Making a Comic book version of the Green Lantern Power Battery (Pic Heavy)

Just got back from The Home Depot and Picked up a few of the essentials for the Green Lantern power Battery and restocked some of my supplies... I also did some digging on the net and learned that, the comic book version of Hal Jordan's power battery was about 11 3/4 inches tall and 9 3/4 wide...

I have made several power batteries over the last few years. Here is the basic layout of mine. It's more of the pre-rebirth version of the power battery. The handle has been upgaded in the last few I made to 1/4 aluminum rod as seen in the second photo.

Your power battery looks great Run Runner. I really like your design, but there are gonna be a few things done different on mine. I'm gonna use 4 inch pvc couplers for the top and bottom parts and I want to do kinda a rounded build up but ant the top I'm not sure if I want to add a lip or if I want to bevel it a bit. Any advice on how to that groove part? For the light cones that protrude from the side I going with a couple of funnels I have them in a couple of different sizes because I'm not sure how large they should be. They are on the thin side so I will have to add some thickness to them and do some trimming. I know mine wont be 100% comic accurate I wanna do a cross between Abin Sur's and Hal Jordan's, to be a little bit different. For a little while I was thinking about doing a over sized version and call it the Kilowog version. I plan on doing a few of these Lanterns in various colors to produce one for each color in the spectrum. Alot of work but If they turn out well I might do a small run of them It really depends I guess.
So thanks again for the ideas Run Runner

To make the groove on the battery, I first marked off the "equator" of the light globe. Then I marked off 4 points equal distance apart on the equator. this will be the centers of the lens and handle. From the 4 points I drew 4 circles the same size so that the sides of the circles would touch. I then used the dremel to carefully scribe the line going under the lens and over the handle.

I was going to make the oversized Kilowog battery, I even have the parts, just haven't gotten around to building it.

I'm looking forward to seeing your design of the power battery.

well my idea to use the funnel turns out to be a flop. The funnel was too thin i gotta find something else. I gotta try to find some cereal bowels that would work, instead

I hit pay dirt! I finally found the right bowls for my Lantern. I already removed the bottoms of two of them. I need to mark the "equator" so that I can carve the groove. Also need to cut the pvc coupling in half. I wanna light this sucker but not sure how I'm goin to go about that yet. I want it to be battery operated and really bright... thinking really bright L.E.D.s.

Run Runner said:

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I have made several power batteries over the last few years. Here is the basic layout of mine. It's more of the pre-rebirth version of the power battery. The handle has been upgaded in the last few I made to 1/4 aluminum rod as seen in the second photo.

Amazing Work!! Nice Job!!

Thanks!

Any updates on this project? I love seeing a good power battery build. How are you going to make it light up (or are you)? For the few batteries I've made for other people, I've decided it was high time to make one for myself!

yeah i got busy with work but here in the near future i will be getting a good chunk of the work done on it. I will be lighting it I just finished soldering together 2 light sources in which I used a whopping 50 super bright led's I made 2 because I'm not completely sure that 1 would be enough because I want this sucker to be bright. unfortunately I wont be able to do it like dc direct did with theirs with the ring activating it. 2 reasons 1 I'm not familiar with trying to build a circuit using a RFID chip and sensor, 2 I wouldn't be able to afford it lol I will try to remember to take some work in progress pics.

Thatoneguy said:

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yeah i got busy with work but here in the near future i will be getting a good chunk of the work done on it. I will be lighting it I just finished soldering together 2 light sources in which I used a whopping 50 super bright led's I made 2 because I'm not completely sure that 1 would be enough because I want this sucker to be bright. unfortunately I wont be able to do it like dc direct did with theirs with the ring activating it. 2 reasons 1 I'm not familiar with trying to build a circuit using a RFID chip and sensor, 2 I wouldn't be able to afford it lol I will try to remember to take some work in progress pics.

You could do it with a reed switch and a magnet. It's a simple mechanical switch.

Thanks for the idea Tempus I will look into it.

Here is a picture of the work in progress. Please keep in mind that this is kind of a rough draft version. Please be honest an tell me what you think.

Shoot i just realized that the picture somehow got turned on its side... oops

That's great! I like the rounded top and bottom. Moar!

Still to do list: Make a handle, add the green lantern symbol, add the lights and electronics, Paint, fix all the seam lines, and sculpt my own ring and have it cast in metal.
I don't like the chunk stlye ring they used in the movie. I'm more a fan of the Hal Jordan signant style ring. I like the blackest night promo rings they have out but, i'm not completely sold on them either I just think its a good starting point for my ring.2 cents

Hey run runner i have one last question. how long of a brass rod did you use? any tips on making it perfectly round?

Hey... Just came across this thread and I have to say; I'm really liking the battery, it looks great!
It may be a bit far along in the process to help, but I own the Original DC Direct Power Battery and would be happy to post reference pics for you if you'd like. Just let me know.

Hey thanks Jedibugs. You're a little too late for the first one. I am building a second one. This one is going to be completely custom with the bells and whistles. The first one is a rough draft to get a feel for it and what not to do. Im picking up the remaining parts today and the second one will have plenty of pics taken kinda a step by step thing. But if you want to post pics of the original I'm sure it would help some one else starting their own power battery.

I use a 1/4" X 36" aluminum rod for the handle. I just bend it by hand until it looks right.

Ok great thanks! Run Runner. In other news I will be painting the first Lantern Red for my younger brother. The second lantern will be green. I couldn't locate any reed switches so I wont be using a magnetized ring to turn it on and off . I'm sure my brother will like it just the same It is his X-mas gift.

I have gotten plenty of work done on both of the lanterns! Yay!!! I will be posting a slew of new pics very soon. Hopefully I wont manage to post them side ways again... I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Okay the first pic is of some misc. parts that I'm using for my battery, in various stages of completion.
The second pic is a picture of both the batteries for a side by side comparison both just got first layer of bondo.c
The third pic is a closer shot of just my green battery. ( I have alot of work to do on the bondo)
The fourth pic is another side by side shot.
Now here comes the fun pics.
The fifth pic is kind of a teaser pic showing me that lighting needs tweaked on this battery. ( sadly it kinda looked pink in person so I went and doubled up on the red gel)
The sixth pic is a teaser of my lantern. ( oooh its green!)
The seventh and final pic for this posting is the corrected lighting for my brothers lantern. ( It came out the right red for this time)
Now I just need to go and do all the sanding, bondo'ing, wire up the lights permantely, cap off the tops, add the right symbol to the right lantern, make a battery compartment, add the handles, and paint.... So yeah still a ways to go before I'm done.
It seems that I up-loaded the pics on their sides again So my bad...

I've been lurking here and just started to try to build my own lantern. Unforunately as I tried to drill the holes for the handle in the side of the globe I just shattered my globe. So, how did you guys drill out the sided of the glonbe?