My 2 Lifesize 1:1 BB-8 Projects
- Thread starter azheat
- Start date
Its Alive!Awsome work it looks like it shood. Is it final wathering?
Thank you. No, that's not the final weathering. I'm going to change it up some, just wanted to step back and work on the electronics.
I was able to get a bunch done today. First, I got all the body lights done. For one of the cut outs I split the pipe in two with some foam board and added one blinking red and one steady yellow light. As far as the lights go, I didn't stick with screen accuracy, I just went with what LEDs I had on hand.
I added lights to all the cut outs. In total, I used about 25.
I bought this audio box online and downloaded some BB-8 sounds to it. It'll hold about 5 minutes but I think I only put about 3 minutes of audio on it. I disassembled the box so I could mount the speaker closer to some slits that I cut out on the back of his head. I also rewired a new momentary button; push to start / push to stop.
Here's a test of the audio.
I mounted the entire unit in the head. I'm still able to attach the USB cord and change the batteries.
And here he is with the lights and sounds.
Now that the audio and lights are done, I'm going to rework the weathering, add the eye cover and antennas, then it's about done.
I added lights to all the cut outs. In total, I used about 25.
I bought this audio box online and downloaded some BB-8 sounds to it. It'll hold about 5 minutes but I think I only put about 3 minutes of audio on it. I disassembled the box so I could mount the speaker closer to some slits that I cut out on the back of his head. I also rewired a new momentary button; push to start / push to stop.
Here's a test of the audio.
I mounted the entire unit in the head. I'm still able to attach the USB cord and change the batteries.
And here he is with the lights and sounds.
Now that the audio and lights are done, I'm going to rework the weathering, add the eye cover and antennas, then it's about done.
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Thank you!
Today I was able to make some progress on the other body I got from Reel.........been a little sidetracked the last few weeks. I messed up the stickers some but I think everything will come together when I start weathering. I cut out some areas of the stickers and installed all the body LEDs, now I can slosh around some white primer on the inside. Still need to add LEDs to the head and finish painting.
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Dude. You really need to do a run of light kits. I'll take some [emoji3][emoji3].
Awesome work.
Reel
Thank you!
If I can ever get caught up, I'd love to do a run! I'll have to see what I can do.
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Put some base coats down on the second head. I tried to mix some paint to match the orange in the decals which was a real PITA. I was able to airbrush all the orange and although it's far from perfect, I can live with how it looks. I need to mount the main eye unit and holo-projector and then I can mount the LEDs and start weathering. I also bought some ultra bright white paint for inside the body, will try and get to that this week. Once I get that done I hope it ties the head and body together a little better, then the weathering should complete it.
Thank you sir!
Not a whole lot of time to work on this today, but I was able to mount the main eye and holo-projector as well as define the lines in the head. I also put a real quick base of weathering down on both the head and body; it really helped tie the two together. I'm real pleased with how this is coming along.
Little more weathering and then I can install the switches in the head, add the white acrylic to the cut outs, wire all the LEDs, and add the sound.
Rather than finish up the weathering I decided to finish wiring / installing the sound module and LEDs. I installed the sound module inside the head making sure I can still plug in the USB cord as well as change the batteries. I have one momentary on/off switch (for the audio) and one push on/off switch (for the LEDs) mounted behind the head, under the lip. I still need to the paint the switch bases white.
The wiring is a real PITA, but man the LEDs / audio really bring this guy to life. I'll move back to final weathering shortly, then install the eye dome and antennas.
Couple pics in the dark, sorry, the camera didn't focus very well so there's lots of glare.
The wiring is a real PITA, but man the LEDs / audio really bring this guy to life. I'll move back to final weathering shortly, then install the eye dome and antennas.
Couple pics in the dark, sorry, the camera didn't focus very well so there's lots of glare.
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I've gotten quite a few questions about my LEDs so I thought I would share this very rude drawing I did. The sphere is very translucent, so you need to take measures to focus the LED light to a specific area and block areas where you don't want to see it. I'm sure there's a million ways to do this, you may even be able to confine the light with paint from the inside, but this is what I came up with using some black foam core board I had on hand.
I basically drilled a hole in the top of the PVC cap / plug and glued in an LED. I then cut a piece of foam board larger than the diameter of the cap / plug and cut away the areas that matched the area on the decal where the light will shine through. Then I glued the cap / plug to the foam board and glued the whole thing inside the sphere.
Hope it helps.
I basically drilled a hole in the top of the PVC cap / plug and glued in an LED. I then cut a piece of foam board larger than the diameter of the cap / plug and cut away the areas that matched the area on the decal where the light will shine through. Then I glued the cap / plug to the foam board and glued the whole thing inside the sphere.
Hope it helps.
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Howlrunner
Master Member
This is looking awesome! Definitely going to have a go putting lights in my own build and will most likely do something very similar.
Where did you get the sound board?
Where did you get the sound board?
Thank you. I got this sound board from eBay. I then isolated some sound clips, cleaned them up, and loaded them onto the device. I'm contemplating doing a run of both the light kits and sound boxes so if you're interested and don't mind waiting a little, might be an option. I'll try and post details shortly.
I wanted to add the below picture to illustrate the importance of the foam board to block some of the light. In the picture below, I am holding one LED below the surface and you can see the area of disbursement is large, much larger than the areas where you would want the light to shine through. The inside of my ball has two coats of interior bright white latex paint, although I will say I missed some spots on the second coat. The LEDs are bright enough to shine through the decals.
Adding the foam board at the end of the pipe cap / plug definitely helps.
Going to call these about 90% done, I have so many other projects to get to. I still have some weathering touch-ups to do but I installed the eye lenses and antenna as well as finished a few other minor details. I was trying a few techniques to tint the main eye lens on a spare I had, but no dice. I saw someone once tint some plastic by boiling it then adding some dye, maybe when I have a chance I'll give it a shot but for now I'll need to wait until I get a spare lens. These BB-8s are two different styles completely but I love them both. Probably going to sell these off so I can make one final version. Now that I know what worked and what didn't, I think I can do better. The lights / audio came out great on both.
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