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Konrad Popławski

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Everything posted by Konrad Popławski

  1. Can You share us more tips about damaged concrete? Its made of styrene plates? gypsum? I really like the way it turned out.
  2. Hello, He is a "part two" about prototype circuit. Arduino as all other things has some limitations. First of them in the number of pins (outputs) with PWM signal control function (only 6 in Arduino nano). PWM signal gives You the ability to smoothly change led light. Another problem is maximum current each pin can handle - this one particularly limits using one pin to one led (can’t use parallel led connection). Other that that I need some pins for other functions like communicating with IR module, music players, buttons etc. As You see I would end up with control about ~ 10 standard led diodes and only few of them with PWM signal. The solution is to use NEOPIXEL diodes. They look very similar to standard RGB diode. They even glow like a standard diodes. The good thing is that I can use only 1 Arduino pin to control literally hundret's of them. Here You can see the comparison between different types of led strips (the black one are neopixel the white is standard RGB). Of course I could find more packed RBG strip – it isn’t a problem. Neopixel leds are programable diodes. I can easly create almost endless amount of effects. Check this side – this will give You the idea: https://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/arduino/adruino-led-strip-effects/ The three bulb diodes are also neopixel and they act here in the same ways as they do in the led stip. I will definitely use it with fiber optics. The OLED display is also nice. I did use it for example to calibrate desired RGB color. In the center You can see the electromagnetic switch. This will help me to on/off multiple standard leds at once. I need some standard leds because NEOPIXEL are quite large. I must admit that I was able to work with 0.2x0.4 mm size SMD led. In the picture below on the left side You can see the big Yellow device. Very handy thing. It ensures adjustable and stable current voltage. I can rise or down Voltage using a screwdriver. In addition I can monitorSpeaking about the remote control here is the list of used commands: on the go the whole power consumption by my testing board. In the center of this picture You can see another Voltage adjustment device. This one ups the voltage for arduino from 5V to 8/9 or 12 (as you need). You can also spot the IR module with gives me the ability to use any remote control I like. Speaking about the remote control here is the list of used commands: Later I do plan to change remote controller to a bit more advanced/ better looking. this one for testing purposes is more than enough. The only problem I discovered so far is the warring message after compiling the test program. Luckily I did not spot any problems so far. The point is the current version of the program is far from final. I plan to program and use much more. The good thing is don’t need some of the already used functions in the final version - that means some memory savings. In the end I decided to split the tasks and use multiple Arduinos combined together. Doesn’t it sounds familiar? There are three on-board computers installed in the Millennium Falcon, and a lot of the trouble comes from the exclusive arguing of these units. So here is the basic concept: 1) Arduino for sound system control. 2) Arduino for “in ship” light control. 3) Arduino for ambient light. I would like this project to be something more than ordinary: build it and let it dust. Frankly speaking I hate to expose my models to dust and sun light. It simply ruins all the effort You put in. That is why I will build special closed dome for my model. It will be used as a lamp or a bluetooth music player. And this is my next task. I need to complete it before I will start painting the ship. And I have almost forgot – here is the arduino code for the test board I have presented to you: https://www.easypaste.org/file/GpYtc9Kn/MF.0010.with.display.txt?lang=pl
  3. Hi, As I suggested in the last post recently I did focused on prototyping my testing circuit. I have seen so many great ideas people are creating with simple electronics. I really admire this and decided to use some cleaver ideas in my project. The problem is I do lack of required knowledge in this area. (at least at the beginning). If you really want to learn the limitations are only temporary. With the power of internet and help of friendly people it is possible to understand everything that at the beginning looked super complicated. The heart of the system is Arduino Nano – a tiny computer. Its far less powerful then even oldest PC I have seen but somehow strong enough to do simple dedicated for example calculations for smooth led blinks sequences. Here in the official side You can see the specification of original unit (mine is a Chinese copy but is as good as original unit because its made of same components): http://store.arduino.cc/products/arduino-nano It is very important to know your component limitation otherwise You can easly damage it and turn them into garbage. DFPlayer Pro. Here You can read more about it: https://wiki.dfrobot.com/DFPlayer_PRO_SKU_DFR0768 It has really tiny dimensions (23mm x 24.5mm) nevertheless it works as full scale music player that You can control with advanced commands. In the photo above You can see the pair of speakers I have reclaimed from a brocken LCD monitor. For a start it was ok – it enabled me to check all intersting functions with my DFplayer. As You may expect from the begging the sound quality wasn’t at lest close to high-end. At least it wasn’t good enouth for a kind of demanding person I am 😊. Later I switched to better speakers made from Samsung (HT-C453 - central speakers being a part of a budget home sound system). I was able to get two pairs of them in good price ~2 euro a piece (due to postoffice error – but that is another story). To ensure good electric connection between components I have made some custom cables ( You can see some of them in the photo above) Here I need to recommend my soldering station. It really does the job and I love its small pointed tip - erfect for soldering tinny SMD componets. Creating custom cables required some special components – here You can see box full of different connectors and pins joints (together with vary handy pin crimpers) It is wise to take care about health If you do spend some time on soldering. From time to time after some soldering sessions I felt a bit dizzy – the cause was the smoke from solder mixed with chemicals designed to make soldering easier. The problem seem to disappear anther installing this simple 3D printed box holding inside a computer cooling fan wrapped with carbon filter. The fan is quite noisy but in other hand quite powerful – which s crucial here. Let’s have a look at the finished board: Here is a short demo video. I did it with my phone as all other photos. The sound quality is much limited to my phone buildin microphone. The same goes to led colors – the look pale to me and so much different when in reality. In the next post I will tell You more about spcefications of my circut and special leds I have used (neopixel). I will also post a source code or anyone who want to build a similar toy. Thank you for Your attention.
  4. Ink markesrs can be easly removed with isopropanol alkochol. But use a good quality one like 99,9% from Kryptontek, . Good IPA You can easly obtain it Poland: https://allegro.pl/oferta/alkohol-izopropylowy-izopropanol-ipa-1000-ml-99-9-9276450430 . Then steal some cotton pads from whife makeup stuff 🥸 adsn use it. In your case it will probably remove some of the primer (optimal was using it before priming). I strongly sugest give it a try. One more thing: priming is good it shows all imperfections as it should do before painting. Now you can spot all mistakes and fix tem. All is fine - it is a natural proces. Next time use a very thin (far from complete covarage) citadel wargaming primer. Its super durable (You know wargaming miniatures must be protected well - all that constant finger touching and accidental falls on the floor ). And then Your final primer - it will adhere to surface much better. Last thing - try using darker tone of the primer thirst - get benefits from preashading mr surfacer 1500 is my favorite finish primer (yes i use preprimers and then finishing primers). You MUST use dedicated thiner with retarder (already inside it): mr leveling thinner. Aceton is not a good option here. You need nitrocellulose solvent. Belive me it makes a diffrence.
  5. Happy New Year fellow modelers !!! I did some progress with engine light box, but today I would like to show something else - the engine grill. Here is a frame from star wars movie movie - my reference. According to: https://www.shapeways.com/product/A3QAKA2SP/falcon-se-engine-coarse-grille-1-144?optionId=62270022&li=marketplace There have been several different Falcon engine designs over the years. Your choices basically boil down to: 1) A blank white plastic wall. The OT models had simple white acrylic sheets over the back, producing a wall of light when lit. You never got to see the engine area powered off, so we have no idea what the engines were supposed to look like. 2) A finely-spaced backlit grid with no internal engine details. For the SE film, John Knoll and his team designed a finely spaced rectilinear grid for the back end. It featured a simple glow of light, going from red to blue to white as the ship took off. It was never shown powered off, so the internals are not known. 3) A finely spaced grid with internal eggcrate engine ports. When Japan's Fine Molds released a 1/72 Falcon kit in the mid 2000s, they supposedly asked ILM what the engines looked like when off. ILM's answer was to design a boxlike structure to sit behind the SE's narrow grid. This had a double row of rounded-rectangular holes, like an eggcrate, through which magic Falcon energy could shine. 4) A widely-spaced backlit grid with curved engine ports. The TFA Falcon introduced two new engine continuity problems. The CGI version of the ship has an engine grid - but with much wider spacing than the SE Falcon's! Behind this new grid was a complex curved box and rod structure, sort of like a blocky venturi nozzle for an imaginary energy jet system. 5) TFA curved engine ports; no grid. The physical TFA Falcon set (as seen on Greenham Common) appears to have the CGI model's internal engine structure but without the external grid, which makes no sense and is a strange continuity problem. The physical replica model on display at the Launch Bay exhibition looks like this as well. As I said before I am not interested in making replica of specific version of millenium falcon. I just want to do something that is nice and interesting. I still believe that anything is better then plain blank strip therefore the a option 1) is out. I will stick with option 5) as it seems to be more or les similar to the one from the movie and what is more important it looks nice to me. In shapeways you can order many different engine grill versions to match with the desired version of the ship. I am sure that 3D printed parts will be unmatched in case of dimetions and placment accuracy.am sure that 3D printed parts will be unmathed in case of dmetion accuracy. However, there is a problem. Even these 3d printed parts needs further modifications to fit them in the Bandai structure, So basically there is a lot work to do despite spending a significant money - not good. Last but not least I am a bit worried about the smoothness of the pinted parts. This part seems to be very fragile and I am not sure if it would survive any additional sanding. Here You can see how the original Bandai engine grill looks like: To me it just looks plain and boring. What is more it’s so crude and thick that it blocks much of light. I decided to do my own version with Bandai parts basis but referring to shapeways guide pictures. Extreme caution and sharp tools are much advised. Besides, You need to plan carefully your work. The whole proses will concentrate on heavy modifying parts: F/10 and 2x F/14. First step was to drill holes for new slimmer vertical ribs. I need to do it at the begginning as the part seems to be at least a bit more solid and more willing to forgive any excess pressure. In addition I need to be very precise. Holes must be drilled at proper angle and distance from edge and between themselves. Any intolerance will result in visible error later. Next I narrowed a bit remaining ribs. I need something to hold my new grid. I decided to once again use hypodermic needles. I used various sizes: · 0.9 for the rib joints · 0.6 for main horizontal ribs · 0.3 for horizontal joining ribs · 0.45 for vertical ribs Sorry for blured image - I did not checked my phone after taking this photos: Later I removed ~60% of ribs to open engine chamber a bit more. Now the fun part - the rib joints. They need to be very short and ofcourse in the much similar size. But making them is a one problem second is attaching them to plastic. This time I used Locite super glue. To fully secure metal horizontal joints in their position I used thin styrene strips with a bit of spare plastic bits - again any mistakes in positioning those joins will result in visible errors in the end. Last step was to bend vertical ribs and therefore glue a grid with metal ribs and epoxy glue - this really tightened the whole structure. As I try to do my best i wasn’t able to prevent errors and some of the plastic ribs broked. I was able to fix it with styrene bits and some plastic putty. As You may see from below pictures i have glued in parts: F/1, 8, 9 and E1/10, 15. Here You have the final result: I do believe that with my own light box I will achieve even stronger light beam. On the picture below, the lamp is quite far from the model and its light is still a bit blocked by the interior parts. Probably after priming the engine grill I will do some further corrections and sanding, but generally speaking I would call it done at the moment. I am happy that once again I have managed to sustain the original Bandai glue free mounting system and I can remove my engine grill any time. That is all for now. Next I will concentrate on electric circuit and pcb boards. I need it to start some real light tests.
  6. Hello! Thank You Corsairfoxfouruncle. I have found retailer who sells all sort of screws and nuts. Here I present have comprehensive table that shows standard dimensions of nuts: Here I used some of the purcheased standard M1.6 screws and nuts: Anyway, I should get beck to may project. Last, time I mentioned that I would be working on engine compartment. If you look carefully on the image below You probably could notice the dust spots. Yes, my millennium falcon spent some time on the shelf. Apart from that, I had some tough time trying to figure out how to do the engine light box. I took serevel atempts to build the engine light box but none of them satisfied my taste. I need something reliable, tough, able to be dismounted Finally, I got the idea, quite complexed yet I do believe interesting. Again I have used the PCB laminate. Here You see the lower hull part after necessary conversions. First of all I needed to level the surface. On the corners I have installed M2 nuts to ensure the mounting of the light box. To increase the strength of the structure I used some PCB laminate parts in various thicknesses and shapes. The work was done in 2 steps: a) securing the positioning of the part with the epoxy glue, b) sealing any left gaps with the milliput. The joint pipes were reinforced with epoxy glue. Any imperfecions and complex white "shelf" for blue transparent cover were casted from milliput super fine. I have spent some long hours carving the milliput and sanding the surface before I said to myself : "enough". Probably just, before priming the inner section of the ship I will clean it a bit more - but is not very relevant, as it will not be visible after all. Here You see the main parts of the engine light box (inner sait view): and the outer sit view: Finally You can see the output: The parts (converted lower hull and engine light box) are fitted well - probably the screws and nuts are not necessary but I do feel safer with them. That is all for now. Now As I do have the base concept it is much easier for me to continue with the engine light box. Thank You for your atention.
  7. Hi, I do believe that this type of paint, although very cool, doesn’t fit to this fable theme. I do believe it will be nice in some cyberpunk character but not here. The main objective of least panting session was to push the contrast higher and add this real pain in my bottom back wing borders. I have spent on them some really long hours and probably will spent more later. As I see the miniature in reality its ok, but here on some big resolution photos there are some nasty grains that needs attention. In other hand, there is not much to worry; I know how to fix it easily. When they fully dry I will sand them a bit. Any way here are some progress photos: Generally, I would consider this wing as a good base for nest step – oils. They are surely some areas that need fixes before that– especially those close to the back of the fairy. I am still not satisfied with lights. Probable will push them a bit more with some subtle yellow tint later – with oils. The black borders need highlighting as well – but not too much.
  8. Thank You! Some reference photos - my inspiration: As promised, I have started the wings. I will post below some pictures. I used aero and placed some base tones. It should give You the general idea where I am and where I’m going to. I definitely need to push the contrast more - especially top lights and deepest shadows.
  9. Priming is done. First black cote was done with Citadel black can primer. I do believe it’s the best primer on a market - it really does the job. Besides of that it was the final chance to spot any surface problems. Next, I added grey tones and lights to determine the master light sources. This will help me in the future to better control lights and shadows In the IKEA I have spotted a nice glass dome - I believed I will use it in this project. Unfortunately its too small. I barely holds only fairy not mentioning about the flower. Yet I will use it as an anti-dust shield between the painting sessions. The dome looks wet – sorry for that it is from exterior side. I wanted to clean it a bit but it was not fully dry before I took this picture. A picture of primers and paints used: To finish this step I used some cotton swabs to smooth the surface – I do think it’s crucial for a good result later. As I said before the primers are very good and I was not afraid to use some force here. The colors of the primers do not need to be sprayed super solid. The little micro black dots You can see (here and there) will even be beneficial later. The skin tone never is homogenic. I will surely often get back to these pictures later. Next task - some base colors on the wings.
  10. Nice work. You really pay attention to details. To get on higher level You need to use more variety of shades - not only mid tones (shadows, lights) this will add more life. I know its not easy and very time consuming but i belive its worth trying.
  11. Ok the fairy has been assembled. You can spot some filthy spots. It’s the residue of a little painting – I would like to check some of the uncertain areas before real painting, It will be easly fixed before priming. This step is crucial if You want to have good resoult in the end. There is nothing worse to spot a gap or some kind of uneven area after hours on painting. It is much better to do it at the beginning – now its only a little cost I have added a small ring made with solder wire on her left hand finger. So one again I did some fine sanding on spots that required it and I wasn’t able to detect them earlier. After that the fairy toke a bath – an ultrasonic bath 😜 Next spet is obvious - priming.
  12. Ok I am after the mold line cleaning. The actual pile of waste resine was probably much bigger since i was sandind and scrybing a lot. After couple of hours I recived this: Very soon after this, I started to glue the parts with epoxy glue. I found that it’s good to add a bit of paint to the epoxy. This way You can actually see it and don’t miss any unwanted spot. It is simply much easier to control it. Any epoxy excess can be easily removed with isopropyl alcohol. I used this epoxy-paint mix to fill up all the mold cavities. I think that it’s a good solution since the epoxy dries super smooth and rock solid. I have pinned almost all parts: The process of gluing was quite complicated, very time consuming since my epoxy dries in 12H, and I cannot speed up the process with backing In next post I will show You the fairly 100% glues and ready for priming.
  13. Hello It is my second project at Britmodeler forum. I would still work on my Millennium Falcon, Its very demanding project, as I want to heavy modify the vanilla Bandai kit. This miniature seems to fit a bit more to my usual working environment. Here I plan to focus on painting since the very beginning. The miniature is 90 mm (1/18 scale) and is distributed by Aradia miniatures: https://aradiaminiatures.com/index.php?id_product=49&controller=product There were 2 significant problems that were preventing me for painting this miniature earlier. First was money. It does cost a little fortune (75 € + shipment). This one could be somehow overcamed as I really want to paint it. The second was avability and this one totally destroyed my plans. They offered the miniature in a limited edition – only 190 units. To add the spice I will stress that all of them were sold in just 44 hours. A couple of weeks ago when I was scrolling aliexpress I saw this miniature and was quite shocked. The Chinese wanted only 25% of the original product and were selling it with free worldwide shipping. The miniature seems to look pretty much the same as the original Aradia product. Even though I was quite sceptic, but the pictures taken by a real buyers convinced me to give it a shot. When I opened the package, I know (just from a fist glance) it will be a good product. Ofcorse there were many bad mold lines and other mold errors but after all, it was not as bad as I was previously expecting it to be. Probably those lucky sweethearts who bought the original product could benefit from a perfect casting. I simply had no choice and got down to work. Here You have some photos of the product before cleaning process: To sum up I would like to point that there were obviously some features of this bold that help the caster achieve a good result. · There aren’t many complex shapes. · The miniature is quite big –so details are asier to copy. · It was deviated in many pieces. Soon I will show You wchat i have managed to do after mold cleaning process.
  14. Hellow again. The project is not dead 😜 A quick announcement before I proceed. 1/144 scale is quite demanding. I upgraded my workbench light sources (I have replaced old ones with new more efficient + new lamps that allow me to focus the light better). The camera is still the same (smartphone - Samsung galaxy note 4). I have decided to double the resolution of my pictures and hope You will see the difference. The topic of this update is the light box for the corridor joining the gun ports. I have spent quite o lot of time on planning how to do that. As You know I like to move on and off parts to test if I can or can’t do something. This requires me to build in a smart way – modules need to be durable and I need to be sure they will not fall apart in future when space inside a ship will be fulfilled with other stuff. I decided to stick with the PCB laminate. I would like to benefit from its advantages: · It’s cheap · It’s very durable (I use 1,5 mm and its super stiff) · It can be flexible and easy to fold (thin ones like 0,15 mm) · It comes with the variety of thickness · It always perfectly blocks the light (as long as you maintain the coper foil on it) So here are the pictures. For a start a quick glace of some initial parts The backing epoxy glued parts speeded the process in some way. Due to the use of hard plastic clamps I was forced to limit the temperature to 75C and the baking time was increased to 1H. Then I was tiding my basement I have found some old non digital camera. It was a total garbage – absolute 0 value. Yet the camera body was packed with tinny screws which I found valuable to my project. To be honest I don’t even know where to get new such screws. Here You can see the light module production. Lots of holes. Some of them will be just a widow while the others will help to mount it to the light box. The threads ware made with one of the screws. It was important to drill a big enough hole (but not to big) and then using some force and a tiny screwdriver make the screw perform the thread. Some of the screws need to shortened but it wasn't a problem at all to me. I have used the same process which I did explained earlier to get rid of unwanted coper foil areas. It was necessary as I don’t want to have any short circuit in my electric circuit. Resistors will be soldered into the wires. At this point I did not add any resistors. I will decide which use later. I want this light modules to be simple and easy to replace in case of failure. The light source are little SMD LED diodes: It’s hard to show You how bright they are. In te room was a lot of ambiet light. In reality the seems to be much brighter. I have test run 2 of them at below its potential (2,9V). To increase the light efficiency I will paint lightbox interior in some chrome color. I use this small very handy power supply. I seems to be vary stable and alows You to precisely set voltage (every 0,01V). In addition to voltage settings You can esly see the demand (A), Below let me present you the finished light box with light modules. Aa You see I will use 3 leds to light up the corridir entrance and 1 led to simulete corridor light system. To combine this light box I need to modify my gun ports even more. There will be 2 screws that will hold this light box on the lower gun port. As you might spotted I did drill holes for a screwdriver in a light box. On endig I will show you both gun ports "armor" done: So this concludes this update. Next I will try to concetrate on the engine module.
  15. Wow I have found some more spare time (again today - sic!) So I decided to something qick - hull damage holes As usuall I would like to share with some reference pictures: Here You can see the vanila hull: First think was to locate the master holes: Next I started carwing and worked with details: In the and I recived this: I decided to close the holes with piece of styrene for a practical reason - in the end I need to paint the model and those gaps opened would look too werrind: I believe these are the heavy laser hits. Maybe falcon’s shields were down and blasts passed thorough it hitting the bare armor. Anyway, in my opinion the best way to achieve surface look melted is actually to... melt it. Moreover, as far I know thin cement is superb tool for this task. Therefore, after having carved the desired shape I carefully added cement to any uneven plastic particles. To emphasize the armor plates I carved the lines just near to the plates edges. To end up a process I have sanded the edges of the damaged plates with some fine abrasive sponges Here You can see all the tools I have been using too achieve this effect: As I study the reference photos, I see lot of characteristic damage spots. I will try to deal with them now. I will try to speed up a bit my build process. Stay tuned.
  16. Hello again, Holidays are always a good time :P. The day seems to be much longer and new ideas comes out a bit faster. I have decided to focus on the gun port light box and set myself a must have list while building it: 1) It must be super durable - I do a lot of planning and testing. I need to be sure I will not destroy any of my job before I will take a brush loaded with paint into my hand. 2) It must be able to light up literally all the holes - Some of the lights are located on the top edge of the gun port (literally next to window edge) and I really want to light them up nicely. 3) It must perfectly block any unwanted light leaks, - The more I was sanding soldered joits of Greenstrawberry photo etch plates the welds were becoming smother and smother. However, this obviously at some point must has turned against me - some of unnecessary light leaks appeared and whole structure seems to become very fragile. 4) It must solve the problem with optic fibers mounting, - I would like to use optic fibers with different blinking patterns just to add some spice. I need good and reliable mounting solution. 5) It must be small - the space inside the ship is limited and I do need to really plan it carefully. Having that all in my mind, I have invented the "armored" version of gun port. Using thin styrene shits i was able to craft small pattern parts. Next this patters were tranfered to the appropriate matrial - PCB laminate. I vave choose this material because I really wanted to stick it well to the gun port brass. To help myself positon parts well in place i have used epoxy. To increse the power of the epoxy and grały reducing the curing time I have baked parts in the kithcen stove: Where I could I added new solder welds: To help optic fibers rest in place gain I have used hypodermic needles and epoxy: for 0,25 mm optic fiber I have used 0,40 mm needels for 0,50 mm optic fiber I have used 0,90 mm needels Additional benefit of using these needles was the creation of interesting optic fiber socket that looks well and adds variety to the panels inside the gun port. I need to scrape off some of the matirial from (part E1/11 and A/15) to make a place for my reinforced gun port. The parts on the left side are already done so You can easy compare it with the undone parts on the right. The additional styrene parts served me as as a guide lines. In addition it nicely expanded the mounting surfaceo for my welded gunport. I have used thick PCB laminate to create the nice base for the gunner seat. I intend to add a tinny led diode to imitate the screen. To power it up I need to create a small module The process of removing unwanted copper can be divided into the following steps: 1) trim PCB laminate to the desired shape 2) use PCB marker to secure the part of copper foil You wish to stay on laminate 3) use sodium persulfate to remove any unwanted copper 4) rinse the part in water 5) add thin solder mask to reinforce the copper and help electricity to move through it. In addition later it will secure the copper from oxidation. I did not glued the lid – it just lays on the proper position for this photo to give you the idea how it will look. Next, I need to focus on the second gunport and create a light box module for the corridor between them.
  17. Thank you Andy for another masterpiece! I am so glad that you are sharing intresting build details and super quality pictures. When I will build mine slave 1 in 144 scale I will surely relly on this "manual" By the way what is your metod of aplying masking fluid? Do You use air brush for blowing air on brush bristles dipped with masking fluid?
  18. Thank You my friends. I have realized that I did not upload the pictures presenting the corridor mounted (for now temporally on some blue tack) into the ship hull: According to this source (I have used some pictures previously from here when I was presenting You quad cannons modification): http://millenniumfalcona.blogspot.com/2016/09/quad-laser-cannons.html both gunpits and a tube with a ladder in it would never fit inside the ship. And I must admit it’s true. Luckily thanks to green strawberry photo eched gun ports chambers I managed to save some space and my corridor does not look too odd. Yes it it is truly too short, but I cannot help any more here. By the way Bandai included 1/144 scale statue (part A/23) which is very useful when it comes to scratch building parts in this scale. Anyway, thanks for Your attention and kind words. I hope to keep making interesting content to you and I will appreciate any critic now or in future. It’s simply better to hear it now rather than after some real painting session.
  19. Hello again. For a start would like to apologize for my slow pace of work. I am the kind of person that is willing to spend a lot of time on planning before acting. In addition I cannot devote as much time for this build as I would like to, but I will try to do all in my power to keep it going. I do not want to do any compromise between quality and speed of this build. This build is just for me so I don’t need to hurry up. Last time I have suggested that I will do some optic fiber wiring. But I need to change my plans and will focus on the corridor between gun ports. As You will see below the space between the gun ports is quite significant and I defiantly need to do something about it. So my plan was to create something similar to that I know from the movie. Simple styrene tube for my taste is not enough 😜. He are some reference photos: I did some 3D visualization of what I am going to achieve. It was obvious that I will not be able to do it 100% accurate in this scale. So I could not avoid some simplifications. In addition I have made some changes consciously predicting benefits of it in the and. For example I would like to have more light coming though it to me the ship more interesting. In my opinion in this way It will give some interesting illusion that the is more inside the ship. AS I don’t have 3D printer and I am quite skeptic of its quality at budget bucket I decide to literally manually print it layer by layer. I decided to use 0.5mm styrene shits. I had borrowed a super handy tool for this process. It’s extremely useful for this kind of work. I cannot afford this but If You are please consider buying it ( I does cost about 5x this Bandai kit). It quickly produces vast amount of rings of dimmetion you desire. I needed 2 kinds of rings: outer diameter 14 mm and inner diameter 8 mm outer diameter 14 mm and inner diameter 10 mm To make fine quarter rings I simply followed the markings on the cutting mat. The rings were glued with tamyia extra thin cement. End the end (after some fine sanding and sharp blade scraping) i received this: Next I will focus on creating the ladder and the light module for this corridor and a part of gun ports. It must block the light well and be smart enough to fit well in place without a glue at this stage of my build.
  20. Quad laser gimbal fork... here is the way I did it: 1) First I needed and reliable core. I have used some hypodermic needles with various sizes. They are good for this task as they are hard and can be bended in same time. They are made with stainless steel and are super cheap. I did glue them with epoxy in order to achieve strong bond. The only drawback is a time to cure the epoxy minimum 12H (https://www.uhu.com/en/product-page/epoxy-ultra-strong/4453). 2) I have cut into two pieces part F/6 and carved the corridor needed for my core to move in it. 3) Later I selled the core with some tinny piece of frame to keep my core in a place. the key is to reduce as much any unwanted slack. I have also added oval styrene cap (3mm diameter). The metal core at the back has 2 tasks: a) not to let main core to move outside provided corridor. b) secure rotation movement of the whole quad canon. 4) As You can see here I have glued in my core with epoxy. The another small oval styrene cap (2,5 mm diameter) has very important task. It holds the epoxy in a place and gives nice and even surface for a rotation. For additional reinforcement i have also added super this styrene plate to be sure that the core will not move out form a desired pace. Its a good idea to keep the part downside to let the gravity hold the epoxy in its place. After 18H I have decided to check my gimbal fork. It works as it should to . Next I will focuse on optic fibes fastening to the photo edged gun port chamber.
  21. I am glad You like it. - it really keps me motivated. After cutting gun ports window frames I decided to focus on quad canons. Bandai did not give You any movement options to it. I just simply do not like it since I want to put Finn in the gun port - it would look to weird as the guns aims only in a forward direction. Basisly he will only use the force to aim as he can’t even see what he is firing to. . 🤪 This is a simple representation of Millenium falcon quad canon combat specifications: Adding a rotation will drastically improve the ability to look inside the gun port. Therefore, it is not only the matter to make the model look more realistic but it really adds some cool the display options. Speaking of rotation here is a nice render, which perfectly shows the movement logic of quad cannons: The quad laser cannon is mounted on a gimbal fork which allows it to rotate in almost every direction. My plan is to: 1) to add a bit side-to-side movement - I know its not the way the gun moves, but on the other way it will be quite handy when You want to inspect the interior of the gun port. Lets treat it as a bonus 2) to add up-adn down movment patter, 3) to add a rottation. No matter how good You are or how good tools You have You will definitely face some unwanted material bending or material lose. Just don’t panic I know it does look bad even the quality f the above picture is bad (sorry I did not checked it before I moved on). I reshaped it a bit (You need to put something inside this "Y" otherwise, it will surely brake). In the jar, there is a mixture of glue and cutter frame pieces. This a perfect putty. Once it dry it will perfectly merge with the part. I will be the same color, and what is here the most important it will be hard as the original part. The only drawback is a time it needs lots of time to cure - at least 12h I think. Besides its much better to add it in a couple of times rather than do it in a one go (each time sanding it if its necessary). Here You can see the result after sanding and scribbling with the knife: I did also drilled the barrel outlets. Yes I know, the original quad lasers look different but to be honest I prefer this – at least for now. Maybe later I will modify it. So that is how the quad lasers gun looks at this point of modification: By the way – I did added to the first post remaining photos off frame “F” and 2 main hull parts. In the kit box there are two identical frames “F” if You like to know. So first 2 points of my list has been covered, Now comes the hard task - the gimbal fork...
  22. Hello again. I continue my journey with the gun ports. I have finished soldering one of the gun ports. Still I need to add to it some details like wires and other equipment. Here you see the size comparison between the original part (F/12) and photoetched greenstrawberry: I really like the Bandai gun ports mounting solution. It really helps when you can dismount parts and mount them again quickly without using glue. Modifying part F12 enabled me to keep using this mounting system: I could not resist myself to check how the gun port interior will look after installing the clear glass window, ad to be honest I was disappointed at this time. The clear glass (part A/15) is sooo thick. I understand it’s for safety reasons – gunner needs protection against TIE fighter laser shotsJ. Unfortunately, it does not come along with visibility…. Its apitty that Bandai did not included solid gun port windwo frame. I need to try to do something with it. Here you see me in the middle of the process: And here is the final result: I will need to do some fine sanding just before painting but I do thing that it looks so much better now. Friend of mine is working on Bandai TIE fighter 1/72 and he borrowed me frontal windows frame. If you turn this part over you can get something that is quite similar to part I luck. I was even considering coping it using silicon and epoxy method. Since I do not have experience with coping such complex shapes and what is more important here proper equipment (like vacuum chamber) I decided not to do it. Even If I successfully copied these parts, I still need to heavily modify them, as they do not fit to the mounting. I addition to all of that I do not like octagonal shape of the cantered window. It simply does not much with oval window from cockpit window frame. Here You can see tools I have been using to cut off the windows: I even created some really handy tool that helped me a lot when i was drilling holes: Finally, I wanted to show you how it would look after installation: \ I would like to add windows to my frame. I would for example use TAMIYA 70126 Plastic Plate 0.2 mm. Does any of you know with glue should I use to stick it to the frame? I am pretty sure the standard extra tin cement won’t help here (it will hit the transparency). In addition, I look for strong glue. Now I need to finish soldering the other gun ports and prepare second window frame.
  23. Hi another small update. I found some spare time after Christmas. I have received my printed decals. I am very happy with the print quality. It’s much better than I have expected - a way better than my testing prints. Unfortunately, I did a couple of very basic mistakes. For example, I left some white filled shapes on places where they should be transparent. I should change the background color form white to let’s say green before saving a file. Then I would immediately spot the mistake. Now I have to pay for my rush and print order another print. Since I cannot continue with the cockpit without proper decals, I have decided to start working with gun ports. Here you have some parts soldered together. I plan not to solder all brass parts together before painting. I believe it will help me to get better access and operate with the brush more easily. As you may see, I am in the middle of adding small details to photoetch parts. I have enhanced the gun port entrance with wire and brass quarter rings. Probably later, I will add some greenstuff to make the entrance edges a bit softer. I am also adding SMD capacitors or other small bits to make the gun port shape look a bit more interesting.
  24. I am back to build process. Sorry for such long break. I was a rough time for me and modeling wasn’t my priority. It took me a while to get down to Adobe illustrator. I need time to get to know better this program. First, I tried to replicate 100% accurate Millenium Falcon cockpit interior textures. Soon I badly found out that its waste of time. In 144 scale there is not much too look at. So Finally, I decided to focus on replicating and improving Greenstrawberry stickers. I did also some some decals for gunports. After some test printing on good class office printer I did some triks and twics (mainly focused further on enlarging details) I ended up with this: Now I will need to order printing water decals for my project. Printing gray is a thought topic so I decided to make grey parts of these decals transparent. I will prime and paint cockpit parts in gray before adding printed decals. I hope will help me to achieve good and natural look. Here is a picture with decals with removed gray color panels: I will share with you the AI file. Maybe some of You like to use it. Please fell free or change it to your needs. I hope You will do it even better. https://www.easypaste.org/file/qk0Bmv3r/MF.decals.144.Bandai.ai?lang=pl When I will receive my printed decals, I will show You how they look like. So next task is to prime and paint the remaining cockpit parts. Before I put it together, I need also to install some tinny optic fibers.
  25. Thank You Stephen! I have gathered a lot of reference material but maybe You will surprise me. So if You have something interesting please send it.
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