Falcon Lighting Test
This article is part of a series:
I've had a pretty productive weekend with my little Falcon. After tracking down a misdelivered order of LEDs and fiber optics to my neighbors porch I mocked them up in the sub-light engines to get an idea of how they look. I will have to fabricate some type of enclosure to contain the light bleeding out of the nooks and crannies. Also planned are fiber optic landing lights on the bottom of the saucer and some colored fiber optics in the cockpit bulkhead. The real challenge is trying to figure out how to cram a 9 volt battery in there.
Paint work is mix of Tamiya and Vallejo colors. Overall, it is going well but I'm already tired of the endless cycle of masking, mixing, spraying and cleaning...
I like it...looks good. It "brightens up the room", as they say. 🙂
Nicely done lighting effect. There are some very tiny (1mm or less) and very bright, "biscuit" LEDs that use 3V with an average of 20 to 30mA draw. These will run a long time on one of those "pancake" watch or camera batteries. Holders for these can be found on eBay. Now all we need is some "bacon" wiring. Why does this sound like a breakfast menu?
3V seems to be the "standard" for micro-miniature stuff, especially small LEDs less than 5mm. There are all sorts of miniature power and sequencing boards available from Chinese firms catering to the train buffs. I purchased five DC 3V 60mA 20000-40000RPM 7x16mm Coreless Micro Motors for $1.89 - delivered! 100, 3mm, blue LEDs for less than $5.
I bought a power board that will take up to 16V AC or DC into three different input formats and output either input voltage or a straight 3V AC or DC distributed over 29 outputs in three different style outlets in - $12.00. I used to make simple circuit boards like this with board component resistors, transistors, capacitor and maybe a chip like the ubiquitous 555 timer. It would sure cost more than $12 dollars to set up and build one yourself.
I am truly amazed at the micro electronics presently available, not to mention the very affordable price. Only question is, how much longer can it go on?
An option is to mount the Falcon in flight, put the battery in the base and run the wiring up through the stand. Looks good so far!
"Light 'em if ya got 'em."
Looks good!
Bo
I'm really liking the Bandai Star Wasr kits and I also want the 1/72 Falcon, but I haven't even started my Fine Molds version yet.I do like Bandai's rendition of the six circular vents on the back better. Do they give you photo etch screen to cover the fans?
The 1/144 scale kit does not have any photo etch parts. I may buy some or get some of the 308 bits offerings off of shapeways.
The 72nd scale Falcon is amazing, this is my "warm up" for that kit.
I couldn't tell that this was the small one! Doesn't look like they left anything out simply because of the smaller scale!
I've always enjoyed seeing Sci-fi kits at shows with additional lighting. Should turn out well, I like it.