Hey folks! Well now, 2026. Hoping you all had a great break over the Christmas period enjoying some festivities and spending it however you liked be it with friends and family or in the peace and quiet of your own company.

As 2025 drew to a close there was lots happening my side – completion of the workshop for starters, a new job role and some spectacular opportunities I’ll save for another day but I figured those of you who may have one of my LED light kits for their favourite protocol droid might be keen to know I’ve developed a little more code!

As a few of you had been asking for various functions and changes, although I don’t do much coding myself at present I figured it was about time I’d got my hands dirty and gave it a go. So, for anyone keen to spice up their kit with something a little more natural I’ve developed two more sketches for the led driver boards. You can find them here on my gitlab page ready to download and push to the arduino.

I’ve tried to include some comments in the code so users can read what functions do what and how to change them if they wish. Of course I will keep the original sketch available if anyone ever wants to revert back to that but now you have the options of a slow fade in on power up with an occasional flicker to replicate power spikes and a slow fade on with a little flash then occasional flickering to give it a more realistic feel than the constant bright colour it was before. Have a play, see what you think!

I’ve got quite a few things planned for this year so keep your eyes peeled!

All and the best and once again, Happy New Year to you all!

Chris

Hey all, Chris here and I just wanted to say thank you to folks who continue to order my 3PO LED Light Kit available through my shop. I’m amazed at their popularity, I never thought there would be much demand for them but I’m even more humbled by the kind words folks have to say about them. So thank you to all who have ordered a kit for their protocol droid projects!

I’m looking forward to doing more in the near future but as always the day to day stuff has to take priority. There will be some interesting updates soon, I had for instance suggested there will be a few completed C-3PO helmets listed a long time back but I’ve been so busy with building my workshop and trying to find time for a little rest between that and the day job so you’ll see I haven’t had much to say of late but I’ll try to do better.

Speaking of the workshop, it’s moving along well! Last weekend I dug a trench for electric cabling, I also have some worktops on order so will be fitting them soon. I do have a little finesse to add to a lot of things but….pictures say a thousand words so when I’m ready I’ll do a it of a write up. I try to keep up-to-date with the socials so if you check the links on the site to Instagram you might see a few updates. Who knows, maybe it will inspire a few of you to also build a workshop, maybe (more likely) it’ll serve as a ‘don’t do this’. Either way, lets find out!

Until next time, take care and all the best!

Well, I’ve finally got back to realising that between the day job, home DIY and the odd smaller project that I’ve neglected site updates a little. However, there’s been a trickle of interest for the 3PO eye kits still and which makes me think I might be able to take them to the next level soon*

But, what else has been happening? Well…..

Since moving places just under 18 months ago now rooms have been updated, floors have been dug up and then dug out again, gardens have been dug up, walls knocked down and workshops erected….. and yet nothing is still finished but it will be and I’m sure it will all be worth the wait. Eventually.

The workshop was taking all my efforts some time back, planning and prep, the ground work alone took months due to bad weather and then due to rain I realised I need to make further preparations…..so hopefully that’s all ok now. I’ll do a separate write up on it because naturally I have lots of pro’s/con’s to mention and who knows, maybe some one reading this will find it useful when undertaking their own build or employing someone.

For now, I’ll leave you with a pic of me as Goldie. A personal reminder for me that when you put your mind to it you can achieve almost anything, it just takes a little elbow grease and perseverance.