Exploring the MLEV model is great fun but sorry for the weird texts which was copied from the Facebook page. During the exploration, I was typing as I explored. Where I can, I will update the notes here.
One thing about the Pegasus Hobbies plastic is that they are very similar to those of Warhammer, but noticeably thinner. These grey plastics are a natural light blockers and you do not need much effort to cut the plastic with simple blades. This means I will not be using much black and silver primers or even Krylon Fusion for the model to light block them.
First up is the interior itself. The front console has four monitors which are pieces. Thank goodness for the thick walls underneath which I can scribe the line and then make the holes. The yellow areas, I mean. So, this might need 5 LEDs. Don’t worry about the side cables yet. I think I can cover that up later. But no blinkies. No bloody blinkies inside the interior if I can help it.
The view from the back.
By the Gods, it’s huge and it’s so sad because once this is all covered up, you can’t see the whole interior apart from the big front windows. Then again, magnets and CCTV cams, eh?
Why not?
The resin figure that came with the kit has been bugging me because, the figure is definitely not 1/32 but more like 1/27. I did rough size calculation on the 1/35 fig which was 50mm and the commander at 65 mm. Man, those Martians are huge!
It’s 1/35 afterall!
I have put in a normal 1/35 figure against the resin Commander and well, the result speaks for itself! So, the 1/35 figure can sleep peacefully inside a fully equipped sleep chamber while the Commander has to make do with a lot of stripped parts. So, putting a 1/32 figure is kinda risking it too.
This is one of the main thing, or parts which attracted me to the Mars Hopper, and that is the Sleep chambers. It’s so beautifully done that it would be a sin not to light it up!
However, if I am to make a lighting system, the LEDs would have to be one that is easy for the customer to install. And so, SMD leds are out of the window. (But, if I do get a second Mars Hopper, I would use some SMD leds…)
Roughly, this is what you’d see from the front windows, that’s the only way to enjoy the beautiful interior. If I used the resin Commander figure, he would make the whole place look small. But now, with a proper 1/35 figure, it just somehow looks good.
I am really loving this model because, on the left, would be the sleep chambers and on the right, would be the um, space closet. The closet is empty but if you look at Randy Cooper‘s photo album of his original model, there were a pair of silver spacesuits in there. I need to light it up, of course!
The lights from my magnifier casts a very nice diffused ring effect to the interior but this is not the effect I wanted. My mind is more towards the JJAbrams Star Trek Bridge type of lighting if I can. Ha ha ha.
What I meant was, there would be a down spotlight for each console and also the Captain’s chair. I would then darken the whole interior with dimmed lights. Um ,maybe not for this version of the model yet.
This is the favourite part of the Mars Hopper: The sleeping chamber.
One thing I need to remind you is that the plastic, is not too thin and not too Warhammer thick. Its just in the middle. But here, I am more concerned about gaps. When you test-fit parts H4 & J2, you’ll immediately see there some gaps (shown in green). The parts A8, A21 and A32 will help close the gaps but you’ll definitely still see them, when you do not light block properly. Although these gaps are facing the inner shell, any uncovered LED lights will create some distraction and spoils the whole effect of a solid wall.
Anyway, I originally wanted to use the inner wall’s natural half-circle as holes for some 3mm LEDs but have now abandoned the idea. I also thought about backlighting them through the thinner part of the plastic but its also not opaque enough.
And so, it will have to be on the places in red. Or is it?
OK, the Airlock’s in and boy, that is one big gap (in green) there! If you look above it, there is enough space to do some customised lighting such as a light array. But again, if you covered the LEDs properly, you can escape with not lightblocking the parts.
As for the space closet on the right, I think I got it beat. Just need some clothes and some shelves too…
Just a shot for me to see how wiring would be laid out at later stage. Do I need that clear circular acetate for the ceiling? Hmm? Hmm?
The Difference of 1mm
Nah, joking. On the left is the normal 3mm warm-white LED. And on the right is the 2mm version. Lens on the 3mm created the hot-spot at close distance which I thought was cool but it’s too harsh on the pillows. In real life, you do not need a spotlight as your bed lights. Both LED’s current was reduced to less than 5mA.
Man, that is the effect I am looking for! But this means, I need to get more of these LEDs if I am going into mass production! (Update 2022: OK, no, I am not going into mass production I’m too lazy for that)
I just realised that it’s very difficult to mask curved surfaces for idiots like me. What you’re looking at is the sleeping chamber’s inner wall which is curved and in one piece. You can see the accidental cut I made with the scalpel while removing some masking tapes. The challenge was to paint the console detail without getting it all over the tan coloured wall. I really liked the silver pain which I got from Hobby HQ months ago. Its the Chinese YL brand and mine is severely running out. Its not being re-stocked anymore but come December, there would be another new paint from Taiwan which is similar to Alclads.
I also put in some PE details onto the console’s four ‘holes’ which I forgot to sand clear. These are from Ocean Spirit, which I picked up at ICW (Infinite Creation Workshop) long ago. Now, they looked like proper vents!
Here’s a closer look at the Ocean Spirit’s PE::
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.586056098137224.1073741947.374587389284097&type=3
Earlier, I mentioned about the fitting problem with the sleeping chamber’s inner walls. Actually, its not a problem because there is nothing to see beyond the gaps except the Hopper’s sphere shell.
But its a real problem when you are doing lighting. Of course you can see the light leaks and all but IMHO, even if you did it intentionally or unintentionally, would make the overall effort look cheap.
So, I used some pla-plates to seal up the two gaps, as shown on the yellow arrow. Of course, you can’t see the upper gap though. Ha ha ha.
Sorry for the different quality of the pictures here. Since my Job ends at the end of this month, I need to return the Samsung Galaxy S4 and use my Nikon D50. The focusing is so precise…..
Test lighting. Using the special warm-white LED, I tested on the completed sleeping chamber. Of course this is not the final lighting as I was too impatient to solder the correct resistors but just gave it a direct 30mA to the pair. But it this was a non reflective surface I would need to make the lights as bright as possible knowing that the flat paint will absorb them.
The lighting effect is what I wanted and also, because of the YL Paint’s highly reflective silver, the light bounced all over, giving it a nice and realistic look. Maybe I put some smaller PE grill onto the lights and see if the effect can be further enhanced but this will go to the next Mars Hopper (If I can get another one) which I will do it as my version.
I am also sad that I could not achieve any realistic or dirty look on the sleeping chamber’s padded head and foot walls. It looked more like a half-hearted smudge. It looked very unrealistic. I gave it a spray of matt , then used pencil and lighted fluids and then more paint and whites with the cotton swab to dab it back.
No, the mattresses are not going in as they’re too high.
I have also painted the closet on the right. And this time, I am giving it a colour light test; warm-white vs pure white. Because I forgot to set the camera’s white-balance, the pure white came out very bluish. Again, the lighting is not final as I still want to use the warm-whites in there. Its not that the warm-white was not bright but I think the LED on the left of the chamber was somehow blocked since I did not open the lower hole wide enough.
Or maybe, keep it as white. Looking at this picture, without the ceiling lights, the bed looks warm and inviting inviting while the closet is cold and this means the Astronauts have to go out and do some work to earn their pay…
Shall the ceiling lights be warm-white or cold white? Man, Randy Coopers MLEV-5 is so fun!
Just got the airlock painted. I was quite happy with the effect on the floor, until I accidentally wiped some excess wet paint with tissue paper. Yeah, it all went downhill from there…
Anyway, again, the lighting system is not ready so I just crocodile-clipped the LED’s leads and plugged them into a battery pack. I need to design the lighting for the airlock but in the meantime, the 5mm LED will do. Ha!
Well, you know what? The detail at the side of the airlock is quite thin! I used a small modeling chisel and scraped away the paint, then gave it a clear red and green. Put a white LED behind it and voila!
You need to use a white LED because when it shines through the grey plastic, there’s some yellowish tint. So, it is lit up but not too bright as to clash with the ceiling lights later on.
Any difference with the LEDs through the plastic part? Not much unless the LED is more than 1cm away but then, the light would be dim.
Still, there would be two white LEDs for the airlock.
Spots next. There is not much difference in the spots except the ring is much more noticeable. The hole is designed for 3mm LEDs but I need to try to remove some plastic to get the LED to go in deeper to see if there is any difference in the effects. Unfortunately, there is no wide-angle LED that is 3mm in size or else the reflectors would be used to full effect.
So, like Randy Cooper said, you might want to cut the small dimple to let the LED deeper where the reflector can amplify the lights.
Ok, OK, so I caved in and drilled a pair of holes at the bottom of the airlock. A quick clear fluorescent green from Gaia #108 (there was no clear green in my stock) and we’re done. Oh, I just did the floor and will continue later with more details. It’s not dark enough. So, the two white LEDs above the airlocks are confirmed!
This is for Randy Cooper.
These are the paints I used for the sleeping chamber, and intially, I wanted to use Tan for the ‘cushions’ but I relented and chose ‘radome’ which to me, looked much more welcoming, especially when it was lit with warm-white LEDs.
The paints are, and not in any order:
1. ‘Cushions’ – Mr. Colour #318 (Radome)
2. The highly reflective ‘silver’ are from a Chinese company called Yi Le, which I was told, was equivalent to Alclad Silver or something (but I have never used Alclad before)
3. The ‘Black’ console in the middle – Mr. Colour #137 (Tire Black)
4. The Wooden shelf – Mr. Color #43 (Wood Brown)
5. The Whites outside the chambers are Mr. Color #97 (Light Gray) I could not locate the warm grey as seen on your original model. smile emoticon
6. I used Accent Tamiya Panel Black for the details underneath the chambers.
Let’s go back to the reflectors. They are rally meant for 3mm LEDs and if you push one from behind, they will fit.
However, doing that will not do anything but make the LED’s light pattern more prominent. In this image, its not dim but the LED was so bright, the Nikon auto-adjusted the brightness. Only when I used the flash, can you really see that the reflectors are actually working.
What I did was to use a wide-angle warm-white LED. And, I stuck the LED in FRONT of the reflector where the wide-angle lens shone into the reflector and helped to spread the light. But for a much better effect, I actually shaved off the LED’s bevelled edge so I can friction fit it halway into the hole to give it a more covincing look. Because whatever angle you looked into the reflector, most of the LED’s lights are blinding you back!
