Marvel's Agents of SHIELD - The Bus

I'm finally entering the final stages before paint and the work begins on the base... My mom was in from the states for a bit over a month (hadn't seen her in 4 years) so work was slow... anyway, I've also been trying to figure out the base, and I'm thinking to use a 40cm2 x 1cm thick polished Black Granite tile I have leftover from my upstairs kitchen remodel on a piece of plywood (I'm not a fan of MDF) surrounded by either solid oak or walnut trim. There's going to be a roughly 3" aluminum(?) SHIELD logo that's going to act as the Touch ON trigger on the tile as well.
Here's a closeup of the tile... Some of the specs in the tile shimmer as the light hits it while others change color.
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It might be bad-ass or total waste of time and materials, but I'm going to try it anyway and see how it turns out...

I'm also starting to work with silk screening. Found the supply house out here and picked up a starter kit to do my circuit boards correctly and run a few tests for my business cards, some shirt designs I have and signs I've always wanted but didn't have the equipment to produce them correctly.

I want to know from the other guys that are building the Bus, what are your thoughts on your build so far? Fun, Taxing, PITA, Why did I start this?, HTF did I glue my fingers together again?
 
My build is slowly moving along. Had a couple of issues with the fiber optic strand again. No biggie, but a pain... keep plastic glue off them at all costs.
Had to get a few things out to others... Here's one of them, ready to go as soon as the post office opens on monday or tuesday. Big holiday here on the 14th and the rest of the week is dead.
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I've been very busy with several projects including building my own CNC laser cutter/engraver. Anyway, here's what's transpired... since the last time...

One of the last modifications was the addition of the hump. I've cut the section away at the panel line and kept the arch for the cockpit glass, also to keep things where they're supposed to be.
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First attempt at getting the height, I glued 2mm styrene strip but it was too much and made it look strange.
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The angle was all wrong, so I removed the 2mm and put in 1.4 mm strip. Cut a couple of reliefs into the top and heated them until I got it where I wanted. Looks much nicer. Ugly, but nicer.
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Next on the hump, was the skylight for Coulson's office. This little thing took me all day, literally 8-fun-filled-exiplative-laden hours to complete. I had only one shot to get it right and kept checking and rechecking against the screen caps I had because failure at this point would be very bad (no spare fuselage to cut up). I went very slow when cutting and did all the final shaping by hand with very small files. That square hole by the wing is an access point so I can drill into the LED and attach the Fiber Optics for the office.
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all cut out... I can relax.
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Since it's going to get 'frosted glass' it needs a backing...
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One of the 3 fiber optic strands in the office.
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Now that the office is done and in place, top section attached, time to close it up. 1mm styrene that closed up the gap from the stretch and went onto the fuselage to blend the shape (and cover the led access hole) without using tons of milliput. Had to thin it out in areas to fit like I wanted.
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The area of the hump just aft of the office is too flat. Millitput to the rescue!!

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Still needs a bit of work, but it's looking good.

And let's not forget to plug it in as see it all lit up.
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I seriously can't get enough of looking at this thing lit up in the dark. I catch myself doin what I did as a kid building these, making the jet noises while flying it around the room... or at least around the desk so it can be lit up. :love
 
This is looking really great. You seem to be solving all of the build problems with relative ease! Must bookmark this thread.....
 
I was sick the last few days and will be unable to get it all properly done before the show. I'm not going to rush anything just to make it to a show. It's going to be done right and take as much time as it needs... that being said, I think I'm about done with the engines... Still needs sanding and some scribing and whatnot, but overall, I think they're close... Upon closer inspection of the screen aircraft, the engines seem to be shorter after the end of the cowl. They're probably set deeper, but at this point I wasn't about to crack them open. The next one will take this into account.

I used 1.5mm x 2.5mm styrene strip to make the greeblies on the engine pod exterior. (Anyone have a name for them, let me know) I made a jig using some scrap wood, vice on a ball joint, and my dremel to get the angle consistent on both sides of the strip. Then I cut them into 13mm lengths, stuck them together with tape, and used a jewelers hand vice and a file to sand them into shape.

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All six "done"... bringing each engine's total additional styrene bits to 21... for a grand total of 126 pieces. No matter though because once primer starts to go on numbers and hours melt away.
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This is looking really great. You seem to be solving all of the build problems with relative ease! Must bookmark this thread.....

thanks... but it's far from easy. Most of what I'm encountering are firsts for me. In all my years of modeling, except for a very brief and violent attempt at a kitbash, I've never done anything like this on any level. Usually, I just build them as is, maybe add a detail kit but that's it. I've never engineered or produced my own circuit boards let alone work with fiber optics... I just go by the rule of measure twice, cut once.
 
While waiting for some primer and filler to dry, I started working on the touch-sensitive switch for the base... I used some leftover Billet T4 Aluminum I had laying around for years doing nothing. I could have used MDF and made my life way simpler, but where's the fun in that? Plus, with all the work I've put into the Bus, along with the Granite base, MDF seems cheap and out of place.. not to mention I don't have any. So T4 Billet it is!! Here it is on the lathe with a live center. Yea, a lot of material went to waste, but better this than sit around another decade taking up space.
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Essentially the touch sensitive on switch will be housed in the aluminum cup along with the LED's. Here it is on the milling machine getting the notches. It's a good thing I made it so deep, I ended up breaking a drill and had to mill down quite a bit, but still managed to make it all work.
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And here's the "teaser" of the billet aluminum cup with the top piece notched and cut off. Tomorrow I'll drill out the holes for the screws and tap the base. I'll also be picking up some plate T4 Aluminum to cut the pieces for the logo itself.
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laid out on the 4mm aluminum...
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das SHIELD logo...
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Took several hours of hand filing and sanding to get the pieces right. Now I just have to bevel the logo bits and get the brushed finish all the same direction.
 
resin cast? why resin and not aluminum? Especially if it's going to be on your truck... Why do you think I'm investing in CNC equipment? Cutting bits like this by hand doesn't lend itself well to making more than one. The time it takes me to cut and finish just one piece is enough time for a CNC machine to knock out a couple complete units. Once my machine is up and running, keep your eyes open... I'll be doing a few things with it that I'm sure people around these parts will love. ;)
 
I finished the top portion of the logo on switch. Beveled all 8 pieces by hand and bonded them to the acrylic. Before bonding, behind each piece, both on the acrylic and aluminum, I roughed up the area with my dremel. I used some scraps to test it all out before I did anything with the pieces themselves and only after it all worked with the mock-up circuit I have, did I proceed with the final piece.

After finishing the beveling.
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Bonded to the acrylic. Test fit into the bottom cup. The acrylic was also cut and sanded by hand until it fit just right then sanded on the backside. The logo looks like it's floating...
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With the ring set on it...
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and the top-down official shot...
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Now I'm making the PCB bits that will hold the LED's, 555 chip and the rest of the magic that makes it work. All that will be bonded to the underside of the acrylic directly below each corresponding piece.

Once wrapped up, touching any part of the logo itself (not the ring) will trigger it to turn on. It lights up along with the Bus. The capacitor bank that I'm building into the base will determine how long it stays on before automatically shutting off.
 
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