modelglue Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 ...Not nerdy at all. I wish I had that ambition... and with kids to boot! Wow. Awesome model, awesome video and awesome thread. I am amazed at the quality I see here and in other threads. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) I've cranked up my old soldering iron and assembled the astable switch circuit. Good news is that it works! Although in a slightly different way than I thought, so it may be an overly complex solution (also the relay is quite noisy). Rather that providing an output voltage, it acts (rather as the name suggests) as a switch. The description on the box is slightly ambiguous in this regard... Anyway, I think I should be able to get the right sort of frequency and duration out of it, despite the period and duration settings not being completely independent. I'll post a photo and maybe even video, if I can figure out how to do that from the iPad.Andrew Here's the video: https://flic.kr/p/mEw3RP and a photo: Edited April 1, 2014 by Caution Wake Turbulence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madhatter Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 This is awesome! So nice to see another one of these being built. Where are you going to install the power cables on this? Your doing a much neater job on yours than I did mine. I should have used Warrens flasher unit for it if I'd had it at the time. Don't think I did. You can use 2mm SMDs for the wing tip lights and they fit perfectly with minimal adjustments to be made. How do you intend to represent the strobe on top? I've seen strobe units about on the net but have never actually used one. Anyway, am enjoying the build! Your going to have fun with the wing roots too - lots of putty! Si Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Thanks Si. I have a vague plan in my head... something like the aircraft turning short final, flaps out, gear down etc, probably mounted on a hollow tube somehow. Probably a fairly steep turn, just to try and reduce the footprint of the model . It'll need a fairly hefty base, so all the electronics/battery etc will probably be in there, with just the cables running up the tube. As far as I can tell, there aren't any actually strobes as such, more like blinking lights really (seem to be about 1 Hz with a distict on-off, rather than a flash, if you know what I mean..) - two red beacons and three white anti-collision lights. My circuit above should be able to replicate this reasonably closely. I've got two - so that that red and white lights aren't synchronised. There are quite a few lights all told - as well as the red/green nav lights and anti-collision lights on the wingtips, I can also see steady white lights on the leading edge at the wingtips, a pair of landing/taxi lights at the front of each landing gear sponson, and at least two white lights on each side of the fwd fuselage (runway turnoff lights and wing lights, I'm guessing...). I can see other things that could also be lights, but I can't find any documentation to support this and they don't seem to be on in the air. I've got a selection of LEDs and fibre optic strands, although no SMDs yet. I think there'll be quite a bit of trial and error involved in getting the right look - the fibre optics are quite directional, for example, not sure if there's a way to change that? Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madhatter Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 It depends on how you want to change the direction of a fibre thread. You can make the entire end glow, including the sides, by sanding all around the circumference. Not quite sure to what effect you want to use them. They would be fine for the lights on the side of the body up front and even front landing gear. You can mask the fact they are fibre threads by incorporating the into the plumbing. You can make a right angle by heating one over a flame just the same way you would stretching or bending sprues. You could me run them through the gear by themselves seeing as they won't be taking any weight. Speaking of which, your going to need a very hearty stand as this weighs a lot when finished, especially with lighting gear inside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 I was thinking of using the fibre for the combined nav/anti-collision wingtip lights: http://www.b-domke.de/AviationImages/A400M/35485.html Sanding round the circumference sounds like it could work... Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Only just seen this. Great work so far... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Any progress Andrew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Nothing much so far, but I did get the kit out again yesterday, ready to do some more on it... Cheers, Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomastmcc Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 keep it up mate .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Thanks - struggling a bit with motivation generally at the moment..... (yet somehow the desire to buy new kits persists.... ) Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Hi Andrew, I have this kit in my stash for when I have more experience at model making so I will follow you like a wolf after it's dinner on this one. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 How's it going Andrew, any more progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Not yet, I'm afraid. I'm much better at starting things than finishing them. Sorry. Andrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Not yet, I'm afraid. I'm much better at starting things than finishing them. Sorry. Andrew Don't worry Andrew I am the same. I was brought back to your thread on Google search for A400M builds. Quite a few nice new What If types builds out the now. I am thinking about starting one of mine and was looking for inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Time for another prod  You must have finished a few airliners to get back to this one by now?  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallysDad Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 You have done a great job so far. Don't lose heart. You can finish this a turn it into a thing to be proud of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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