CodeMaster
Once Code Master, always Code Master
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2010
- Messages
- 44
I've had this kit for a few years now, and have been putting off building this as I wanted to wait until my skills were (in my opinion) good enough to do this kit justice. Then the group build started, and I didn't want to be the only one with a Mill. Falcon kit who wasn't participating and decided that if I wait until I think my skills are good enough, I'll never get to build this. So I have finally gotten started on my entry for this group build (better late than never, right?).
For the last week or so, I've been concentrating on getting the cockpit completed. Using some of the resources made available on this forum, I printed off the back and side panel graphics onto transparent sheets, painted the back of the sheets white and glued them to EL sheets for illumination.
For the effect I wanted, I have had to turn to one of my other loves/hobbies: electronics and micro-controller programming. I wired it up a 4 LED circuit and wrote a small program to allow a 12F629 PIC chip to pseudo-randomly flash the LED's. I attached the LEDs to fiber optic strands and put the strands through holes drilled in the back panel graphic and EL sheet. You can't really tell from the photos, but the LEDs each flash independently of the others. One thing I want to do is play with the timing a bit to see if I can increase the duty cycle that the LEDs are illuminated for without really effecting the randomization too much.
Cockpit panel
Overhead Panels - Unpowered
Overhead Panels - Powered
Cockpit side panel
Fiber Optic Indicators
Cockpit back panel - Powered
Indicator random flash circuit
I've also started working on the turret wells:
Turret well
Turret well
That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.
For the last week or so, I've been concentrating on getting the cockpit completed. Using some of the resources made available on this forum, I printed off the back and side panel graphics onto transparent sheets, painted the back of the sheets white and glued them to EL sheets for illumination.
For the effect I wanted, I have had to turn to one of my other loves/hobbies: electronics and micro-controller programming. I wired it up a 4 LED circuit and wrote a small program to allow a 12F629 PIC chip to pseudo-randomly flash the LED's. I attached the LEDs to fiber optic strands and put the strands through holes drilled in the back panel graphic and EL sheet. You can't really tell from the photos, but the LEDs each flash independently of the others. One thing I want to do is play with the timing a bit to see if I can increase the duty cycle that the LEDs are illuminated for without really effecting the randomization too much.
Cockpit panel
Overhead Panels - Unpowered
Overhead Panels - Powered
Cockpit side panel
Fiber Optic Indicators
Cockpit back panel - Powered
Indicator random flash circuit
I've also started working on the turret wells:
Turret well
Turret well
That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.