D-Projects: Moebius Battlestar Galactica Build

[Delmustator]

Being a Battlestar Galactica fan, I had to get this kit and start building. The hull has a black, hammered metal finish. The engines and landing bays are illuminated via LEDs. I still have some work to finish it up.

The major parts of the kit are inspected and rubber banded together.

Painting and fitting.

Better detail of the hammered metal finish.

Most of the texture painting is done. Used hammered metal to give the hull that uneven look you see on many navel ships hulls. Landing bays still need LEDs installed.

Engines active..

Working on the base to enclose the battery and some additional LEDs so the base glows also. Still need the landing bay LEDs installed. I'm looking for micro white LEDs for this.

 

[Darph Bobo]

Maybe you can use Paragraphic's Easy LEDs. They come in a strip, can be cut to length and run off of anything between 6 and 12 volts
Starship Modeler Store: Easy LED - 20cm

 

[DS Operative]

There was a build posted here not long ago that utilized some red LED's between the landing pods and the main hull, which really set the "Bucket" apart and made it look great.

Your build is looking awesome so far, love the hammered metal and textured paint job! Has a lot of depth to it.

 

[Delmustator]

I'll probably end up using those tiny SMD LEDs for the landing bays. Also this system is setup for 3.7v.

 

[Delmustator]

I've circled back around to work on this project. Got a couple of weeks off from school so I figured I'd invest some time.

I think I'm going to replace the blue LEDs with white. Then add a couple of white LEDs for the landing bays.

 

[Darph Bobo]

Here is the lighting rig I'm using for my Galactica flight pods.

and installed

Surface mount LEDs: Great for adding lights in traditionally hard to light places, but OMG can they be a pain to solder!

Your build is looking great! I love your idea for the base!

 

[Delmustator]

I have some of those but they are yellow in color. I found that if you flux their surfaces, then put a drop on your soldering tip, it flows onto the surface area quick and easy. And they don't overheat.

But I'm thinking of using (2) 3mm high flux LEDs. I'm picking some up this weekend and testing them.

The plastic base is flimsy at best. With this base, the hollow aluminum tube goes directly into the wood where it is supported much better.

 

[Griffworks]

Nice going so far! I like the lights in the base, as well.

 

[DS Operative]

HOLY SCHNIKIES!!!! SERIOUSLY????

Those lights are tiny!!!!

 

[Delmustator]

LOL, I have some LEDs that are about the size of a ball point pin head. They could actually be used as window lights on a model of this size. Surface mount (SMD) stuff can get extremely small. Bad thing is that at some point, you cannot solder the stuff without destroying it. Too much heat...

 

[Delmustator]

UPDATE...

The base didn't turn out the way I wanted. So I re-made it for the 3rd time... In the following pics, the plastic Galactica base is embedded into the wood base. I've routed the underside to run the LED wires and the Lith-Ion battery. It will have green velvet added once everything is working. I routed the upper edges of the base as well to give it a smooth rounded look.

I'm still working on the landing bays. The high flux white LEDs were installed. While they are very bright, the light did not fill the landing bays as expected. So I'll be removing those and installing regular 3mm LEDs pointing toward the bay openings to flood them as expected.

next up is priming and painting...

 

[Delmustator]

UPDATE - Landing bay LEDs are installed.

I decided to trash the high flux LEDs in favor of 5050-WW600 LEDs. Man what a difference! The 5050s are actually 3 LEDs in one SMD package. I simply took 4 paper clips, straightened them out and soldered the LEDs to the proper wire. Attached my power feed wires and glued them in. Perfect!

I'm running at 3.7 volts, 2600 mAh. So I probably need to add a resistor to back it off a little. But they work great. The display will have a total of 19 LEDs.