Star Wars meets Karate Kid...Sand On Sand Off

We had a major event happen in Houston.....RAIN!!!!!

I had almost forgotten what it was and while we only recieved 2 inches which by far does not get us out of the drought we recieved something else nice. Are you ready for this? 65 degree Saturday afternoon.

My son and I headed for Tball practice and as soon as we stepped outside he said "Dad, it's not hot so can we sand Artoo?" Talk about making the ole man proud. After practice we headed home and began getting everything ready. Sanding is a long process as it requires using several diferent gritts to get to your finished look. The aluminum dome in and of itself is a thing of beauty and depending on how you want your R2 to look will determine how much sanding you want to do. Some people like it as is with the subtle spin lines. I put it to a vote with the boys and they wanted the high polished look that you would see in the movies such as the award ceremony after the battle of Yavin in episode 4.

A trip a few months back to an auto store scored me the different gritts pictured here:

I purchased a total of 6 different gritts. The lower the # the coarser it is so we have a pack of 10 sheets each of 220,400,600,800,1000 and 2000 gritt sand paper. They are all wet/dry sheets.

We began by setting down a towel in the drive so the domes would sit on something to offer them protection and we filled up a mop bucket with water to dip the sand paper in. I also had the hose close by as after a while you need to spray the dome down to clean it.

My oldest boy worked on the inside dome and I sanded on the outter dome.

After a while even mom got involved

Once mom joined the party my youngest was all in and it became a family sanding party.

At least that is until the neighbor's boys came out with their lightsabers and then I was abandoned as my boys ran inside to get their lightsabers and while the moms talked and the boys dueled a grown man set in the driveway all alone sanding an R2 dome.

After a total of about two hours and all of the 220 gritt gone I rinsed the inner and outer domes off and wiped them down and set them in the sun to see how they looked.

I am torn at the moment as a part of me wanted to jump in the truck and go get another pack of 220 to keep sanding. The other side of me knows that this is the roughest that it will look as the sand paper I used was very coarse and to move next to the 400 gritt. By the time I get to the 2000 gritt it should be smooth. Guess I'll sleep on it for now but I am hoping tomorrow will be another nice day for sanding.