Update!
I've decided to finally work on adding FX to the case. There are a few tiers of feasibility here, and I'll start with the simplest and work my way up.
Tier 1: Basic Light & Sound
At a minimum, I would like to install a center activation button under the silicon button boot that acts as a pushbutton to start the machine. That essentially just means playing a looped sound effect of the machine's pumps and bellows moving air and Somnacin compound around. There are 2 audio files, one that is a long hiss that will play at startup, and then a more involved sequence of compression/pumping/decompression sounds that loop after that until the activation button is disengaged. The sound effect is mostly taken from a movie scene, cleaned up, and then a little bit of a low pitched hum added for presence. There wil lbe a master power switch, likely hidden under one of the small door flaps.
Tier 2: Fake Timers
I'd like *something* on the Timer displays. I've seen 2 versions of this prop, one with green LCD displays, and one with black LED displays. In the movie, all we see are black LED displays with a red dot matrix readout of the remaining time on the clock. This is the look I'd like to replicate. I have spent an insanely long amount of time trying to find displays of this type at this size, and I've concluded they probably just don't exist, or are so rare or custom they are unattainable. Even so, I'm not sure the required electronics would even fit inside the remaining space in my timer housings. So my second choice is to fake it. I'm going to look into replacing my green "LCD" acrylic panels with black acrylic with laser cutout dots for the "time", with rear red illumination to fake a real dot matrix display. They'll be static, but at least it's something.
Tier 3: Real Timers
If some day in the future I am able to work it out, putting real timers and displays in the housing, adjustable by the 2 white buttons on each side. Today, those buttons are just dummies and not conneced to anything).
Tier 4: Motorized Cable Spools
I am extremely skeptical of this every becoming possible, but why not list it? The dream is to install real step motors that drive the tiny gears and belts and able to automatically wind the IV tubing back up onto the spools. Today, I can freely pull the tubing out as long as I need, but then I have to manually wind it back up. So far, the tiniest motors I could find are still far too large to fit where they would need to go.
I start with Tier 1 last night, getting the correct illuminated pushbutton and power source working. I have a sound board on the way, and I'll need to print up a mount for the button so it can be positioned precisely where I need it directly under the silicon cover.
