WARNING: Sorry I’m in a rush so this would be a very long post with lots of images. I update and correct them as I go along as the deadline is just a few more days away. I want to save as much time as I can to prepare for this Model…
This is the last weekend before I am to present the Tesla Trooper for the Malcom 2025. The pacing is maddening as I have to shift from assembling, then waiting, then assembling, looking for tools, waiting, looking for other tools, and well, you get the picture. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually assembled a model kit, as I was still busy from all the Moving and went into the electronics side.
So, getting the Tesla Trooper ready before June 14th was going to be a bit of a rush. I had planned on most things but I did not foresee my tools having some issues in various degrees of neglect…
THE MISSION
My main interest in the Tesla Trooper was in its Tesla Emitter thingy on his right arm. The original electronics that came with it was quite good and you can activate it with a magnet (from one of the detachable pouches on the belt). But I wanted more than just two LEDs flashing almost randomly. So, the Mission for the Tesla Trooper was to re-design the electronics and of course, built the figure. The latter was already done by May and it’s just only the figure left. And suddenly, during the course of the last two weeks, I realized that I do not like to build ‘clean’ figures. What kept me going was Border Model’s design concept on how they cleverly hide the seams with other parts. Then again, apart from Work, I seldom build figures since a long, long time ago.
The Model basically is separated more or less into three sections for colouring. One would be the metallic silver (Mr. Color Bright Silver) for the upper torso and Arm, while the other would be the red (Mr. Color ) for the uniform, and the remaining blacks (Mr. Colour Tire Black + Mr. Color )
If you look at the assembled sub-pieces, all them were molded in colour and there is actually no need to paint them. But I want to make it look better since I hope to weather it. Soon. Maybe. Ish… As for the two bluish things on the right, I’ll explain later.
THE HURDLES
One of the ongoing problems I’ve had was the maintenance of my tools as I usually keep them stored away until they’re needed. Alas, maybe it’s due to the high 80’s humidity or the heat (32ºC – 39ºC) in the old house, most of my stuff are literally ‘baked’. So, when it was time to use those tools and paints, I really had to take the time to inspect, repair and service them beforehand.
My spare, the Sparmax had a bent trigger. Although the angle made it comfortable to the finger, the bent made it impossible to push open the valve.
The bent is quite severe and I guess, it must have happened during the Move last year. The only solution is to search for and order the part. But with only five days left, this is not a viable option. Of course, I could try to repair it…
My hand slipped while trying to bent it back since I do not have a table vice. So, after slowly bending the other leg, I got it back to almost its original shape. I can push the trigger now but just in case, I am going to use my David Studio 3.0 instead.
Then there are the glass pipettes which I use to drop thinner into the brush and paper towels. The sticky rubber had hardened, and melted into the glass. Each of the spare pipettes also suffered the same fate. Luckily, I had bought some plastic ones years ago and surprisingly, they were much easier to use.
Yeah, the sticky rubber leaves a lot unwanted residue on the fingers and almost every surface it touches on.
Next would be the paints. By now, most of them were either dried out or in the process of going bye-bye. Some of the inner plastic caps (to keep the bottles airtight) cracked. Some were able to be rescued with thinner and some will be acting as spare bottles. Luckily, because I always forget what paints I had when reaching the shops, I did have some extra ones. Despite my range of dull grays and blacks, I got some colours which more or less closely matched the ones for the Tesla Trooper.
For the Red Uniform, I first applied Mr. Surfacer 1200 Gray. This allows me to see how much mistakes I’ve made when joining two parts together. The method I used was to have the two surfaces melt and then pushing together. This will (most of the time) eliminates pock holes and all I have to do is to just scrape the melted plastic with a blade. Unfortunately, this is a curve surface and so, I had to use some sand paper…
THE WIRING
Originally, the plan was to power the Figure from the bottom of the base with a connection to a switch where the observer (you) can push to activate the lighting effect. But after treading the wires, I realized that they are too thick. I am using this wire because it is much stronger than the thinner awg31 one and I was so worried that when the joints are moved, they might snap. This is one of the reasons it is a bad idea to wire up a figure since most of it would have to negotiate through the joints while trying to hide itself at the same time.
The four wires snaked through from the right forearm through the heatshrink elbow and into and out of the upper torso assembly.
Here is a much more detailed shot. Once it exits the upper torso assembly, the pair of black wires (meant for the switch) will stay there. The red and black power wires will continue its journey where it will enter the rear shell, into the backpack and onto the bluish green capsule. I forgot where I got them from but it has something to do with shooting marbles from some kind of SD Gundam toy.
At the back, where the backpack originally had a hole for a part which then connects to the black hose. In its place would be a M3 hole for the nut and bolt. I also drilled two smaller 0.8mm holes for the red and black wires. As for the gap in between, I used some short Green tubings.
The pair of unused black wires are hidden in the hollow of the shell at the back.
Although the two black wires for the switch are not used, I left them as it is. Removing them might allow the upper part of the tesla Emitter to close better but it is going to take some time to undo all the work.To get
This is the bluish green capsule thing I am using as a container for the 250mAh LiPo battery. The capsule by iself looked bland and so, I added some details such as MGS vents, a roller wheel from a WWII Tank and another MGS round cap. For the riveted panels, I glued some styrene and used a cut off syringe needle to get those round circles. As for the metallic shade, to get as close as I can with the main body shell, I first primed it with Mr.Surfacer 1200, then with semi-gloss Black before applying about two coats of Mr. Color Bright Silver.
I had to cut off the dimple at the front of the Tesla Emitter and also some plastics so that the whole assembly can fit in the flexiPCB with the 1206 Ice Blue SMD LED. The consequences is that now, I have to glue the upper piece (with the clear part) along with the electronics. So, servicing them is going to be a pain. The green SolR liquid mask is to make sure there is no paint when I glue the upper part together.
I have ordered the Fast Curing UV Clear Glue and its dispenser (which is used to protect sealing package components) and I think they’re not going to arrive anytime soon. So, my backup plan is to use PVA white glue to secure the clear part. Once it dries, it would become clear.
While building the model, there are some parts which was not in the assembly manual. These are the parts meant for the insides of the helmet. But if you look inside the helmet, the details are already molded in. Perhaps this model was rushed and different departments did not communicate with each other until it was too late. Then again, I am making up this story.
The boots looked like that under a strong light because I sprayed the Tire Black + Black in weird places.
This is one of the techniques where Border Models got around to snap-fit the brown bands around the thighs. Each peg is a half circle and the two will meet inside the thigh. The idea is great but removing them for whatever reason is going to be a nightmare if you do not plan on breaking it.
Remember the joint I made earlier? The 1200 grit sandpaper worked too well. I had to repair most of the damage with Plastic magic with a makeshift damp brush. Then after I had found some sanding sponge, the repair was OK but I am not going to spend too much time on this. Look closely on how the joints are designed. There is no way I can thread the four wires through them unless I fix the legs to be on a permanent pose. This means I cannot hide the batter within a base not have a push-button interactive switch.
Putting the bands on the boot is not an issue since there are some lettering inside. This is a foolproof method since the upper and lower parts are not identical.
I am not sure why the Model uses magnets to hold other pouches on the belt. I suppose this so that, like those Warhammer Miniatures (where weapons and arms are interchangeable per each mission), each pouch can be positioned in different locations. And more importantly, the pouches can be used to activate the LED lights. However, since I have modified the Lighting, the idea cannot be used. I would like to use the same magnet switch (in the form of a sot-23) but the circuit board is already too cramped and I do not want the lights of the LEDs to be obstructed. The chip has been programmed to automatically activate every 40 seconds if there are no buttons being pushed. So, using a magnetised pouch to do this is weird. The slots for these magnets have a very tight tolerance and once you insert them, they would more or less stay there. Of course, for peace of mind, I wanted to glue it, so any kind of contact glue will do. Lastly, make sure all the four belt magnet’s polarities are same…
The design of the belt is such that it uses another piece to hold the front and rear pieces together. So, there are four such of these slots when the Bxx part clickes onto it, the belt is effectively locked. However, the raised details of the belt now means there is roughly 2mm or more distance between the two magnets, which I think, the pouches will drop on every shake, bump or just looking at it.
ALL YOUR BASE IS BELONG TO US
Every figure must have either a support system or a base which it can anchor to. I chose the latter and to be honest, my mind is black at this stage. I have no idea for a base so what I did was to put the figure into some kind of acrylic clear box. Initially, I wanted a hollow wooden base where I can keep the LiPo battery beneath. But the thin leg joints killed that idea. Although I have not played the Command & Conquer game this far, the guy must be operating in a Desert most of the time.
I have already inserted the brass rods into the heels of the figure and JB Welded them. Now, I am going to drill the holes, mount the slightly bigger brass tubes and secure them with JB Weld. So, this is me preparing the surface by using sandpaper. This is to give the epoxy a better grip later.
A well mixed JB Weld would give you a nice gun metal like colour and a very delicious smell…
REPAIRING THE CIRCUIT
I am about to call this stage done before concentrating on the base and also weathering the figure but sadly, disaster struck. The 5th LED, which is the bright 1206 Ice Blue, refuses to light up. This must have been me trying to force the flexiPCB into the whole assembly. Yeah, I would need to sacrifice an extra day to trouble-shoot this. Of course I could de-solder the circuit board and re-solder all the components into a new one but this would definitely take up more time as I only have less than two hours per night leading to the final day.
During the trouble-shooting, the 5th LED was connected but there was no signal from the microcontroller. Looking a little closer, there was some kind of tear between the ‘200’ and ‘010’ SMD resistors. But I am not too sure. All I know is that there is signal from the right hand side of the ‘200’resistor to the top third leg (from the left) of the microcontroller. That suspect connection is right under the microcontroller and I do not want to de-solder it.
Now is not the time to find out why so, I am going try my luck and solder a thin wire to link these two solder points and hope for the best. Unfortunately, I still could not find my thinnest wire so this awg31 blue will have to do. Yeah, the soldering is messy because it is very challenging to solder while the flexiPCB board is dangling from the model. One wrong move means destroyed paintwork or worse, melted plastic.
As Luck would have it, it worked! So, I am going to leave the whole assembly clamped overnight while the glue sets but man, that’s about two day’s gone. I should have remove the two black wires, and checked the circuit board at every step; something I used to do during electronics assembly but this should be no different.
WEATHERING
The figure looked shiny and bare after painting and there, it is a nice excuse to weather it a little. Unfortunately, I cannot do rusting since this is the only weathering I have some experience in. For this Project, I will be using some Abteilung 402 Oil Paints and some decals.
Over the months when I was in Kuching, I bought quite a number of Abteilung tubes and apart from varius Rusts and Starship Filth, these colours never saw the light of day.
Using a few random colours as I’ve not gotten the hand of using the right ones, I dotted them around the model. Then I used a brush to wipe them downwards. This will mix with other colours. As you can see from the left image, the oil dots were too big and I ended up with strong coloured smears. So I wet the brush with some Zippo lighter fluid to thin the oil paint tremendously. The end result (right) made the armour looked worn and it has lost its shine..
A closer look at the weathered armour. The Hammer & Sickle was not weathered convincingly as the Silver Tamiya Acrylic could not deposit the paint properly.
I think I should not have used the green too much. The Abteilung paints are good and so, a small dot can be very effective. At the rate I am using them, the Oil Paints will outlast me by at least 5 lifetimes…
Next is some washing with Tamiya’s Panel Line Black and Dark Brown. Unfortunately, the figure’s left thigh had its paint worn out when I accidentally wiped the excess Panel Liner with too much IPA. Anyway, the next would be the base.
The Back view. Somehow, the bluish capsule at the back is quite convincing. If it was shorter by another 18mm, it would be perfect. Here, I would like to highlight the advantages of using a LiPo battery. It can, without any circuitry, give you 3.7volts with a good current. But in this case, what worked for me was the size. If I wanted 3.5 volts that can last at least 8 hours, I would be looking at a battery pack or two of 3x AAA batteries, assuming each 1.5V pumps out 400mAh.
When I held the four parts of the base, it literally broke. The acrylic glue I used was Methylene Chloride. And looking a the broken area, although the plastic had melted, it seemed more like the two surfaces could not meet. So, I used the B-6000 glue which came with the whole assembly. It looked like some kind of contact glue but man, after reading it from the Internet, I wished I had more.
Just to be safe, after the B-6000 glue, I sanded the area and JB Welded it.
Finally, I used some decals on the bluish pod but not without applying Mr. Mark Setter and Mr. Mark Softer to them.
Just came back from Work and it is now the Eve of Malcom 2025. I don’t think I have the luxury of making the Base since there would not be enough to to recover if I made some mistakes. So, the most I can do is to stick in an NFC sticker where it will lead you to the Piscean Works LinkTree. I hope to see you there at Malcom 2025. Oh, if you do not have an NFC enabled Mobile Phone, don’t worry. You can just click on the Link here.
PREVIOUS POSTS
Below are the links on how this Model’s electronics was developed and why I chose the flexible PCB instead of the normal fiberglass FR4:
