This console at the sides looks cool. But, before you start lighting and gluing it into place, you need to seal up the bottom two holes (yellow dotted rectangles) and yeah, you need to open up the rectangle behind the clear part so for the light to come through. This is because the 1mm plastic is too thick for any lighting effect. To get the light uniformly projected, you’d have to be very imaginative with placing the LED as you need about 1.5cm distance.
But don’t worry, there’s a lot of space behind this wall!
It took me ages to get the rectangle panels cut out as I am not very good at this and this was the best I can do. But we’re not out of the woods yet, as there is another rectangle which I need to cut out for the LED to shine through.
This is because if you put the LED with the confined triangle or just drilled a hole, you have problems with the LED’s hotspot. This rectangle can be easily cut through with a rotary saw.
The LED used cannot be a round 3mm or a round 5mm because when you back light the panel from behind, the round hotspot is very noticable. You need a uniform light spread to backlight the decal. In this case, I used a piece of paper as a test. Its dim, so the decal would be brighter but if I were to scan the decal and get it laser printed on to tracing paper…
Anyway, I love the design where the clear part just slides into the piece with the decal (or paper in between which you can think of, as changing wallpapers)
Just in case, I used some pla-plate to plug the ‘hole’ of this part to prevent light leaks. Some light sanding afterwards, its done. One of the part has the ability to let you drill a small hole, which I can insert a small fibre-optic and use the same LED as a light source….
At this moment in time, I do not want to use the decal just yet. So, for the time being, I just painted and slightly weathered it,
(OK, so I went overboard with the weathering and I had to tone it back)
But I managed to paint the circular part silver, just like Randy Cooper‘s original. It was also very tempting to light up the inner circle but, well, not in this version.
While in my haste to get the ceiling primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200 this afternoon, it started to rain during the first coat. The rain splashed to the ground and hit the still wet primer surface of the ceiling piece.
At first I was quite angry at my haste but then I noticed a wonderful thing. The rain which ‘spoilt’ the primer, actually created some disturbance on the surface. Yes, it looked like pock-marks or rather, rusting holes!
Bear in mind, these were small droplets which, were bounced-off rain drops. And so, if I were to recreate these, I would need to find a way to splash small droplets.
I know its difficult but I want to try it. I want to try masking the middle so that I can spray the raised part silver. Again, I used the Daley & Rowney masking fluid to try to achieve this. The liquid were actually liquid rubber which dries very fast. Once you have completed spraying, you can just remove the mask by pulling it off or rubbing it with your fingers.
Unfortunately, the silver paint was not as thick as I wanted it to be
Finally, this is how the cailing part looked once I gave it a nice wash of Tamiya Panel Accent Black to hide all my mistakes. The colour scheme is similar to Randy Cooper’s original where the empty space i between was black.
Of course I drilled out the middle rectangle as I want to put some spotlights there.
Anyway, I just pulled some graphics off the internet to try out some colour printing on a piece of tracing paper. Don’t expect anything phenomenal as when it comes to inkjet or laser printing, the colours are never that vibrant or even block light effectively.
One good example would be to look at some pictures on a newspaper while holding it up to the light. Its translucent and the resulting image is not suitable.
Sorry. A bit busy with work. They have given me an extra month to help them with some more firmware testing and also to clear up all my results.
Using Inkscape and the Internet, I copied all the nice little graphics I found and put them into what you see. They’re backlit graphics for the side panels and the front consoles. I’ll be getting them printed on tracing paper (or do you guys call them drafting paper?). Not sure if I can do a proper backlit film as there is no such print technology here. Anyway, it’ll be mixed with the original decals as well.
LCARS, Playstation, Galaga, Jarvis, Oblivion, etc. These graphics are found on the Internet and is not my creation. I just copied what is fanciful for testing and for a bit of a laugh.
What a lovely surprise today! While I was at the Printing shop below the Office, after explaining to the staff what I intended to do with the file, she told me that they have OHP films which can be printed with the Laser Colour Printer!
And the result? The quality of the images on both tracing paper and OHP film was quite good! And the price was unexpectedly affordable as well!
Although the images are crisp and I could almost not see any pixelation or those interference patterns, it’s light blocking properties will never be as good as a developed positive film.
So, here is a little experiment on how each printout deals with lighting. I am going to use the LED’s square hotspot feature to backlight them. But right now, a simple fluorescent light will have to do.
The OHP sheet on the left looks great but is actually too transparent. So you need some backing such as a white background to bring out the crisp image.
The Tracing paper on the right has no problems when backlit but its still not opaque enough, so, you might want to place another layer of tracing paper.
OK, here is the test for the Tracing paper. As you can see, the LED’s hotspot is wreaking havoc to the image. But its still good except that the dark colours are not dark enough, which is to be expected since this is not a real positive colour film. So, I will either need to use a white a4 paper or, another piece of tracing paper to improve on this.
OK, the OHP film is more troublesome since its very transparent. You can see on the left that the LED’s hotspot effect failed. But when I slot in a 80gsm A4 white paper, the diffused effect looks OK. It looked a little too dim but heck, I think scale-wise, it would be good enough.
Thanks to Rick Fornalski and Paul Bodensiek, as soon as I reached home, I looked for some pla-plates. I had the choice of either a 0.1mm or a 0.3mm Tamiya Pla-Plate. So, I chose the 0.3mm because I was afraid that the 0.1mm might wrinkle up when the Tamiya Thin Cement starts to work its magic.
Maybe on the next opportunity, I’ll try the 0.1mm. I cut the 0.3 into a 4cm x 1.5cm piece and slot it through the back. Then let the Thin Cement, do its work. Had I thought about this earlier, I could have just glued it before gluing the F11 and H5 parts.
Here is the shot of the LED backlighting it. So, if I used a 0.1mm pla-plate, it might be brighter since the distance of the LED to the pla-plate is about 1cm or so.
And here are the results with the 0.3mm Pla-Plates glued in place. On the left is the tracing paper and on the right is the OHP film.
Yeah, the OHP film is a real winner here!
Nothing much here on a rainy afternoon. Just doing up some furniture…
Sorry for the lack of updates as I was really busy clearing up my Work before I become Jobless in about a week’s time.
Anyway, I am now doing the front Pilot/s consoles. This time, the LED used would be 3mm Wide angle due to the cramped space inside there. If you use a normal 3mm LED, you would be facing with a noticeable round hotspot. I wanted to use some SMD LEDs instead. Because the SMD does not have a lens like those 3mm counterpart, the light spread is wide but you will have to place them within a very short distance for the full light effect.
The wide angle Led’s hotspot is not so noticeable and best of all, it actually gave an almost uniform light radiation!
You need to hand-drill the hole and at an angle so that the LED will shine straight to the console screen. You will need four 3mm wide angle LEDs for the four consoles.
Also, there is not much space behind the console’s backing wall, so you will need to bend the LED’s leads very closely from it’s head. As for the other LED, it would be under the ledge, which, after you have glued it with hot-melts, CA or other glue, you will need to light block it.
Yeah, the other alternative would be to solder some fragile SMD leds but I ain’t going to include them in this model.
Sidetrack: After looking at the whole assembly, I notice that there is a lot of space in the yellow area. And so, as long as you secure the interior, it is possible to add more greeblie details and separate the other half of the ‘ball’, making it look more like a Cutaway Museum model!
But for now, let’s look at the front airlock assembly. Its accessible from the front, and I guess you get to ride on some vertical platform that leads to the main hatch located in the middle of the two consoles. Great Idea, Randy Cooper!
At first, I did not five much hoot about this area apart from that cool looking airlock door. But once I test-fit the parts there, I noticed that the whole airlock is facing almost downwards. Imagine a lone figure out there and with the two spotlights behind him…. yeah, dramatic, baby!
OK, now you see the bad news? All that wonderful details will be obscured and you can only see it through a small peephole. Great if you’re a 1/35 scale human. I am to tempted to put at least 4 LEDs in there!
On the left is the plan view of the front airlock. Such a shame I am not skilled enough to cut the door open. But, I think I am really going to put in some LEDs in there and some other details such as bags and containers.
On the right is a 1/35 scale figure as comparison for the door. So, it is the right size and this means, that the two big 1/27 resin figures, I get to keep then for future projects.
No, I do not care if no one can see in on all the details. Heh.
I cut the OHP film to size, then used Future as ‘glue’ and stuck in onto the 0.3mm Tamiya Pla-Plate. And with the wide angle LED, this is the effect so far. Gonna need white glue to secure that onto the console once I decide what colour to paint the raised details.
Guys, did you know that Randy Cooper is going to some personal touches on his own Pegasus MLEV model kit? Since the Man is cutting a hole in the ceiling hatch of the front airlock, so am I!
Oh, and yeah, 2x 3mm holes for some LED ceiling lights too. In theory, at these positions, no one will be able to see the LEDs much except for the lighting when they peep in from the Airlock or from the upper console (OK, that one is blocked).
This is his WIP Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/…
Ok, here is a LED colour study. I wanted to see the effects of the colours and lens that shines on the details. In this case, on the left is a 3mm white LED while on the right is a 3mm warm white. The 3mm LED’s hotspot really made the details look harsh and cold. Which is good. If I wanted to, I should have drilled the LED’s holes slightly closer to the wall instead of away from it. The would then make the details on the wall have more shadows.
On the right image, is what you can see from the hole I made of the ceiling hatch. Nothing much, really but its good. For a 1/35 human. This is the other view into the Airlock but once the model is closed, you will not be able to see it.
I have now replaced the 3mm Warm white with a 3mm wide angle warm white. Immediately, you will notice the change. If not, by now you would already have because I just told you so. The contrast in colours allows me to look at the details which like and hate, to ultimately, decide on the type of lens and also the LED colour itself.
Right now, I am favouring the warm whites which give the effect of light bulbs. But then again, who would be using so much energy inefficient light bulbs in a spaceship?
OK, fun’s over. Let’s be consistent here. The reason which most of the lighting on the MLEV-5 is white is because its a working ship, which, like space, is cold and harsh. The only warm whites would be the inviting sleeping chambers.
So, in this shot, both are 3mm whites. I have drilled the holes slightly larger so that during the final position, I can ‘aim’ the hot spots wherever I want.
The left led is shining to the middle of the floor while the right LED is more towards the wall, hence the washed out area on the middle pillar.
Anyway, 3mm whites it is then, to be consistent with the LEDs in the rear airlock. And I was hoping there would be a Photo etch platform for the floor to signify that a some kind of lift was used to get the people up to the interior above. I’ll just have to see the ParaGrafix Modeling Systems Photo etch for myself on day.
And why all the fuss for this detail on a small box which no one can view inside? Just because, of course.
OK, had some fun with the painting the front airlock this afternoon. But I ran out of ideas and that’s why the upper horizontal pipe looked barren. I am not going to put any ‘extra’ decals as it did not come with the kit.
This, I will do once I get another Mars Hopper which I will do in my own way. OK, back to the Pilot’s conns now…
Here is the black hot-melt glue in action. It really does block out excess light! Its just normal hot-melt but with black stuff added to it. However, I am not sure if its the gun or the stick itself but it melts very fast. Before I know it, almost 1/3 of the stick was gone and I only used it on 6 LEDs…
I have not come up with the circuit yet but it might just be a normal constant current circuit. If I put in a microprocessor, it will do what I want but there must be more features. And in this model, I do not have any ideas for it, not even blinking or flickering lights. Do you have any ideas?
Anyway, what you’re seeing here is just simple soldering work as I need to test wire them to see how the lighting effects are. If I were to come out with a lighting system, I would not recommend such soldering methods…
Anyway, the lighting of the Pilot conns are done and its just a matter of putting the graphics into place. Yeah, the sides are next as well before I call it done.
The main challenge now would be the ceiling lighting which, like Adrian Colin Pave’e said, I might have to go the papier mache route since I still cannot locate any shallow bowl to reflect the LED lights.
A quick job with the hot-melts and the upper side panel lights are done. I could have done it last night but well, my Day Job went until midnight.
Anyway, the reason I am using hot-melt is that once the LED is in place, I can bend it until the square hotspot is shining right into the panel. No, Sir, you cannot use a normal LED as its hotspot is round.
I still have yet to get my ass to solving the ceiling’s lighting but in the meantime, I put a fluorescent light above it to simulate what the ceiling lighting would look like, albeit much dimmer. Randy Cooper’s idea is great but I want the lights to be brighter and more diffused.
Taking a breather here, I just switched off the lights and let the morning Sun soak into the room while I sit here for a few minutes, reflecting what has been done so far on Randy Cooper‘s MLEV5.
I’ll be out of a Job next Monday and so, I hope there’s a new one coming so I can have some moolah to make the circuit boards… yeah, PCB design is next, folks!
After finding a working power connector, I got the LCD screen and camera to work. And so, let’s have some fun!
Let’s test these cameras inside Randy Cooper‘s Mars Hopper!
On the left is the reverse camera which was meant for my ex-car. As you can see, the image is mirrored and also, it has those ‘distance’ lines to help you when you reverse your car. Its small size is great for going inside the model.
On the right, is a proper CCTV camera, which, gave a better image quality and is the right way round. But, its clunky.
Both cameras needs light or else the images would be very grainy. Not only that, they both generate heat which in the long run, might actually soften the plastics, with the reverse camera being the fastest to get hot. So yeah, it is fun idea but it would not feasible since even the smallest camera is still quite big and you’d still need more equipment.
As you all know by now, the consoles or lit graphics on one side of Randy Cooper‘s Mars Hopper interiors are using OHP films. I reserved the other side for his decals. Yes, I am going to light up the decals!
This is the large piece which will be used on the side piece. After cutting out the decal to size and fixed it with Mr. Mark Setter on the OHP film, I let it dry. My idea is to let it become a kind of transparent slide which I slot in between the clear piece and the side piece.
Note the lighting here is that the diffused pla-plate is some distance away, which made it look dim. But the decal is doing its job well!
As for the front Pilot’s display, the decals are again, cut out, and fixed by Mr. Mark Setter and this time, onto the actual pla-plate!
So, as you can see, the end result is that they are very bright, even when the LEDs were set for 15mA brightness!
Decals:
1. Graphics are much sharper
2. The Blacks are slightly darker
3. Different decals from different manufacturers might have different results
4. You only have ONE set of decals
OHP Films
1. You can custom make any graphics you want
2. The blacks are quite transparent
3. Some details can be very soft due to the printing
4. You might want to tone down the LED’s brightness and also, use the correct LED lens since we’re using their hotspots for this exercise. The LED I used was the 2x5x7mm Rectangle LED which throws out a rectangle hotspot.
