So after building a 3 foot TOS Galactica (Battlestar Larson) I have completely switched gears and am building and lighting (!) the tiny Bandai Star Destroyer! I had a bunch of left over .25mm fiber optic. Needed to do something with it. After seeing Dorobou’s fantastic SD I decided I’d try my hand at lighting it. He used clear resin cast parts, mine is more traditional, with fibers. Still, major headaches.
I started by gluing some pieces together so I could hollow them out to make room inside. I cut out a good portion of the upper hull, under the super structure to open it up.
My plan is to terminate the fibers inside the super structure so they are “pointing” at a single diffused white LED, as opposed to running fiber to a tube and gluing said tube to an LED like normal.
The hardest part so far was modifying the neck to get the fibers from the bridge down to the hull. Lots of grinding inside the bridge did take place.
Anyhoo, here are some pictures to show where I am at so far. Should be able to finish this up in a week.
Trenches drilled out.
Super structure glued together and hollowed out. Fibers run.
Yes she does! I just ordered some custom decals for the ship. Anxious to get them in. I got them from Nicholas Sagan. They are paneling in different grey scales. You pick the best shade based on your base coat. Similar to what comes with most R2 Star Trek kits nowadays.
WOW! Can’t wait to see it finished! Are those “tiny little guys” those things that I forgot the name of but theyre like LEDs but not LEDs but are brighter than LEDs?
They are SMT (Surface Mount Tecnology) LEDs and are refered to by number or name. I refer to them by name pico (smallest), nano (middle), and chip (largest). The ones above are nano’s.
Thanks guys. Yes, SMT’s are super small and still bright. The picos are crazy tiny but still put out good light. I used to solder these myself, but now I pay the extra money and buy them pre-wired.
Got my SD decals today. Wicked detail on these. I may sand the hulls for a smoothie effect and just use the decals. I’ll post pics after work tonight.
