No.
A long time ago, my wife bought me a model of Voyager from Star Trek. This has followed us through two house moves and two children (one now at University). I thought it was about time I actually made it.
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| Voyager - nice |
Instead of the usual paint it, glue it, paint it, display it I though I would try and do a bit more. One thing that I always wanted to do was use lights inside one of this type of model beacause:
a) it looks cool
b) do I need another reason?
So, first things first. The windows. On this model they're all there but filled in. The larger windows should, in theory be three separate panels but, for this model, I won't worry too much about that as I have a 'workaround' that might work. Every window needs to be drilled out and sanded to shape.
I tell you what, there's a lot of windows on Voyager...
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| Windows started.. |
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| Windows on this side finished |
After a few nights of drilling, trimming and sanding, all the windows had been cleared out.
Next thing, get some LEDs. In this case, eBay is my friend and I managed to get a batch of 50 super bright 3mm LEDs for about three quid. A bit of a wait for them to arrive from China but they're cheap and they work.
To see what affect they produce I hooked up three LEDs and powered them up inside one half of the main body of the ship. The result was, to say the least, disappointing. The lighting was very harsh and it was easy to see the LEDs. To get around this I took a sheet of thin plastic (similar to a laminating pouch) and sanded one side. Then I cut a couple of small pieces and stuck them to the inside with double sided tape. When the lights were switched on again I got a much more pleasing effect.
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| LEDs held on with Blu-tack |
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| Exterior view |
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| Another Exterior Shot |
With all this I was well on the way. I need to make sure that there are no light leaks when I glue the thing together and I also need to plan where exactly through the whole ship I will be putting the LEDs. Even though I have 50, that's not as many as you'd think.
I also need to consider what current these LEDs will draw when they're switched on. Assuming that each LED takes 20mA and there are 50 of them then the supply needs to be at least 1amp (say 1.5 for safety). I also need to consider what heat might be generated inside. Somewhere, I have a spare 2A USB power supply for a mobile phone which might do the job and provides 5V. More thought on this is required...
Also, what I would like to add is:
a) Flashing navigation lights
b) Blue nacelle lights on the engines
c) Red ramscoop lights at the front of the nacelles
d) A light for the main deflector
More next time!
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