Tamiya F-117 Nighthawk with LEDs
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This is going to be a big boy plane!
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Drilled out the screens with a pin vise and shaved out with a hobby knife. pE over the top will make this cleaner
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Gluing the clear screens onto the frames while still on the sprue
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All the PE in place
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Test with my Larry Boss
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PE in the cockpit panels
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Easy to paint figures when they don't have faces!!
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Taught myself basic circuitry for something like this. This is just a twisted wire prototype.
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Test without enclosure, just a light sitting behind it
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Enclosure for green screens made from styrene strip. The will be wrapped in bare metal foil to reflect and prevent light bleed through the white plastic
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Another test! It's more bright in the center than the side screens so I will likely use fiber optioc to make the build easier and disperse the light more evenly behind the screens
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Kommentare
19 January 2017, 19:51
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I'm am extremely excited about it🙂 each model I do, I try to add a new technique. The F117 is a pretty straightforward build so I was looking to do something new and bold. I always wanted to learn basic circuitry and this was a great excuse!
19 January 2017, 20:37
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i was planing to do something really similar, so i am really interested on this one. will follow closely 🙂
19 January 2017, 21:59
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They are Eduards Nr. FE286 Color photo etch. It comes with a clear sheet of film for the displays and dials you can use instead of the color PE option.
20 January 2017, 07:25
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absolutely cool, I always wanted to add cockpit lights and positioning lights on models so I watch this closely. Was always confused how to put small LED and how to wire it so that there is minimal traces of cables and maximum effect.
20 January 2017, 09:16
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Now that is something inventive (at least I have seen this kind of application before outside of SF models). And it makes sense to add realism!
20 January 2017, 09:53
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Allright, thanks for the hint, it will look awesome within the finished model!
20 January 2017, 13:41
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Thanks all for the excitement! I'm going for this type of look: [img1]
I decided to slow down a bit and I'm going to use fiber bundles to get the light into the containment boxes and the light will be more evenly distributed. It's a bit bright in the center with just raw LED.
20 January 2017, 16:40
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WOW! Now that's just showing off! It looks amazing Nathan - it's a bit different to your Fokker Triplane build - no 'wood effect' on this one.
20 January 2017, 16:48
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haha gorby thats true, this is a completely different end of the spectrum.
20 January 2017, 21:17
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Nice, you also like the "little skunk" goo.gl/photos/7RLoCRwDiX1WEWxi7
20 January 2017, 21:50
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Uploaded a lot more pics. I'm almost done with the plane itself. I bought some claybord to act as a base and will add a ground crew and hide the wires. I'll also add switches
29 March 2017, 02:38
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Nice work Nathan. Using fiber optic or even making small "light prisms" out of clear perspex sheeting and cutting and filing it into small shapes for wingtip lights can work well when you don't have the room to fit LED's. I would have used some lighter gauge wire on this project. (making it a bit easier to hide) Also don't forget you might need a resistor on the load to avoid burning out the LED's ? I'm still stuffing around with my Millennium Falcon build need to get back onto that! 🙂
www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=12623&p=albums&album=26438
29 March 2017, 11:55
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Thanks Glenn! Yeah this was my first go at it. I'm definitely getting thinner gauge wire next time! Nice tip on the sheeting! I agree on the resistor, I did the math and figured out the right one for this setup🙂 it was fun. Esssentially a prototype for giant stash of bandai Star Wars models!
29 March 2017, 14:53
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Good stuff! Did someone say "giant stash of bandai Star Wars models!" I'm in! Watching these get built will be far more interesting than the last two Star Wars movies!!!! Just Saying...... #Old School Star Wars.... #Unkill Han Solo #Splatter Kylo! 🙂
29 March 2017, 15:03
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Very cool work, love the LED's and fiberoptics. Been reading about SMD's...Surface Mounted Diodes that can be super small. I have some coming from eBay to try out soon.
30 March 2017, 03:42
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Scott, Surface Mounted Devices are very small, And easily damaged by ESD! Electrostatic discharge, Take care handling them and GOOD LUCK soldering wires to them!!!! A normal iron can soon fry them! 😮 We use quite a lot of different LED's in my work some only around 1.5mm square! and not easy to solder wires too! As they are designed to be loaded onto PCB's via a robotic soldering station. I have hundreds laying around but difficult to mount by hand.
30 March 2017, 04:08