Han in Carbonite - Kiwi Build

[Dazza007]

Volvo Panels painted and they are looking sweet. I plan on mounting them with Neodynium magnets so they are easy to remove for storage/moving.
Panels are reproduction in ABS from Todd Blatt

Carbonite Build Parts and Kits

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Paint is Rust-Oleum Metallic Aluminium 2X Ultra Cover

That does mean I will try and shoehorn all of the electronics for the hero panels into one panel, more to come on that.

 

[Dazza007]

Finally had good enough weather to lay down my first coat of paint - I know its been debated, but I decided to go for a solid color block, so the whole thing is Rust-oleum Flat Antique Nickel. Its how I remember it from the movies, so I'm happy with the choice.
A little patchy in places, but i'll see how it dries and then add another coat, and possibly a third if Im not happy with that as well.

 

[Dazza007]

Busy Weekend - managed to paint the base as well, and insert/glue the diffuser plastic.
Now just waiting on an 5m RGB LED Strip, that I can program with an Arduino to simulate the hot lava underfloor, and the base will be complete.
Will upload scripts and instructions here as well as a video once its completed.

 

[Dazza007]

Ok Time for a bit of dirt - was pretty hard starting this considering i thought it already looked pretty good.
Dark Wash 1 part acrylic 5 parts water with a small squirt of Dishwash liquid.
Painted on quite heavily - let it dry for about 5 mins and then wiped off loosely with a damp rag, went over some areas a bit more to clean up, as was really wanting it quite subtle.
Will possibly add another wash as is pretty faint.

 

[Dazza007]

Here is my Initial Lighting test for the base - will be changing it a little, instructions to follow

 

[Dazza007]

OK Finished my base lighting.
Basically its an Arduino Mega plugged into one of these strips

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I'd recommend getting an external 5V 10A Power supply, however mine does work when plugged into the 5V line on the mega

Attached is the Arduino script - based on one of the examples from the FastLED Library

I should point out the videos below appear a lot whiter than it looks in real life, I need to get a better camera

Heres the layout of my Strip

and heres the final Result

 

[Dazza007]

Paint Job Complete - Last coat of Rust-oleum Ultra Clear 2X Gloss down and now onto the panels

 

[Dazza007]

To make the panels easy to clip on and off, I ended up using Neodymium Rare earth magnets.
These are about 4.5mm Diameter, 3mm Deep

I then placed the panels in position and marked where the holes are onto the box - then drilled with a 4.5mm drill bit
then a bit of epoxy and slid each magnet into the holes - make sure you keep the polarity the same for each one makes things easier long term.

I then inserted the magnets - once again the correct polarity, into each of the panels - its a tight fit so no glue is needed

And now we have easily removeable click on panels