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armored76

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Everything posted by armored76

  1. Hah... I remember trying to scratch-build one as youngster based on some drawings published in a Romanian modelling magazine (Modelism). It was showing the Buran attached to the carrier (?) but cannot recall all the details... PS. I found the cover! It was the February issue of 1989... Memories, memories....
  2. Are those "holes" on the rubber parts normal? This kit is intriguing and frightening (metallic finish) at the same time
  3. Hey, I use Revell Aquas almost exclusively. Some of them are great, some not so but you can work with all of them. I tried diluting them with IPA and their original thinner and both seem to do the trick, with IPA being a tad cheaper on the long-run, probably. Make sure you dilute them properly (the often-cited milky consistence) and you are good to go. If applied with an airbrush, matt colours dry matt. If not, their clear matt is doing a great job even over oil washes which tend to turn glossy. When applied by brush, it tends to dry glossy but it might depend on the paint/layer thickness, you apply. I tried Vallejo and Mig acrylics, as well without noticeable advantages other than the availability of some colours out-of-the-bottle where Revell paints usually require mixing. Speaking of which, the need to mix paints for certain "common" colours is probably their biggest drawback. I hope this helps!
  4. I've been eyeing the MMP series and the AK Real Colors but haven't bit the bullet yet. How are the MMP paints odour-wise?
  5. What brand acrylics are you using, if you don't mind me asking? My main stock is Revell Aqua with a few Mig and Vallejo bottles. All behave about the same.
  6. Congrats on your new piece of hardware! After some struggling with acrylics (paint drying on the tip and/or not leaving the brush, etc), I'm a happy user myself. I went for the Silverline with a 0.2mm nozzle/needle combo just to have the needle adjustment piece. I think, you can now get it as an extra part from H&S. For me, it was the one piece that made the most difference. Then again, I had one from hour zero on my previous brush so, I was used to having one. Have fun with it!
  7. Sorry for not reporting back sooner on this... After reading through the information here and in a very helpful private post, it seems like I was finally able to solve my problem. In hindsight, the key elements are: open up the needle travel distance a lot more; I'm probably in the range around to 2mm which is a lot more than what I used with MRP paints if the paint is undiluted (Vallejo or Mig), up the pressure to a round 15-20psi if the paint is dilute (e.g. for freehand) lower the pressure to around 10-15psi and dilute around 30-70 paint-thinner ratio then apply several layers if diluting the paint use a bit of retarder; with Revell paints I now use their acrylics thinner exclusively Not sure how it happened but all of sudden it just "clicked" into working mode. Many thanks for all your help, gentlemen! It is much appreciated!
  8. Hey, I was surfing around for reviews of the above product but without much success, so far. Did any of you used this already and can report? I'd be mainly interested in shrinkage, ability to re-scribe panel lines after it cured, curing time and the like. Many thanks in advance!
  9. Exactly! The longer it is on, the brighter it appears. Applied on the coil of a DC motor, the longer it is on, the faster it rotates.
  10. Here an explanation on PWM: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/PWM Distance is indeed a problem. It'd be nice to try this out live.
  11. Yes, after the update there will be throttle control on the motors. These would would work with so called PWM control signals. Basically, a very fast signal turning on and off with the time it stays on and off controlled by the software. The longer it stays on compared to the off phase, the higher the "average" voltage on the motor and the faster it turns. The relation between the on and off times is called duty cycle. The best part is, this is all taken care of by the TLC59711 driver. All the software does is tell the chip "Set duty cycle to 30% on channel R1". Exactly the same mechanism can be used to control the LED brightness, if that is required.
  12. Not really... If you take two CR2032 batteries in series with their 230 mAh (probably even less in real live) and consider about 8x60mA for the motors plus 6x20mA for the LEDs, you'll see that the total consumption of 600mA will drain the batteries in minutes. Of course you can use several packs of two batteries in parallel but then you are at about the same volume as AA or AAA batteries. An alternative would be the use of a 9V battery but it needs to be checked as some will not be able to drive DC motors reliably. Yet another alternative would be 6V or 9V wall plugs. Less flexible but would also require less space (only for the connector, basically). I wouldn't put the batteries in the model anyway but place it under the base, for instance which might reduce space requirements. I'll have to revise the schematic above as I forgot about the infrared receiver we discussed and will also have to double check on the available PWM channels for the motor control.
  13. Most pager motors I've seen where 3V ones. Maybe you could hook them up on a 3V coin cell and see if they move we can determine if that voltage would work. As for the schematic: U9 is the microcontroller board, the "brains" of the whole thing Q1 is basically a switch that can drive enough current to drive the motors (the "muscles" if you will) P1 is the LED driver IC1 is a voltage converter that "produces" the 3V required by the motors from the 6V voltage the 6V is provided 4 x AA batteries
  14. Here is a first draft schematic of what the control electronics might look like for the 8 engines (4 pairs) and up to 12 LEDs: https://easyeda.com/Armored76/tu-144-attiny85 It is using the smaller ATTiny85 microcontroller using all of it 6 available ports. Furthermore, the components are all available as breakout boards, small PCBs with components soldered on them so, you'd only need to connect these boards and write the software to control them. It is only a fun exercise to me so, do not feel obliged to use or even comment on it
  15. Do you have the electrical motors already? If so, what are the specs (voltage and current)? It is important since there are 3V and 5V motors with different current requirements.
  16. Sounds like a great plan! I guess the engine pairs will always run synchronously, at the same speed? If so, we could connect two of them in parallel to the same control channel and only use 4 channels for this. How many lights (LEDs), if any are you planning to add?
  17. Actually, infrared receivers can also be used instead of the Bluetooth ones without that much more overhead. In case you give each of your models a different address, you can control each model with a different group of keys on the same remote. It's all doable in software. Have a look at this article for some great basics of the infrared communication: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/ir-communication Concerning the motors, these can also be controlled the same way but in this case an external circuitry is a must if you want them controlled by a microcontroller as these can usually nly deliver around 20mA while even mini motors require around 60mA. Here is a great article about controlling DC motors: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-lesson-13-dc-motors/overview In case you have a list of lights and motors you'd like to control, we can try and set up a project here, if you wish. PS: Is the TU-114 the Welsh Models kit? It looks... daunting
  18. You already have more under your belt build-wise then I do, then I only made a Warhammer Dunecrawler with LEDs so far and it didn't turn out that great, to be honest. The setup is really only limited by the space you have in the model. I think most airliners offer generous space in the main body, tough. For more complex things like synchronized blinking patterns and timed sequences you will a microcontroller, a very simple processor, if you will. This can deal with different inputs and can control different outputs. One example would be such a microcontroller hooked up with a Bluetooth module that controls an LED driver. With the right software (to be developed to your own requirements) ,this may allow the control of the model lights (and propellers if you'd like) from a smartphone. A TV remote is also doable but there are slight differences between remote makers which use different codes for the same key, surprisingly making this the more complex solution. The best about all this is that a lot of modules are readily available. There are boards with microcontrollers for really low prices (~5 GBP), Bluetooth modules, LED drivers, etc which "only" need to be connected to each other. As for the software, there are also ready made pieces (libraries) and a huge user base to help you get started. As with everything, this needs some study and work at the beginning but so does everything in life Here a few examples: my favourite microcontroller board is the Arduino Pro Micro but the AtTiny85 mentioned by Will above is a nice alternative, too and even smaller I don't have hands-on experience with it but, this seems to be a nice Bluetooth board: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1697 these boards can drive 16 or 24 LEDs or LED groups: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1455 and https://www.adafruit.com/product/1429 Check the prices for all of the above on Ebay as the boards can be had for really cheap if imported from China. There is sure a lot more under the hood but this should give you a first idea of what is possible. It might seem overwhelming but it's not that bad Let me know in case you need extra details about any of the above! Cristian
  19. @busnproplinerfan That's how it often goes, unfortunately Was that any different with the first kits you bought? Have you checked for accuracy, buildability, etc before cashing out for them? I sure did not However, it is no rocket science and with somebody around to ask and guide, it is certainly something everyone can get a handle on. Not everybody is interested in the physics behind LED or the inner structure of a control unit but most of us can build or use a circuit, that I'm sure of. It is about assembling small parts in the right order and with the right orientation (polarity)... does that sound familiar? Here is an excellent article about LEDs to start with: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/light-emitting-diodes-leds When buying LEDs probably the most important things to look at are color and size. There are 10mm, 5mm, 3mm and 1.8mm packages that have wires included. If these are still too large (and for most models, they ARE too large!), look into the SMD or SMT LEDs. Here you can go as small as 0.4 x0.2mm (so called 0402 (metric) or 01005 (imperial) packages). Personally, I think anything smaller than 1.6x0.8mm (so called 1608 (metric) or 0603 (imperial) packaging) is very hard to solder so, in case you need any of these let the pros do it and buy LEDs that have soldered wires. Ebay sellers offer these rather often but check the reviews to make sure the quality is right. In case you decide to solder your own wires, there are some great Youtube videos to show you how. Grab a package of 100 pieces, some 0.2mm magnet wire, a ceramic tile some double-sided tape solder (or even better, solder paste) and a temperature-regulated soldering station and have a go at it. This is not rocket science either but lead to some burnt table tops, not to speak about fingers and other body parts. Here is a great video about soldering magnet wires to SMD LEDs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW-IQ2-0jBg This should get you started but let me know in case you are interested in other aspects! Cheers, Cristian
  20. Thank you so much, Will! That's genius and simple at the same time I was thinking along a more complicated "framework" that would accept start and end points for an LED intensity (read: PWM duty factor) or color (read: RGB channel values) plus a transition function like a PT1 delay to go from to the other. Additionally, the noise would be a random adder with a maximum value being a percent of the current value, for instance. But your approach is much simpler and delivers exceptional results, as seen in the video above Thanks again for taking the time to share this! I wish I could give your post more than one "Thanks". Cheers, Cristian
  21. I must agree with, Rich. The tracks are sitting very nicely.
  22. All fair, @Niall! No need to invest time in down-scaling, I'll use the re-scaled 1/35 version from above then. Thank you!
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