More fun with fiberoptics - lighting a Star Destroyer - FIN!

[rayra]

Thanks everybody, much appreciated.

Glad you still like it, Tom, realized the other day that it's been ~7 months since we first said 'hello' about this idea/kit.

Glad to finally finish it, sad to see it go.

Now to go clean up the mess and get back to work on a couple other projects...

Couple of Slave1 buildups,
Couple of Darth Vader TIEs,
Another TIE Fighters set,
Death Star and Shuttle wall diorama,
A stomped Snowspeeder (can't decide whether to paint a groundshadow of the approaching foot, or actually build a scale foot)
A Sliced up Battle Droid
Finish my Robby the Robot with blinking mouth lights
R2 repairing damage on Chrome Queen's ship
or
R2 & C3PO in Hoth hallway

and a closet full of kits besides those. Reee-diculous.

 

[PHArchivist]

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A stomped Snowspeeder (can't decide whether to paint a groundshadow of the approaching foot, or actually build a scale foot)

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Do the foot! Do the foot!

 

[rayra]

Did some caps planning that snowspeeder dio some time ago, but looking at that sequence again today, I notice the foot is as big across as the snowspeeder is long (!)

Here's a few shots. Dio would be like one of these.

Building the speeder and pilot would be great, with just foot shadow overlapping the ground and part of the speeder.

Building the foot would be as much work as the kit, but would be very cool.

Crushing the speeder as in the last two pics would be great, as it would save a TON of work on the speeder. And could have strobing blue and white lights 'sparking' under the foot.

Building the foot entails trying to figure out where the foot stops - a few inches above the ankle, truncated / painted black like the edges of some dioramas?

The most work option would also be the coolest. Like the middle pics - Foot poised at the point of contact, Luke leaping. Maybe foot crushing enough to completely conceal the rod holding it up.

Crushing would be fun as heck - build the foot. build the model, bake it in the oven at 200F for 10mins, take it out, and CRUSH IT

 

[rayra]

doh.
http://www.amazingstarships.com/starships/models/dioramas/empirestrikes/empirestrikes.htm

 

[rayra]

GAAAH! - http://www.culttvman.com/chris_marks__battle_droid.html
DOn't recall ever seeing it before, but I obviously must have (grumblegrumble). Gonna have to do one chopped in chunks by the Jedi, instead. TradeFed Battleship hallway, Naboo hanger, or Naboo alley... hmmm....

 

[Boba Flint]

 

[Ryusui]

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rayra wrote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS=$row_color>
doh.
http://www.amazingstarships.com/starships/models/dioramas/empirestrikes/empirestrikes.htm
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Ahh, we know you'll do it better!

That was indeed some awesome work on the Destroyer! You'd think it came straight off the set for use in the movie!

Ever thought of doing the Executor?

 

[rayra]

Thank you very much (and 10 Jaw-Drops from the American judge!)

Been shuffling through the partially-completed kits on the bench right now, going to blitzkrieg several personal favs, and some that have been languishing for over a year. As well as finish a couple commisions.

Putting the finishing touches on the TIEs right now, minor struggle with the TIE mounting holes on the base.

And have been frustrated in my efforts to light a Polar Lights Robby. Found a nice pre-made blinky circuit, and have been trying to retrofit some 1/16"dia clear rods in place of the one-piece 'mouth' casting, but the rods are soo small I can't get any heating control. One second they are too cold/hard to form, the next they are a gooey mess. Have to find a way to fit the seperate rods in place. And then probably transmit the light from the board in the base, to the rods via fiber (

). The blinky panel has five lights, I rigged 2 yellow and 3 blue. Figuring to 'crosswire' the LEDs to the clear parts via multiple fibers, to generate a more frequent (psuedo-)random blinking pattern.

Then there's the rest of his head. There are two clear 'vanes' on each side of his head. PL molded them as tw0-part pieces, split vertically, and the vanes were grotesquely thick. I just ground them off. And once the remaining cone is smoothed, I'll razor-saw-cut fine notches, and insert some replacement vanes cut from some thin acetate.

(maybe I need to trim some posts off this thread and start a new one - 'What's on rayra's workbench?' or somesuch

)

 

[rayra]

Working on lighting the engines on Shuttle Tyderian. Strong blue lights (what's new?). Discovered the inner face of the panel fits a 1/2" I.D. plastruct tube nicely. And THAT fits a 1/2' acrylic rod. Nest them altogether, cut the engine openings out, frost the rod face, embed two centered-in-the-openings wide-angle LEDs, chrome the back of the rod, and Viola! Should be cool.

And bummed to discover I'm missing one of the clear tidbits for Robby's head. Experimenting with stringing hotglue onto a 1/16th rod. Looking pretty close. Can't put too much or it melts the rod. ! Come to think of it, I might have just solved my controlled-heat issue for bending this rod for the mouthpiece (providing the glue is removeable).

 

[Kithunter]

damn rayra
that star destroyer model is the badest. but you knew that already. I'm sure it must feel like quite an acomplishment to have something like that and say ...i built that

Andrew

 

[rayra]

Thanks very much. And yah, it does feel that way, for a little while.

Then it's on to the next project. Joy's in the creating / solving / building, for me.


And then there's the Pain

-

I KILLED it. Figured I'd use my drill press to drill out most of the engine opening, save some time and all. Nope. Shattered when the bit broke through. Really lame part is I was having similar trouble while working on a PVC Stormtrooper blaster a few weeks ago. Don't know how I forgot.

 

[TallDarkandDisfigured]

Oh that sucks!! I was really looking forward to seeing this one, so I could get ideas for mine.
Is it repairable? Looks like it can be fixed but it's gonna need reinforcment. I gotta try that idea of lighting the engines on mine(If I ever get around to starting it).

 

[rayra]

repairable, not sure. the inner PVC tube is in a couple pieces. considering buying another kit. may fiddle with attempting repairs while waiting for the auction-snipe to come 'round.

using rounded 1/16" rod bits to make the nav beacons, connected to fiber through the wing roots, to a central lighting position. VERY similar layout to what I used on the Star Destroyer.

Those shuttle caps we messed with months ago seem to show the beacons in different places, depending on the scene - either the leading tips of the wings, or the trailing tips. I think I'm going with Leading.

 

[TallDarkandDisfigured]

Well Rich,
I know I won't get to tackle mine. Not in the forseeable future anyway. I'd be happy to donate the rear panel to your project. I know the pics would be worth it. Drop me a PM if you want it.

 

[rayra]

what a great offer, thanks very much, much appreciated, but keep it - I'm stalking a couple auctions, and besides, the rest can always go in the scratchbuilding box.

I managed to bond the shattered parts together with some Plastruct Plastic Weld, but I'm not optimistic about it holding up to more drilling, filing, sanding, etc.

And here's a light test for Robby, the middle lit part is the one cobbled from rod and hot glue -

 

[Pilot]

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And then there's the Pain

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Rich, if you haven't tried it before, set your drill press to "reverse" before drilling plastics. It helps to hand-drill a pilot hole first just to keep yourself centered up. I've actually taken to using wood-boring bits with the pointy tips to drill my PVC blaster holes...you can't miss.

If you knew all that, just pretend I never said anything.

SD kit looks great, BTW - I'm drooling ovah heah!

-Rick

 

[rayra]

Thanks much for the info, it did indeed come up earlier while I was having similar grief drilling PVC BLaster holes. Thus the 'doh!' when I repeated the glitch here. 'cept it's a one-of model part instead of a cheaply-replaceable length of sprinkler pipe

 

[Pilot]

Hooray, looky what I got!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2474&item=3112579938&rd=1


Not that I expect it to come out anywhere near as good as yours, but it'll be a fun project anyway.

-Rick

 

[rayra]

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Pilot wrote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS=$row_color>
Hooray, looky what I got!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2474&item=3112579938&rd=1


Not that I expect it to come out anywhere near as good as yours, but it'll be a fun project anyway.

-Rick


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Ha, cool, I was watching that auction

Be careful with the included battery-powered mini-drill, I managed to break the bit very early on, and wound up hand-drilling 350+ holes.

I may have to pick up another copy of this kit, to build another.

 

[Pilot]

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Be careful with the included battery-powered mini-drill, I managed to break the bit very early on, and wound up hand-drilling 350+ holes.
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Yeah, I imagine it's that same little POS drill that comes with the Star Trek fiber kits. I've had my fair share of heartache with those.

Gonna have to pick up a pin vise and some jeweler's bits this weekend, methinks.

Before this thread completely degenerates into random, idle conversation, may I make the motion that it be archived? This was a FANTASTIC information thread about using fiber optics. As I said, I've done it before, but I learned more by reading Rich's posts than I probably have in the last 2 or 3 years of model building.

Just my twopence, as always.

-Rick