Bandai Star Destroyer Part 3

<< Part 2

Everything is just about there. The fibre marries up with the central LED much better now. I’ve added some short lengths of 1.5mm fibre at the rear of the 3 main engines to act as light pipes – this gives a much better effect inside the engine bell than just having a hole.

The last thing to resolve is the wires for the battery supply. I want these to run down through the stand, but it’s just a bit too small to get 2 bits of my smallest stranded cable down. For now I’ve used 2 bits of solid core wire wrap wire – these are plenty small enough, but will not survive much manhandling or moving of the ball & socket joint. Need to come up with a better solution…

For now here’s some beauty shots. The ship was primed in a just off-white colour and then given a wash of Concrete Flory Wash. Once dry, the excess was wiped away with a slightly damp sponge & that’s it. I’ve used a focusable LED torch several meters away as a slight source in an attempt to simulate the parallel light of a far-distant sun…

Bandai Star Destroyer Part 2

<< Part 1

Small amount of progress before Christmas got in the way. After trying to use 0.5mm fibre for the smaller engines I gave up due to the problems with bending them up to the LED – they were just too stiff over such a small length. So I downsized to 0.35mm which works better but still had some issues with the off-centre LED placement, so I have decided to take the hit and do a PCB revision with a few tweaks:

  •  Small engine LED moved to centre and brought back a few mm to help with clearance around the fuselage top.
  •  Larger slots at back of PCB to aid routing lower fibres up to top of PCB.
  •  Increase clearance around side holes for a better fit.
  •  Rework main engine LED pads to allow a different type of SMD package, and remove unused through-hole pads.

Just waiting for the new boards to arrive, but here’s the old one in action with the fibre.

dsc_9219 dsc_9218

Time passes..

The new boards have arrived, so quickly made one up for comparison. Having the engine LED in the centre is much better, and I was able to go back to the 0.5mm fibre for the small engines. Everything also fits better inside, and the top of the Destroyer fits on with ease.

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dsc_9229 dsc_9230

Part 3 >>