifi has no age limit, we just wanted to know what this con was about).
Erin and Gil with the Mountain Garrison


Unil next time,
Jawa Jaka (er... DZ 5905)

An Improved Jawa

While I'm still waiting for Starfest to post pics so I can post some of the Mountain States R2 club, I thought I'd post the pics of my new and improved jawa for submission into the 501st. Bill Blackburn, the official photographer of the Mountain Garrison, held an open house in his basement studio for official pic time. He's quite the photographer, and I learned alot about studio photography, including lighting and backdrops. His studio is simple but effective, as you can see.

There's always room for Jawa Love!

You can see some other photos from the shoot at http://www.mg501.com/. There are really fantastic shots of the Jedi and Bill's Hoth rebel trooper. 501st is just a great group to do costuming with.

Until next time (with a Starfest report, I hope),

Jawa Jaka

Robotic Championships and R2 Central's Bday Party

I've been pretty busy lately, so this post is about two weeks overdue. It was an honor to attend the VEX Robotics Championships of the Americas in Omaha with the R2 Central group. Lots of kids asking lots of questions about building an R2, and lots of parents asking how much! LOL After driving the RV for the first time myself in a 12-hour blizzard that pretty much was ontop of me the whole time, I finally arrived at Moose and Jen's place. The campground was flooded (I thought it was a lake), so I had to park the beast in front of their house and slept on their couch with their two wonderful dogs who kept me warm every night. I just want to thank them for their kind hospitality.

Since the event was held in the evening, Moose and I did some caster work on AL during the day. Moose was so excited that his new garage workshop was being broken in by AL, he jumped at the opportunity to work on him.

During the event we all took turns manning the table, while others drove their droids amongst the crowd. Hopefully, AL will be rolling soon (got all the parts, just don't know how to put it all together yet, but studying!).

AL stood at the table looking pretty. Alot of people took a peak inside to check out the frame. I do want to adjust the radar eye a bit before Starfest, kinda looks a bit crooked.

Dawmer's droid with the Nebraska Cornhusker's tatoo on the dome (can't see it in this pic), and Brad's R2D2. These two droids pretty much hung out together, creating mayhem everywhere they went! (at least alot of smiles!)

The R2 Central gang: me and AL, Brad and Artoo, Jason and his frame (this will be a red with white Cornhusker droid), Dawmer and the white with red Cornhusker droid, and Moose with his T3. Poor Patches, he had a couple broken legs and was in bedrest under doctor's orders.

The next day we had a really nice birthday party for the R2 Central. I can't believe it's been two years! Jason made this wonderful cake, his first attempt. And it was GOOD!

The lady builder's of the R2 Central: Jen, Syrena, and myself.

And the rest of the gang (I'm in the green t-shirt).

I really enjoyed this event and might plan to go again next year. Next is Starfest in two weeks, then back to Omaha for Osfest in late July, then the all-important, all-money consuming CV! AL's getting a lot of traveling done this year.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

pics by Moose and Jason, since I left my camera in the RV!

Dome work

I got a lot done on the dome yesterday at Cal's place in Loveland. He has a really large studio space that the local builders can work in. He also let's us work on costumes and other props. So, what exactly did I get done? After an almost near disaster with the hole saw cutter (don't ask), Cal took me to Ace for another drill bit. A circle cutter bit, to be precise. Much better than the beefy teeth on a hole saw. I wish I had known about this cool little tool sooner, it would have saved me some grief! One thing I've learned: alum builders become tool collectors and experts pretty quick.

Anyway, got both PSI holes cut out along with the third top HP hole. I also cut out the logic display squares after learning the proper use of my dremel. After the motor started smoking, Cal cooled it off and showed me about the RPM's (something I never knew before). Now, I'm just another dremel queen! LOL I was able to cut stuff out of my dome really fast and a lot more accurate. I did a lot of sanding around the rear logic to make the logic surround fit. I still am off a couple hairs, but I'll be able to get that and the fronts done this week. Hopefully I'll also get the stand-alone 9-volt battery PSI lights in this week, too. Haven't done too much soldering practice but will get back to that soon.

I also bought a few different casters for my center foot to try out (I'll return the rest once I know which one I'll keep). Since I can't find 5" rims with gears for my 5" pneumatic tires, I've decided to put the 6" ones back on for now. Later I want to try cutting of the gears and welding them onto the 5" rims that came with the tires (gotta find a really good welder). I've also decided to get some 3" casters or ominiballs for the front of the feet for stabilization and steering. I have two weeks to put my foot drives and remote together for the robotics event in Omaha. Otherwise, AL will just sit and look pretty as usual (OK, better than usual since he'll have his dome mostly complete with the third HP, logic surrounds, and PSI's in place).

Until next time,
Jawa Jaka

Chapter 4, Part 13

Chapter 4: Podracer Jaka

Part 13:
AL heard the thumping of the lumbering big machines. He recognized the sound but couldn't quite put his finger on it, yet he knew it wasn't good. So, he hid once again in the pile of junk. The realization that he belonged to that smelly jawa now was even stronger than before. He had no ties to these aweful new machines and wanted desperately to get away, far far away. With the thumping in the distance AL had time to collect as much as he would need to survive. The doll for one, since it was his only companion for the moment. Oil, spare fuses, battery packs (lots of them), a few spare motor belts, rope, welding iron, a couple of scrap metal sheets, and a burlap sack (just in case). During his time alone with the doll he managed to fashion himself a new foot. His old foot had been jolted and broken during the crash. You would think I would be in some sort of pain, but I'm not. Just need to replace this broken foot. OK, now that I've made a new one, how do I get it on? Oh, I see, it goes onto the leg this way. I think I can find a pin or wire or.... Oh, here's something, a bolt! It's on now, but will I be able to roll on it? Will the batteries last? Oops, gotta put in the batteries.

After a couple days of fussing and figiting, AL finally got his foot on. The hard part was getting up. He had rigged a couple wooden poles to push and pull himself around the tent. Now he used them to upright and steady himself. He didn't know how long it took to get up, but he noticed the sun going down. This was a dangerous time to go wandering after Jaka on a new foot, but with the thumping getting louder he had a sense of urgency to find another place to hide. He had dodged a bullet with the first set of storm troopers, but knew he wouldn't be so lucky this time around. Collecting his things and leaving an encrypted note for Jaka, he left the tent, down the canyon, and hid in a cave for the night, ever so silent. Of course, the thing with the gurgly noise at the back of the cave wasn't so quiet. AL knew something was in the cave with him, and cleverly put the sack on (just in case).

Deep thoughts came as AL tried to rest. I promise to go back to the tent as soon as our uninvited guests leave. I promise to do what Jaka tells me to do because I trust him. I promise not to scream when that cave creature tries to swallow me! Don't panic, keep calm, I'll be with Jaka soon... AL didn't rest much, nor did he sleep.