One thing I can say is that these Warhammer stuff are not cheap. While other manufacturers have overcame a lot of hurdles to produce very detailed and value for money kits, Games Workshop on the other hand, did not. It is like building a die-cast model where the details are so blunt and thick. It is a nightmare to remove the parts from the gates as the connecting points are very thick. And the details on the parts are not something you’d expect in this day and age. Fortunately for them, their wonderful designs of vehicles and characters more than make up for all these… deficiencies.
And not only that, the part’s thick walls which are natural light blockers, the plastic is soft enough to work on, and they react well with styrene glue.
QUICK UNBOXING
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 001
Unlike the Space Marine vehicles which must be as covert as possible, the Imperial Guard is the exact opposite since they are hundreds of them in service. And so, this dropship is OK for having lights and noisy turbine engines.
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 002
This is what will greet you when you first open the box:
1x Instruction sheet
1x Decal sheet
1x Clear Stand
1x Clear canopy runner
4x Plastic runners
For the same price, I could have gotten two Gundams which has more runners. What the hell was I thinking?
But I am buying into their IP and vehicle concepts which appealed to the teenager inside me,
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 003
Just looking at this part, you can tell that when fully built, it’s going to be very long model.
And man, that ramp is just so cool. However, this would be the last I see of its weapons as they were ‘liberated’ when I left it at a shop, to display the model. Another friend left his airbrush for the place to use only to find it gunked up and left aside later on. I am not going to say much but it kinda gives me a very bad impression about these wargamers there.
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 004
I am tempted to do something about the Wings but bear in mind, this is not your normal ‘plane’ model. The wings are actually solid parts with no gaps which is going to need a lot of work if I want to light it.
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 005
See the part on the top left? That is the ceiling for the cargo area. And something must be done to get all twelve lamps lit. More about this later…
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 006
Slightly off to the lower right are the frames for the twin canopies. And so, this definitely looks good but at that scale, the thickness is about 3.5 inches!
The Valkyrie has a crew complement of four; two Pilots, and two door gunners.
Imperial Guard Valkyrie brief unboxing 007
Decal sheet, a base and clear parts… yes, the canopy definitely needs to be treated with Future
THE POSSIBILITIES OF LIGHTING
After cleaning the runners with some detergent today, I had about an hour to go through the model while my girls were attending their classes. Surprisingly, the more I looked at the model, the more excited I got because the possibilities of it being lit like a multi-purpose Dropship is now possible!
Exploring the Valkyrie 001: The CArgo Hold
This is the main attraction for me.
With so many details on the side walls, I can now actually put a LED in there and snake the wiring over it, and it would still look ‘normal’. I am tempted to have the red and green lit alternatively (right yellow arrow) to show when the cargo door opens or closes but methinks to leave them both dimly lit would be a better idea.
Exploring the Valkyrie 002L The 12 light domes
There are twelve domes on the ceiling and now, I have to locate some round LEDs that are neither too bright nor too big. Failing which, I might just use normal LEDs and smaller holes to create that spotlight effect.
Exploring the Valkyrie 003
The reason I am looking for small LEDs are because of the way the Valkyrie’s ceilings and top layer were constructed as a single piece. There are no hollow space in between. Luckily, the twin engines will be blocking most of the LEDs.
See the six ‘dimples’ as shown by the arrows? These are where the domes are located underneath and they must be drilled through. Close shave, ain’t it?
Exploring the Valkyrie 004
The wing are in two parts but that’s about it. I was tempted to put some LEDs in there but when I test-fit the two halves together, there is no space for wiring. So, this means drilling some ‘tunnels’.
See the big square on the left? Yep, spots to highlight the landing gears. But I am too lazy to make trenches for the wiring. Perhaps on the next Valkytie.
Exploring the Valkyrie 005: The landing gear lights
So, imagine if the trapezium there houses a pair of spots to shine on the landing gears…. nah
Exploring the Valkyrie 006: The Cockpit
The cockpit, surprisingly, has a lot of space but its only enough for a small AA battery, which is insufficient for the Valkyrie.
I mean, I can fit in a 16500 with a voltage booster but then I would need to make the cockpit assembly removeable.
And so, it must be externally powered.
Exploring the Valkyrie 007
In the meantime, I have located the perfect space to house the circuit board. Once I have the time, I’ll look into designing the circuit. It’ll be another three weeks or late February before the boards become a reality since there is the Chinese New Year in between.
Exploring the Valkyrie 008
Spent the better half of the day today drilling holes. I have blisters on my hands while drilling the 12 ceiling holes. But this morning, the so-called non-Dremel rotary tool of mine was charged up and in less than three minutes, it made short work of the second layer of twelve holes!
I made a mistake in using UHU glue to ‘align’ the LEDs since they’re directional before applying hot-melts. In the end, I had to redo everything and bearing in mind, this is a war vehicle and so, must have a lot of maintenance. Hence, the slightly out of alignment light spots. Ha ha.
This is slightly dim as I am getting juice from a meter but once the circuit board is designed, it would be much, much brighter. There is still much to do and I am going to take break now. I am planning to paint this green.
Still, right now, this shot somehow reminds me of some set from Return of the Jedi….
Exploring the Valkyrie 009: The rush job
I know its a bit rushed but this weekend was the only window to get the Circuit board done.
The fastest way to do this is to use proven and working parts of your own circuit and connect them all together. What you’re seeing here is the mixture of of circuits from the BG Starfighter and a few R&D bits. Since I am or rather, ran out of time, there is no time for testing them and so, keeping my fingers crossed, I am sending them to have the PCB prototyped. No point having them mass produced because I am not sure about the popularity of the Valkyrie.
Maybe later, I’ll entertain on case to case basis. Right now, I am trying out a new business model: You send me your kit, I’ll take a look and then right them for lighting and then send it back to you.
Exploring the Valkyrie 010
While I was at the shops buying LEDs for another Project, I spotted these weird LEDs. You can see that, when compared to the current LED design on the right, it does not have any edges (flange) , just like a bullet. I would say that this LED has been sitting on their shelves for years. When I tested the LED, it gave a very nice orange/reddish light. Good enough for me as I wanted the Valkyrie to have a dirty and hot engine look.
So I bought all their remaining stocks: 8 LEDs in total. HA!
Exploring the Valkyrie 011
And this is how it fared against the warm white LED. Looks nice isn’t it? In the meantime, I will have to start building a prototype board to test the programming. Anyway, now is the matter of waiting.
1. Waiting for the circuit board to be ready, and
2. Waiting for the clear parts to be cast by my friend.
Exploring the Valkyrie 014
I got some very nice 2.5mm or so round beams after searching some model shops high and low. Initially, I got the brass version which was ideal as the inner wall thickness was almost paper thin. This would allow more light through. But when I cut it at an angle without support, it crumpled and was hard to stay in place too. Finally, as luck would have it, I got the last piece of the plastic version and it was a dream to work on, never mind if the light output was diminished slightly.
Just cut out the to the correct length, lop off at an angle, add two drops of thin cement and you’re done!
Exploring the Valkyrie 015
The reason I had to use the cylinders was to block off the empty space after I had drilled out the holes in the ceiling and right through into the engines. Because I wanted to use the normal 3mm LEDs, this was the only way. The only problem I did not expect was that the twin engines’s lower round part which sort of narrows slightly at an angle. With the plastic tubes and coated with Krylon Fusion Satin Black, I do not have to worry much about light leaks.
Exploring the Valkyrie 016
The tail ends looked a little too bare for my liking and so, I took another look at the Valkyrie’s runners, cut of some parts from the gates and glued it there. Yes, there would be lights in the tips.
Valkyrie Explored 017
I am mystified with the Krylon Fusion Satin Black. A few models I have used recently still has some light leaks. But on the previous can, there was no problem at all. Maybe its because I shook the can for only three minutes in stead of longer. The spray came out quite watery and I had to use two coats at least.
On the Valkyrie, I sprayed a coat of Krylon Metallics Silver and only then followed by two coats of Krylon Fusion Satin Black. There is still some minor light leaks in the form of some small holes but hope that can be covered up later during painting stage. After Dinner and closing of the Warehouse Sales tonight, I will re-examine the two engines for any light leaks…
It’s really starting to get on my nerves as this shot my Krylon theory to pieces.
Yeah, even my spraycan painting skills suxx…
Valkyrie Explored 018
Just came back from my Job and took a look at the Engines again. Seemed like there are still light leaks, which is a real disappointment to me.
Valkyrie explored 019
Light leak was at its worst on the left side which I think could be due to the hot-melt glue there. So, I think I am going to take up Chang’s offer at Wira Hobbies next week.
Valkyrie explored 020: Valkyrie Prototype Circuit
This is the first prototype for the Valkyrie’s Lighting sequence. Right now, I only require the minimal number of LEDs so as to observe the chips programming. Again, the mobile phone’s camera cannot capture the PWM flicker correctly and so, they looked funny in this video. But in real person view, they are fading in and out smoothly.
Valkyrie Explored 021: The parts are back!
I just got in touch with my caster almost an hour ago and these are the parts for the Valkyrie. I call this as a set because it has:
1. 2x Rear Thrusters
2. 1x Lower front Pilot Console
3. 1x Upper front Pilot Console
It’s amazing how the caster can achieve replicate the parts almost as exact as the original.
Valkyrie Explored 022
I mounted the clear parts into the cockpit and well, I must say, they do fit perfectly! One thing I hated about this cockpit is that the two Pilot seats are attached to the sides with only one set of pegs, which makes them swivel. Its quite a task to fit them and the clear parts together while making sure the panel closes properly.
Finally, its done! Wahay!
Valkyrie Explored 023
I just placed the clear part onto an orange LED. Although the colour looked the same, I had to adjust the photo to shift towards red so that it matched the light of that nice reddish orange LED I got sometime ago.
My intention is to mask the inner circle and spray the rest with lightblocking paint so that you only see a pair of flickering reddish orange lights….
Valkyrie Explored 024
Because of the 6th LED hole, I had to cut some of the resin off the thruster or else it would not fit and the top engine cover would not close. I was a bit afraid that if I used a pair of cutters to get rid of the big chunk, the resin might crack, just like those clear plastic canopy pieces.
But no, it just let me cut and although it was hard to the fingers, its actually soft enough not to shatter. I then made further adjustments with a scalpel.
Valkyrie Explored 025
This is the effect I am trying to achieve. I noticed that for small areas, the permanent market is very good at temporary light blocking. Later on, I will mask it and use the Krylon Fusion Satin Black. I am contemplating spraying the side walls too but I think I might leave it and let the orange glow show through.
There is another idea which is to paint a white LED with dual colours, where I could paint the sides blue and the dome being orange. It might be a waste of the orange LED I bought but this idea might leave the observer delightfully puzzled….
Valkyrie Explored 026: The ‘Speakers’
When I saw these two ‘speakers’ for the front of the Valkyrie’s cargo hold, I wanted to light it up. I had to use Aves to create back the side walls as the rotary tool took too much plastic off. Told you I was lousy at modeling….
Anyway, I will insert a normal 3mm yellow LED in there and leave it as it is, with no clear/diffused plastic piece to cover up the two rectangular holes.
Valkyrie Explored 027: The twin engines
Finally, the twin engines are all ready. I need to find some 0.8 to 1.0mm pla-sheet to make a LED holder for the clear resin. And then I realised, I did not have any thick pla-sheet nor any GAIA Notes Clear Orange paint neither.
After thinking about it, I will stick to the reddish-orange LED for this Valkyrie. For those who are also lighting the engines, you might want to cover the sides of the parts as when the upper half of the engine covers are slightly warped, it would create a light leak on the walls if you do not force glue it properly (with clamps of other heavy stuff).
Valkyrie Explored 029
Sorry I had to go out just now to see a man about a broken gatling gun. This is the last post for the day.
As I could not find any pla-sheet for the reddish-orange LED, I decided to go ahead with soldering the LED. My thinking of using the pla-sheet to keep the LED in place was wrong because I realised that by bending the LED’s legs into position, isolating it with some heatshrinks and then soldering it, the problem is solved. The purpose of the pla-sheet is not so important anymore except to act as a wall for the reflecting aluminium sticker and also to help block off the lights from the bank of white LEDs.
The yellow arrow shows where the positive led of the LED is soldered to the positive side of the LED ceiling lights. The orange is the negative leg, which for the moment, is left dangling. All in all, each Engine would have three Wires coming out instead of four.
Valkyrie Explored 030
It’s nearly midnight over here and I have more or less finished the programming for the WH40K Valkyrie Gunship. See the bright LED? That was the one giving me the problem during the whole evening as I want it to come on, delay a bit and then turn off. The test code works but when I put it to the main code, it does not. So, I had to compromise on this one since there might be some memory problems if I went further.
Anyway, the features are:
1. Independent flickering for the twin Engines
2. Lighting for the dashboard, tail Nav lights, cargo bay ceiling lights, and
3. Single followed by Double strobe pattern
4. Wing Spotlights that comes on after a few cycles and goes off again.
What you’re seeing here is the prototype which I am testing on. Once it works, I’ll go onto the next stage which is to hook up the actual LEDs in the model. And when I am satisfied, only then will I commit the programming permanently and onto the prototype PCB.
Valkyrie Explored 031: Clear cast Cockpit dash
Here is a short test for the Valkyrie’s two-seater cockpit. In this picture, I have the clear resin part instead of the original ones. The forward cockpit (in the background) is very straightforward; hot-melt the LED inside the hollow cavity.
The upper cockpit on the other hand, is more challenging. This is because there is very limited amount of space in there and no matter how I angled the LED, the main screen would not light up brightly. The only way would then be to move the LED nearer to the screen but this would create a large hot-spot leaving the rest of the clear parts dim.
Lastly, this would also mean drilling through the first Pilot’s chair which in effect, would create a tunnel and naturally, reduce the LED’s light even more until its a dot.
Valkyrie Explored 032
After gluing the two seats together, I drilled an exact 3mm hole into the middle.
Here is how you do this:
1. Position the seats upright and using a drill-bit, hand drill the 3mm hole. The tight 3mm hole is also used to grip the LED in place and since there is only 1.5mm plastic to drill through, and a slight empty space between the floor and the clear part, it is enough to hold the LED in place.
2. Slightly slant the drilling angle as if the LED is shining into the Pilot’s face. Initially, I hoped this would make the console brighter but it did not.
Valkyrie Explored 033: Test lighting the console
Here is the result of the 3mm LED lighting the clear piece. Luckily my Caster used the resin which made the piece slightly cloudy and so, in theory, would diffuse the light even more. Later on, I would give it a coat of Krylon Metallics Silver. I could give it a Gold coat if I want a warm console. Then, I would coat it with Krylon Fusion Satin Black.
Its supposed to be the other way round as the Krylon Fusion Satin Black (in most cases) is a good light block. But this time, I wanted it to reflect the LED lights internally since the part is clear.
So, in the hopes the two spray paints do not react to the resin and DOES stick, here is my plan:
1. Coat the pieces with Silver on the outside
2. Coat the pieces with Krylon Fusion after that.
3. Scrape off the raised details to reveal the light
4. Use clear paint/decals on the exposed areas.
Valkyrie Explored 034: Silver Painting the Clear Console
I gave the clear parts a silver coat before I left for work this morning and noticed that right after that, it has some weird bubbling. Later on, in the evening, I gave the bubbles a quick sand and continued with a second silver coat. I must have sprayed too near as the details now looked too coated.
So, my advise is, never do your modeling when its close to dinner time and your stomach’s rumbling. Let’s see the results tomorrow….
Valkyrie Explored 035: Prototype PCB
This is the prototype circuit board which there are some left. I designed this so that it can fit into the Valkyrie. But now, it has evolved a little so that it can be fitted into the Ork Bommer, Stormtalon and maybe some Noble House walking tin can….
Right now, I am testing it so the wiring is a little bit too thick as they were the only ones I can find. I need to have certain colours for each LED so I can tell them apart. But in actual fact, a multi-meter can do the job at the cost of taking up more time.
I am feeling a little but disheartened because as you can see, the soldering is not up to par. Then again, maybe its the new solder I bought or that I did not change to a sharper tip. The solder just refused to flow smoothly, thus creating a sub-standard work….
2022: At this point, I realised I did not flux the soldering area.
Valkyrie Explored 036: Twin Engine Light Test
Finally, the chip programming worked and I get to test out the twin engines! I am going to stop here as there are no 4.7 Ohm resistors for me to test the ceiling lights. So, I would have to wait till this Saturday. But anyway, here are the twin engines lit up. I had to use the heavy solder roll to force the engine covers closed due to the thick wiring.
Valkyrie Explored 037
Sometimes, when I am too lazy to use those yellow masking tapes, I would use Daler Rowney latex masking fluid. I would just dip a wooden skewer into it, and then apply it onto the model. Within a few minutes, it would dry up and you can do your spray painting. And when everything dries, you just peel or rub the latex off (red arrows).
Then again, in the hands of an imbecile like me, I have successfully produced some very convincingly lousy results…
Valkyrie Explored 038: Under pressure!
This is the first time I actually hooked the Airbrush with the free mini fish aquarium compressor (highlighted in dark pink). And I must say, I had a very unspectacular evening. Knowing the pressure would be way below the 15psi, I thinned the paint even further. The result was me having to spray at a very close distance of less than one inch. In conclusion, I have two choices: Go to ICW and use their compressors or invest in one myself and I see my solution being the former.
Here is my observation with the compressor:
1. There is no pressure regulator thingy so, you need to ‘release’ the pressure every now and then or else one of the ends of the hose would pop out.
2. The pressure is very low so your thinner than normal paints would end up quite thin on the surface.
3. Sadly, it is like spraying thinner to the surface and/or sprayed paint.
4. Your spray work takes a much longer time.
5. You need to spray at a very close distance and breathe in all the fumes.
6. Its frighteningly difficult to clean the air brush after the session.
Update: That compressor lasted for only weeks before I went back to the aquarium pump
Valkyrie Explored 039: Cockpit Light Leaks
Here is a quick light check on the clear cast resin cockpit parts. I have given them two coats of Krylon Metallics Silver followed by two coats of Krylon Fusion Satin Black. I am not going to give them another coat since most of the details now looked more like blobs.
There are still some noticeable light leaks especially on the rear console. I think I will stick some plastic bits in front, between the two cylinders to stop that glare since there is nothing much I can do. Because if I did block that area, the light from the LED will not show through.
Valkyrie Explored 040
OK, last shot before I do some house chores and get ready for work. I used a 280 sandpaper (because I forgot to buy those sanding sticks) to slowly scrape off the tops of the buttons and for the big screen of the rear console, I swabbed it with HobbyHQ’s thinner. If you used sand paper, you will have to sand it with finer and finer grades until the paint and unintentional scratches are removed. So, don’t even try scraping it with a knife. (But if you want ‘lines’ on the screen, then yes, this is a good idea since the blade’s skipping action would create ‘lines’ but you would need a lot of practice on this one.) The yellow arrows on the ‘Before’ show the unintentional light leaks caused by the sandpaper.
The pictures shows the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ where in the after, I stuck a small piece of black duct tape near the legs on the rear console. Notice that in some buttons/dials I did not completely remove the paints as this would serve as some kind of graphics once I go over them with some clear paints. As for the big screen, maybe I can find a way to print out a Windows XP Desktop in there…. or maybe not.
Valkyrie Explored 041: Cockpit Console LED
I used some hot-melt glue to fix the two LEDs into the cockpit. The 5mm is for the lower console (right) while the 3mm is for the upper console (left) for the rear pilot. I know if I want to make the upper console brighter, I can actually insert a 2mm x 5mm x 7mm rectangular LED but right now, I could not find any. Maybe on the next model, perhaps.
Valkyrie Explored 042: Console screens
The measurement of the screen is 4.5mm x 4.5mm. So, I took some screenshots from the Internet and used Inkscape (A free OpenSource program alternative to Adobe Illustrator) to create a set of possible screens for the upper console.
From the picture, you can see a Windows XP, Space Invaders, Playboy, etc. The printing shop girl was surprised I wanted to get it printed out for an area less than 1inch x 2inch. Unfortunately, they do not have tracing paper or 70gsm A4 paper. (Then again, most machines now run on 80gsm)
Guess which I one used?
Valkyrie Explored 043: Cockpit Console Compelted
And here is the final shot of the cockpit. I used only one coat of each clear GAIA paint and boy, they dry pretty fast, leaving a lot of sticky trails. As for the main screen, I since I do not have any white glue, I coated it with Mr. Colour’s Semi Gloss Super Clear before putting the print-out on top of it.
So, I am calling this more or less done since I do not have any colours for the pilots. Maybe I should look for my silver and do some dry brushing too…. come Saturday, I am going to get the correct resistor value and then complete the cockpit.
My plan for this Valkyrie is to paint it with basic Army Green colours (since I do not have a lot of paints) and leave it at that as by now, you know I lack imagination on colouring. Nicholas Chan and I did go over some colour schemes a few months ago and so, I chose Olive Drab as some sort of tribute to the Aliens Dropship….
Yeah, I used the Windows XP screen….
Valkyrie Explored 044
Tonight, I have followed Kenny Gordvyn Mariapragasam‘s advise and thinned the paint mixture even more. The paint is very watery so I have to keep reminding myself to spray further away from the model and move at a slower pace. But I did not count on a lighter colour compared to the darker tone from a thicker mixture the other night. But at least, I now more or less got the interior done.
Now I have to worry about getting a matte clear coat sprayed over it before I start to try with some dry-brushing, panel lining, etc. Its going to be a challenge because I only have very limited colours…
Note the orange arrow. Its pointing to the area where the ‘speaker’ piece will go into. Yeah, its missing.
Rushed home slightly earlier today to start spray painting the cargo bay of the Valkyrie.Took me quite some time before I am happy with the coverage, And once the two layers are dry, I sprayed another coat of clear/matt mixture to give it that satin look.
Valkyrie Explored 045
This is how I will light up the ‘speakers’ inside the cargo bay. I have to align all the parts nicely and then drill through the 5 layers of plastic. Its quite fiddly as you need to make sure everything is ‘stuck’ exactly because when you thread the wires through, they should have no obstructions at all.
You do not need to worry about the wires being seen because when they come up and through to the roof and into the circuit board, the wires will be hidden by the Jet air intake (as seen at the bottom left)
Valkyrie Explored 046
Next up would be the ramp. For the moment, I am going to keep the plastic hinges but I might want to change them to a metal rod later on. This was because while I was handling it, it fell and the plastic hinge snapped, ready to break. Luckily, I used cement glue to make sure it does not break and disappear.
The ramp on the Valkyrie has no catch and so, it would be weird for the ramp to suddenly open up while it was flying in mid-air. Take a look at where the arrows are pointing. This is where the ramp meets the roof. Do you know what I am going to do next?
Valkyrie Explored 047: The Ramp 01
I hand-drilled a 3mm hole for the neodymium magnet. You do not have to drill all the way through but just enough to embed the magnet. Keep drilling slowly until you feel a small dimple on the other side if the plastic.
Next, I mixed a small amount of JB Weld 2-part epoxy and splat it on to the hole. Because the epoxy is metal, you can see how it greedily tries to swallow the magnet when its nearby.
The idea is to attach a stapler clip or metal wire to the ramp and the magnet would then act as a lock so that the ramp does not fall out when you least notice it.
Valkyrie Explored 048: Painting the cargo hold 01
This is the part I hate: painting details.
I do not have much paint choices and so, after using the semi-dried brown, I decided to just use the Tamiya Panel Line and washed everything. This was because most of the paints I had were either dry or drying up. And my choice of GAIA Notes paints were either silver, gold or black shades.
And so, yes, it does look horrible because I used tissue paper to wipe the panel line dry and it got stuck. Yeah, I really suck at model making and painting…
Valkyrie Explored 049: Painting the cargo hold 02
Sigh. Most of the acrylic and lacquer paints have dried up and so, there is nothing much I can do. I used some of MIG rust on some panels and unfortunately, the Engine Oil wash reacted with the lacquer since it’s enamel so I let it dripped as there are two jet turbines above the roof.
Man, I can’t wait to go out and get the resistors to light up the roof but now, there is a change of Family’s plans so, this is going to suck balls until next earliest trip which is next Saturday.
Valkyrie Explored 050: Lighting the ‘Speakers’ 01
Before I can close the Cargo Bay, there are two things I need to do: the pair of ‘speakers’ and the ramp. But now, let’s concentrate on the speakers first.
Weeks ago, I have hollowed out the inner wall of this part and cut out the rectangular windows. Because I used a power tool, I had to use Aves putty to shape back some of the areas which I was careless. But once I test-fit the part, the Aves was not necessary since it was not easily seen. However, because I am lighting it, this would produce a very embarrassing light leak.
To calculate the resistor, you must first know the LED’s basic properties. Once you got its working forward voltage and its current, you can go to this online resistor calculator: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz (dead link now)
So, here are the data you must enter:
Source voltage (the batteries you’ll be using to power the circuit): 4.5v
Diode forward voltage (the Yellow LED’s voltage, which I am using as rule of thumb): 2.2v
Diode forward current: 25mA
Number of LEDs in your array (put this as one and not two since you’re calculating for one LED): 1
So the answer is 100 Ohms. I have soldered a 1/8 watt resistor to the LED this way. But I would shorten the legs so that I can solder some very thin wire-wrapping wires to it. Do be aware that the positive leg of the LED is longer. Here, I soldered the resistor to the negative leg of the LED.
Valkyrie Explored 051: Lighting the ‘Speakers’ 02
The next step after soldering the wires is to heat-shrink one of the legs so that it would not cause a short and refuse to light up once everything is sealed. So, I chose to do that on the leg with the resistor as you can see with the bottom ‘speaker’.
Then I used hot-melt glue (upper part) to secure the LED in there. This is because I wanted the 3mm yellow LED to be placed in between the two rectangular slots. I made the mistake of just applying the glue and then placed it flat. What I should have done is to place a small sheet of aluminum sticker onto the cargo wall, then quickly fit the (still hot) part with the hot-melt glue to the wall. This not only ensures the glue fits the wall’s alignment guiding slits but also the aluminum sticker would stick to the part.
So, for 10 minutes, I had to cut the glue into shape…
Valkyrie Explored 052: Lighting the ‘Speakers’ 03
After much cutting of the hot-melt glue, I stuck some aluminum tape on the LED area. This is very important because if you do not do this step, there will be light leaks. Connect the LED to the 3x AAA batteries and you will see the tremendous light leak.
But you must place the tape carefully as not to cover the plastic edges as this is where the cement glue will use to bond to the cargo wall. Do test fit the part again and again before you cement it permanently. Also, if you can press hard or use some clip to make it stay in place.
Valkyrie Explored 053: Lighting the ‘Speakers’ 04
Please look at the top left where I have used a yellow rectangle. If you have drilled through the roof, to the wall’s ledge and to the ‘speaker’ part, this will be drilled as well. My personal advise is to remove it. The reason being, when I started to thread the wires out of the ‘speaker’ and through the roof, this alignment slot is blocking the wires. Although you can choose not to do it but the constant puling of the thin wires can stress them to the point they will either break inside or come loose from the soldering.
Now, look to the right. Once you have stuck the aluminum sticker properly, there is no light leak. The roll I bought is quite good and should last me quite a bit. Before you buy, please examine the glue side. Some rolls have blue coloured glue while the one I had was clear. Get the clear one because when I stuck the tape to the part, its the clear glue side which is reflecting the LED’s yellow light. Imagine if you had a blue coloured glue and remember, this tape can last for a very long time!
OK, see the two holes on the left of the middle? That’s the holes for a pair of fibre-optics which I planned to use the light from the cockpit but now, I am not so sure. But then again no one would notice the two black holes…
Valkyrie Explored 054: Lighting the ‘Speakers’ 05
Finally, the pair of ‘speakers’ are completed with no light leaks. Once I get the ramp ready, I can seal the Cargo Bay and go right into lighting the ceiling lights.
Just maybe, I might want to spray coat with flat clear I just bought today and then run the Engine Oil wash once more. Shall I do that?
Valkyrie Explored 055
I imagine this is how the two Valkyrie crew members in the cargo bay feel if the ceiling lights were not ready and they had to perform a Night Mission. I so wanted to use red LEDs for the ceiling lights. That is, if I could get hold of that elusive Forge World Elysian Drop Troop figures.
There is a lot of noise from my Nokia n8 and I am too sleepy to take out my Nikon D50…. OK, Good Night, folks!
Valkyrie Explored 056: The Leaking Twin Engines
The Engine’s exhaust problem is the next to be cleaned up. If you look carefully, the exhaust on the left has some very minute white light that is mixing into the orange LED’s lights.
This is due to the sixth pair of the white Cargo Bay’s ceiling LEDs. If given the option, I should not have lit that pair but then, the observer would ask, ‘Why it this pair of lights not lit?’. So, I have to do something about this.
I realise I cannot completely eradicate this problem but I can minimise it. What I should have done very early on is to coat the LED’s clear resin with black or silver paint or even, a strip of Aluminium tape but leave the dome lens exposed. But then, I did not have this experience. Because of that, I have to pay for the mistakes by taking extra few step which was not necessary in the first place. Sigh.
Valkyrie Explored 057
Here are the steps I need to rectify my mistakes:
1. Cut a strip of black duct tape and in the middle, cut a line so that it can split into a ‘Y’ Shape. Arrange this onto the engine’s body, with the start of the split near the orange LED.
2. Using a black marker, paint on the cut areas of the clear part so that the edges, which is ‘touching’ the white led will have most of the light blocked.
3. Then cut a strip of aluminium strip about 6mm wide. You might want to cut in to half since the part is conical and the wrap will go out of shape. Actually, the ideal is about less than 4mm as any longer, it will show through the 4 exhaust slits. I wanted it longer to reflect the LED’s lights more. Of course, I can move the orange LED back a bit. D’oh!
Of course you can use the aluminum tape to cover most of the clear part since its not going to be glued on but wedged in place when the two engine halves are glued together. D’oh.
Valkyrie Explored 058: Cargo Hold Lighting
Time to take some photos!
I use the Nikon D50’s macro lens but it cannot open the view wider. Then again, I do not know how to use a macro lens…
So, I reverted back to Nokia n8’s camera and selected the best shot with minimal noise. Maybe I should try again with a medium light level instead of low.
Anyway, here are the two shots:
The one on the left would what I imagine it to be while the one on the right has some help of a light though the side door’s windows.
Sadly, because of the mistake on the floors, the whole Cargo Bay looks very dark as the light from the LEDs above are being absorbed. In my finite modeling experience, I dare not do anything else to make it worse…
Valkyrie Explored 059A
This is how the floor would look like, lit up. But because I messed up the floor, it it absorbing the light instead. I used a scrap piece of paper to show you the lighting effects and yes, this is the basic circuit for the whole electronics.
Valkyrie Explored 059B
This is the Elysian Drop troop from the Forge Worlds catalogue which is on sale for £22.50 and is designed to fit into the Plastic Valkyrie. So far, I am still thinking about getting it and it should look great in there with shadows on their faces and all.
Later on, when I was ready to order them, the item was sold out.
Update 2022: You can get the files from Cults3D under Elysium Rifles Flight Crew
Valkyrie Explored 060: The Ramp 02
Now, before I seal up the Cargo Bay entirely, I have to solve the ramp. What I did was to get a small stapler from my daughter. I used the smallest drill I have and drilled the two holes. Notice that they are not correctly aligned because… I was hungry.
Anyway, turn the ramp over and use a screwdriver blade to press the staple until it is completely bent securely. Later, before painting, I will look for some scrap plastic to cover this eyesore…
Valkyrie Explored 061
Right through dinner. Heh.
This is my hand gripping the Valkyrie’s parts very hard. I am using the Tamiya Thin Cement which runs through the cracks and fuse the molten plastics. So, while its working its way around the model I have to grip it tightly for the shape to take place as I realised, by gluing the back-wall first, it was slightly slanted. So, while the plastic is still melting, the more you pushed it, the more the it will fill the gaps, thanks to the melting plastic.
Valkyrie Explored 062: Wing Pylon Assembly 01
OK, now we will re-visit the Valkyrie’s Wing Assembly. If you have followed this in February/March, the photo #20 would show you how the LEDs were assembled. Each wing pylon would have one warm white LED as front spotlight, one red or green LED at the rear as Navigation Lights and lastly, a small SMD white LED as Navigation strobe.
Valkyrie Explored 063: Wing Pylon Assembly 02
The rear of the tail is quite a tight fit. Which is why, when you apply the hot-melt glue, while it is still in its melting stage, quickly press the cover panel against it. But this is still far from perfect, so you need to shave off the extra thickness from the panel. I used an acrylic cutter to do this.
Valkyrie Explored 064: Wing Assembly 03
Before you glue the wing pylon assembly to the main body, you must make sure that the wiring is not stuck or have problems. DO test the wiring again and again. Plus, whatever you do, never, ever pull them. I have drilled a small hole about 4mm from one of the Engine’s detail. This is a very good spot to hide the wires, but not completely.
Notice the door at the side, I should not have glued it completely. Had to spend some time removing them AFTER I have glued the first pylon. Sheesh.
Valkyrie Explored 065: Wing Pylon Assembly 03
With the two wing pylons glued, we now move on to the next segment, which is to prepare the plastics for the power cable wiring. What you’re seeing here is a small part of the back wall of the cockpit. You need to cut open the bottom area for the wires to thread through. Do not do anything to the top of the part, which incidentally, is facing to the upper left of the photo.
Valkyrie Explored 066: Wing Pylon Assembly 04
Now, take a file and file a small slope at the top middle edge of the cargo hold. DO this slowly so that you do not over-file the edge and create a hole inside the cargo hold.
The picture below shows (left) the filed slope and the testing of a small power cable (right)
Valkyrie Explored 067
Now, we must do the same for the bottom area of the Valkyrie.
On the left side of the photo, you’re actually seeing the ends of the cockpit floor and also the plug for the base. Again, slowly file the cockpit floor until the cable can go through it (right).
As for the plug, it is quite thick and should not have any problem of over-sanding but care must be take so that its hole is not too deep or else it is noticeable.
Valkyrie Explored 068
Glue one half of the cockpit to the main body (you can temporarily tape the other half so that the cockpit is not out of alignment). By now, your Valkyrie should look something like this. Handle with care as the wires are still considered as ‘fragile’
The power cable’s path (dotted yellow) is from the top to the bottom via a series of filed pathways. OK, time to get some sleep…
Valkyrie Explored 069
Almost there but still a long way off. Sorry for no updates these few days as I was intellectually exhausted. And coupled with this morning’s dead car battery and three serious holes in my shoes, there goes my $$$ (OK, so I skimped on the shoes). Anyway, tonight, I am going to seal all the wires into the Engines and also the middle control thingy… oh, its going to be a fun night.
The Valkyrie is a very big model and so, it would be very easy to light, no? When you explore the model, you would realise that its not that easy nor is it that straightforward. Normally, given the design of this model, the only area you can light up would be… um… never mind. You’d need a lot of modifications. Just to even light up any parts in the Valkyrie. Fortunately, there are some hollow spaces which helped.
Valkyrie Explored 070
OK, this is a SNAFU for me. Despite using thin wires, its still taking up too much space where the middle part is. So, I have two choices:
1. Rewire the circuit board again with much thinner wires, or
2. Move the circuit board down to the cockpit area but this would mean sanding away even more plastic for all the cables.
I am in the midst of uploading a 94 second video but the speed of the ADSL in the house is so slow, its even worse than a 56kbps modem.
In reality, the main problem was not sticking to the plan. In the original design, the tail Red/Green lights and the front spots does not exist. So, I had to add mode components to the board and also, because some cables were not long enough, I had to solder even more and heat-shrink the joint. These killed whatever space the middle part originally offered. Its going to be a long day tomorrow….
I have soldered most of the LEDs together (except for the dim tail lights) and now, its time to really test the model. Sorry for the quality of the video as I could not find the turntable.
Sorry for the whooshing sound as I forgot to turn off the fan…
Valkyrie Explored 071
Because of the rewiring, I noticed that a copper track came off. This is the problem with SRBP PCB board (aka FR2) where copper will come off (de-lamination) if excess heat and/or stress is applied. I had to carefully desolder critical components and transfer them to anther prototype board which I had to prepare.
There is no point repairing the existing board as when I seal it in, I do want to worry about the board’s reliability problems. So, its better to use a fresh board.
Valkyrie Explored 072
I have re-wired most of the cables and it still too thick. So, I removed the connections to the Red/Green ‘tail lights’ since they’re so dim, its hardly noticeable.
This is how it looked like after tidying up and that took me the better evening to do this since my fingers are not as nimble as before. Ha ha. Lastly, hot-melts were used to keep the cables in place.
Valkyrie Explored 073
Despite hours and hours to rearranging the cables and cramming it in, the darn thing would not close. I am tired now, so I am going to use hot-melt glue to gunk everything up tomorrow and hope for the best. Its not that easy. Earlier on, my plan was to cover the whole board and glue it shut, then pull the excess cables into the engine turbines. I might stick back to that idea tomorrow. No point doing it now since I am brain tired….
Valkyrie Explored 074
I got the base glued and realised that its tail-heavy and so, the base is now place in 180° direction (or maybe I am wrong as the Valkyrie looks good in this position)
Anyway, here is the rear of the Valkyrie as it was placed on the stand.
Valkyrie Explored 075
I realised I have been keeping the batteries working since 6PM and its already more than 8 hours now. The LEDs looked a bit dim but that’s expected.
Anyway, here is another shot of the cargo bay, and the spots looks good when hitting the ramp. Once I get a fresh set of batteries, it might improve things.
I am so tempted to go over to Hobby HQ now as they are open until 4AM but I’m dead tired…
Valkyrie Explored 076
“This is the Captain speaking. We’ve lost all primary power and our instruments are not working anymore. Still, there’s a lot of juice left in the engines and so, we’re going in blind, people. Hang on tight….”
And, after taking this picture, in my rush to hit the pillows, I actually forgot to switch it off. I KNOW its ON and I KNOW I have taken the picture and I KNOW I needed to switch it OFF. But the second after I KNEW, I actually FORGOT. So, this is what exhaustion is like.
And so, 10 hours later, the circuit is running and the semi exhausted batteries are actually… exhausted. One of the telling signs is that the reddish-orange LEDs which are using about, maybe, 2 volts, are still flickering which means the circuit is still running. I have made sure the microprocessor I ordered runs on a minimum voltage of 2.0 volts. With the white LEDs not lighting up, this means the total battery voltage from the pack has dropped below 3.2 volts or so. (My meter said its 2.4 volts now.) Cool!
Valkyrie Explored 077: Painting the Valkyrie 01
I’ve been spat-on!
Everything is all glued and its still running! I have decided not to reconnect the Red/Green tail lights as they’re too dim. And also, you won’t see them except when you look from a certain angle.
And now, its time to paint the Valkyrie. However, there are some problems in the sense that the air-brush spits paints instead.
1. I know I have the thinner/paint ration right because its milky
2. The needle is not bent.
3. The moisture trap should be working too.
And after cleaning everything again, I think I need a real compressor because my main suspect is that there are paints clogged in there and the fish-pump is not powerful enough to blow everything out. Because every time I changed paints, the needle is full of the old paints which I have to wipe clean.
Still, not too bad, considering that I have come this far… Next week: Complete painting the Valkyrie and get a set of new batteries.
Valkyrie Explored 078: Painting the Valkyrie 02
Something happened to the fish-pump this evening, at first it was its usual bone-jarring loud and then, it went quiet. When I knocked it, it was its usual self again but the spitting got worse. Then just as I was making up my mind to go to either ICW or Wira Games, I remembered buying a big powerful fish-pump many years ago. When I plugged it in, the motor purred and delivered 45Kpa (5.8psi), enough to give me an actual airbrush quality spray without having to thin the paint any further!
And so, for 4 hours this evening, I managed to coat it with the Olive Green and also a coat of matte clear. Once I can find some fibre-optics for the cargo bay, I am ready to paint the pilot and then close the cockpit.
Valkyrie Explored 079: Painting the Valkyrie 02
As you all know by now, I am terrible at painting and also in gluing things. If you do not know this, you know now
Because of the mix of water-based acrylics and thinner based and enamel based paints in my collection, I always forget what thinner to use…
See the funny streaks on the Valkyrie? This is what happened when I mix water-based acrylic with IPA instead of its thinner. I was mixing them so that I can use the black as a thin wash. When I first brushed it on, it behaved like a normal wash but once it dried, these weird streaks appeared. I have to work fast because after awhile, the paint broke down within minutes. But this streak, to me, is beautiful as I was thinking on how to make the Valkyrie look battle-worn. Luckily, I managed to use more wash before the paint broke down.
Valkyrie Explored 080
Finally, I found some fibre-optic strands which means I can close the cockpit tonight! On the left, I used a lighter to melt one end of the fibre-optic strand into a mushroom head. On the right, this is me trying to put the fibre-optics through the holes in the cargo-bay.
The mushroom head on the fibre-optic should act as a lens which, in theory, would make the light look brighter.
Valkyrie Explored 081
Once you have pulled the fibre-optics through, dab a little bit of white glue near the ends. Then push it a little into the cargo-bay and back again so that the while glue is spread into the holes.
As for the other end of the fibre-optics, I stuck them into one of the Pilot’s console.
Valkyrie Explored 082: Painting the Valkyrie 03
OK, in the meantime, I also dry-brushed a lot of silver onto the Valkyrie. I find that this is a very enjoyable experience but unfortunately, I think I overdid it. Now the Valkyrie looked as it flew into several tornadoes full of rocks. I wanted the left engine looked as if it had a lot of problems with oil leaks and all but unfortunately, this does not look convincing.
Valkyrie Explored 083: Painting the Valkyrie 04
OK, I don’t think I want to damage the Valkyrie anymore with my careless painting skills. With the cockpit in place, I sealed the canopies with Humbrol’s Clearfix which is thick and gooey as with the clear resin parts, they made the canopies unable to fat as tight as I wanted to be. Tomorrow, I will complete the landing gears and call this done. And hopefully, I can remember to get fresh batteries so that I can take proper photos of the Valkyrie.
Valkyrie Explored 084: Painting the Valkyrie 05
I am using Daler and Rowney’s Art Masking Fluid not because I could not find the girls’s Blu-Tacks but at such a late stage, I cannot risk experimenting with something new.
1. This is me applying the liquid mask onto the clear cockpit (which is actually liquid rubber)
2. This is how the canopy looked when its dried.
3. After spraying with the airbrush, you just pull and peel the mask off! There are some scratches which I cannot explain as this is the first time I used on clear part
Valkyrie Explored 085: The completed model 01
This is how the Valkyrie looked like using my Nokia n8. Too much flare and so, everything looked washed out.
Yeah, I am tired and I need to get up real early on 01052014.
Valkyrie Explored 086: The completed model 02
More shots. I know the background is very bad. When I am tired and rushed, carelessness is also very obvious. Luckily I did not post anything last night as I could not understand what I posted this morning
Valkyrie Explored 087: The completed model 03
Maybe the liquid mask is the ‘scratches’ as I could not find any eraser to remove them. Ah well, it makes the canopy looked very used!!!
Valkyrie Explored 088 Nikon D50 Shots
OK, so I brought out my Nikon D50 for some better shots. But looks the same to me….
Valkyrie Explored 089 Nikon D50 Shots
This is the effect I got for most of the surface. In sequence they are (Yeah, I did not use any Surface Primer as I was afraid the earlier fish-pump do not have enough pressure for it):
1. Mr. Hobby Tire Black + Gaia Black sprayed onto the crevasses and lines
2. Mr. Hobby Olive Green
3. Mr. Hobby Flat Clear
4. Mr. Hobby Aqueous Black with IPA (oil streaks and corrosions) plus ‘drier’ mix for soot
5. Mr. Hobby Gun Chrome Dry-brush exposed metal
6. Mr. Jimenez’s Rust Effects
7. Mr. Hobby Flat Clear
8. Random Mr. Hobby Flat Clear + Gloss ClearlK2J9imFBXVa13EdtM=w2400
Valkyrie Explored 090 Nikon D50 Shots
Those ‘green’ colours are not from the LEDs but somewhat reflected by the fluorescents off the clear canopy parts. As you can see, the clear resin cast consoles are still too tall, which affected the fixing of the canopies. So, I dabbed thick Humbrol ClearFix to glue them on.
Valkyrie Explored 091: The completed model 07
This is how the cockpit looked like. Bear in mind, this shot is brighter than normal. I purposely made it brighter so that you can see more details. Note one of the LED on the left is not lighting up anymore, which I suspect is one of the solder links having a problem. Since its sealed tight, I cannot do anything to solve this problem. Sigh
But since its a battle-worn Dropship, its acceptable!
But one final word, I need to do something to the strobes which are still very exposed and if they come off, the wiring is impossible to fix unless I tear it apart…
So, this is considered done! I will insert the panels and weapons at a later stage since I do not understand their configurations at this point in time. Thank you all for your patience in following my WIP and nonsense blabbing
Anyway, if you want to see the whole WIP, please go to this Photo Album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/…
On to the next project!!!
OK, with this video, I am now done with the Valkyrie!
Note that I have not put any weapons/sensors since I ‘m not familiar with their configurations so I will attach them at a later date. But for the moment, I call this done! Enjoy!
The features are:
Twin independent Engine flicker
Single and Double Strobe flash
Cargo Bay Lighting
Cockpit Lighting
Warm White Spotlights
Valkyrie Explored 092
In the midst of the excitement of almost completing the Valkyrie, I forgot to share with you one very important tip.
At the upper wingtips, I have a SMD white LED there and many times, when I turned the model over or accidentally knocked it, the small LED will come off. This is not a very good thing since:
1. You need to re-solder and if the wires are ‘stuck’ you’re in deep trouble
2. The LED’s solder tags are very small and its not easy to solder them without melting the plastic.
I have contemplated using some spare clear sprues to drill out some sort of protective cover for them but its not easy. And so, it struck me that some of the tape reels of my SMD components are clear. This is the tape reel for my SMD Diode which is following the MiniMELF package dimensions.And they happen to the be ‘right’ size for the SMD LED. So, I carefully cut out the box that I want, and also removed some sharp corners since they’re in the position where it can snag onto something and come off permanently. I then quickly mixed some clear epoxy, put some into the mini box, the LED and then hoped for the best!
This is my very first Warhammer Model which I have lighted up. It houses a prototype custom designed circuit board (which is now fully realised as a Commercial Warhammer Board but yet to be sold). Unfortunately, this board, can only be fitted on StormTalons, Imperial Knights, WingRaven and Ork Bommers at the moment. The Stormwolf/Stormfang has their own boards instead.
The model is a first on many designs mainly the clear re-casted frosted thrusters and cockpit parts, SMD LEDs in wingtips and ceiling lighting. I also added a different flashing beacon sequence (flash, pause, flash, flash) plus a magnetic catch to the ramp. There are no weapons in this model for reasons I would not want to say. Heh.
Please activate the annotations to read the notes in the video. And so sorry about the sound as I do not know how to turn off the recording in this borrowed Samsung Galaxy S4 phone.
