Boushh Thermal Detonator

Hello all!

Ive been searching for a Thermal Detonator kit for sometime and havent had the best of luck as I seem to have missed a lot of the good kit runs. Needless to say I finally got my hands on one of the Disney TD "Hot Potato" game toy (I got mine for close to retail price which was $25 USD......it is NOT worth the $300 that some ebay sellers are asking for). While it was nice out of the box, lights and sound were great.....I wanted something that looked better so I decided to try and mod it. Now I know I wont get it screen accurate but I just hope to make it look good to use as a costume prop. As a toy or a game, it didnt feel solid enough that I would want to toss it around with my friends.

So after a week of contemplating I decided to go ahead and mod! Now first off, you can tell that they did not want their customers to be dismantling this toy as the 3 screws that hold it together were covered by a large plastic piece that was glued into place. I had to drill out the hole to get to the screws....sadly I didnt think to take pictures till later in the mod.


I plan to eventually fill in the holes and around the battery door to make it smooth and seamless.

After I got it open I was able to look at the electronics. Gosh you can tell they went for the cheap to build this en-mass.

The two red wires on the left went to a very basic 'switch'.....well its simply two metal strips that get pressed together. I went about removing all the excess solder and plan to rewire it a little so that it fits together differently. The original power source was 4 LR44 button batteries run in series, I thought about replacing it with a small Li-Po but after some searching I felt it would make this overly complicated as the original power source is about 6v and 150mA and most Li-Po batteries are 3.7v. So in the end I decided to go with 2 LR 2032's and hope that it works the same. The toy had a switch in the back to switch between game mode, movie mode and of course off. I had to remove the switch and plan to either flip it around or just hardwire the circuit to movie mode. This way I could fill in the back to remove the hole where the switch used to be.


You can see here where I soldered in a JST connector for the new battery pack.


Lastly here are the latest pictures of the mod. I sanded and primed the top half since there isnt any modding to be done to it.


Also here is the modded switch, I added a tank tread to make it easier to slide the switch as the old texture didnt offer much grip.


I am now waiting on some 3D parts I modeled and having printed for me as well as the new battery pack, wiring and LED to replace the red top light. The 3d part I made is a harness that I hope will provide some framework to hold some rare-earth magnets so that I can remove the bottom half and get to the batteries.

I am open to any thoughts and suggestions as this is my first real mod of anything to be honest.

Hope you all like this mod!

Hi there and welcome ...

that's a great start to introduce yourself and your skills

Chaim

It's cool to see someone doing a mod on this. I been wanting to see what someone could do.

The one thing i noticed about the game that really stood out was how the inner ring with the 3 LED lights should be recessed more. This is because the top and bottom shell should be thicker. I was wondering if you are going to address that detail.

I don't know, maybe just painting the ring with a darker color silver/gray than the rest of the body might help.

Katscan said:

I had to drill out the hole to get to the screws....sadly I didnt think to take pictures till later in the mod.

Click to expand...

Here is a picture what the area looks like prior to your mod: http://www.mureview.net/wp-content/gallery/thermal-detonator/img_8822.jpg

Mara Jade's Father said:

It's cool to see someone doing a mod on this. I been wanting to see what someone could do.

The one thing i noticed about the game that really stood out was how the inner ring with the 3 LED lights should be recessed more. This is because the top and bottom shell should be thicker. I was wondering if you are going to address that detail.

I don't know, maybe just painting the ring with a darker color silver/gray than the rest of the body might help.

Click to expand...

My skills are not that great, yet, for me to attempt to address it with modification to the body or ring. I do plan to paint the top and bottom halves chrome and the middle ring a silver color. Its not going to be cannon but I hope to make it as close as I can and still make it look good for use in trooping.

Thanks for the before picture! As you can see there are 3 panels that were glued on that covered the screw holes, behind the panels was a plastic shaft as well to fill the screw compartment so, its not as simple as pulling off the panel as I tried to do initially.

I havent decided if I am going to sand off the bottom, where it has the copyright info, or not as its the bottom. It wont detract from the overall appearance, at least I dont think it will and Im not sure how to cut out the grooves to the center effectively. My hands arent the steadiest with a Dremel.

Maybe if you do a black wash on the center ring where the top and bottom section meets. It might give the illusion of shadowing and depth.

Can't wait to see more pictures. I've been wanting to do this to mine, but have not cracked it open yet.

This is nice to see someone doing a mod on one of these. Just putting a paint job on it to help with the look is one of the biggest improvements. But to see the work with the electronics is nice. Can't wait to see more updates.

toolguy301 said:

This is nice to see someone doing a mod on one of these. Just putting a paint job on it to help with the look is one of the biggest improvements. But to see the work with the electronics is nice. Can't wait to see more updates.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Im not doing a whole lot with the electronics, replacing some of the wiring and moving the battery pack so I can make a more seamless bottom.

Sent another piece I designed to the 3d printer. Should have it early next month......man I hate the wait!



This will (hopefully) allow me to use the new LED indicator light that I got from Sparkfun.

Finally got the frame I had 3D printed come in, this was just a prototype as I was a bit unsure how it would all fit. Sure I used calipers to get measurements but even with that its hard to tell how things would work.


For instance, the three long sections in the middle. Not sure what I thought they would provide but I removed them from the model and the next printing. Guess I thought I would help add some stability once I got some putty underneath it. Also, the structure was too thin and the supports were in the wrong place and allowed the magnet 'pillars' to bow.

The re-design


So, back to the printer it will go once I get the new battery pack in and figure its placement.

Hey everyone!

Finally have some updates, been mostly waiting for parts to arrive before moving forward.

Most importantly the new powerpack! Fiddled with some mounting options but I think the bottom half is the better choice since to attach it to the top half would have required a lot of modification.

I tested it out and it works beautifully!

Also got the original LED off and after some consideration I will reuse it and replace the LED that was in the 'Panel light' replacement since it had a resistor(I think) soldered onto it.
Original TD LED on the left and the panel light LED on the right. Turns out that I need to shave off some of the tube on the panel light to make it shorter since its original length is a tad too long.


The new light bracket came in so I can use the panel light LED. The original LED sat on the board and shined light toward a lense that sat at the top so it wasnt a direct light and I wanted more of a direct light source.

Original TD lense on the left and new light bracket on the right with the panel light lense.


And here it is installed. I redesigned the bracket to raise the lense a little since it seems a bit sunk to me.


I also re-soldered the speaker with some new more robust wires which I may shorten once the new bracket arrives from the print shop.


Now that I got what I want for the electronics straightened out, I went ahead and glued the original battery compartment shut and began to fill in the hatch lines as well as the holes I had to drill to remove the bottom half, oh and the original speaker holes.


I let it cure for 2 days and sanded it down, waiting for the weather to clear up a bit before I spray on some primer.


Oh and before anyone mentions it, yes I have some 400 and 1200 grit sand paper that I plan to use to smooth out the sandpaper marks.

I am debating on actually chroming my TD or just using a chrome like spray paint and not worry if it doesnt have a mirror finish and just a shiny metal look instead. Still working with various paints and practicing/testing them out before I use anything on my TD.

Im open to any suggestions/opinions on my project.


-Kat

That's looking really good!

Well, back from vacation! Had a great time and what did I have waiting for me when I got home? New printed parts!



These are the new brackets for the center ring. It will give the ring more stiffness and provide anchors for the magnets I plan on using to hold it all together. The round part is the speaker mount.



The new top LED lense holder came in and brought the red lense up half a millimeter and more flush with the top. I def like the look a lot better.



I was originally going to use modeling putty to hold the magnets to the top and bottom halves but decided to use Sugru instead as it will hopefully allow the material to flex slightly with the strong magnets. I also scored the spots to give the Sugru a bit more surface to grip against the otherwise smooth surface. Have to wait till tomorrow for the Sugru to fully cure and see if they hold up!

Dude this ;looks awesome. I have been working on a 3d printed TD for a while now. I am saving money to cast it before i think about the electronics it will have a almost hollow shell so there will be plenty of room for sound and lights.

OBI WAN KEN0B1 said:

Dude this ;looks awesome. I have been working on a 3d printed TD for a while now. I am saving money to cast it before i think about the electronics it will have a almost hollow shell so there will be plenty of room for sound and lights.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I tried to make just the middle ring with the 3D program I have and I kept running into problems (phantom geometry that only showed up when I went to print). Granted I am using a freeware program The program isnt bad for doing simple projects like the pieces you see above.

So, the Sugru held up! Whew, those magnets I got are a lot stronger than I originally thought, but I dont intend on removing the top often. Just wanted the ability too if I needed to tweak or fix something.


I also used Sugru on the bottom magnet anchors, not exactly a neat job but they are on the inside so Im not worried. :cool


Now that everything is comming together I figured it was time to glue the center ring together and get it prepped for painting. Gotta fill in the gaps between the two halves of the middle ring.


Cant wait to get painting!


-Kat

That's really awesome! Yeah, the painting step is a very gratifying part of any build. :cheers

A little bummed right now :cry

Well more like frustrated.....:angry

I started painting, put a base coat of glossy black (in preparation for doing a chrome effect) on both halves and had to resand it a few times due to what appeared to be micro-pitting. Not sure how that was happening, perhaps it was due to old spray paint? So after sanding it down a bit to remove what I could of the micro-pitting I re-primed it with a different glossy black primer and it worked out rather well. I put on 2 coats of the glossy black primer and let them dry for 24 hours. This afternoon I thought I would try a Chrome effect primer, I tried it out on a scrap piece I had laying about and it appeared to go on glassy smooth so I figured I would put one more layer before adding a glossy top coat before the chrome-effect coat.....and this happened.......:angry


I have no idea what happened or why it did this. Debating on whether to keep it like this or sand it down and re-prime it again....uggg, this is frustrating. The test spray was painted in almost the same matter, only difference between this and the scrap, the scrap had a high gloss top coat painted on.

Any ideas why this may have happened?

Unfortunately the paint is all in German so Im not sure how this particular primer is supposed to work.....bleh

wow ... that also happened to certain parts of my Darth Vader shoulder armor ... someone explained to me that it could also happen if the temperature suddenly drops dramatically whilest drying ... so even though I love that weathered look on your TD ... I suppose and assume you'll have to sand and start over again ... bummer.

Chaim

I cannot say for sure why that happened. I know I had some paint issues due to the weather a few weeks ago. But since this is Florida, if I had to wait for the right temp and humidity, I probably would only get one week a year to paint. I solved my issue by moving the item immediately inside to an air conditioned environment to dry. My paint is stored in a/c environment as well.

The effect is actually kind of nice, but not if you are looking for a chrome finish.

Hey man where did u get the red led light ? I have found a few on line but they seam expensive.