I have an old, disused light fixture that had some glass crystals... 1950s tech... retro 1920s look when it was installed new. It is sitting around in a bag someplace. Hmmm.
That sounds like a pretty good starting point to get some light up gems onto the back of a Bastilodon...
I don't even have a Bastilodon model in my possession but because of how cool this sounds, I'm really interested in trying to get a working model myself. I wanna see it on the table and watch people's mouths drop when I light it up haha. That will definitely be a great attention grabbing piece on the table once it's done Jamjar, definitely an eye catcher.
Oh wow, those yellow gems look great You should use them for your new/existing Bastiladon. If you are offering them - I couldn't possibly take them. Otherwise you should restore that retro light, it would look pretty good Awesome to here that I guess all you need too is a Bastiladon, fibre optics (from a light up card or somewhere), and some electrical bits.
Those were the first thing that came to mind. I bet they're the type you can pick up at a craft store or something for like fish tanks or whatnot. Haha looks like I've got some tinkering to do once I get a Bastilodon. It's just a matter of trying to make it easy to access the battery for replacement, turn the model on or off.
95% of my Lizards are rescued of ebay, I won a Bastilodon but Im seriously tempted to buy a new one and do this project, getting back into the painting and converting minis is an old time love affair of mine, I hate painting regiments but love the single character aspect of the hobbie and this has really set my heart on fire. Jamjar you are a slann priest and I'm your loyal Skink.
JamJar's lesson on Fibre Optics For those interested in how fibre optics work, and how they are to be used in my model, here's some helpful info. (Correct me if I'm a bit off with the details) So if we go back to our science classes we see an optical fibre is a strand like core of glass, plastic (or some odd-ball clear material), covered in a clear cladding of lower density. Depending on thickness, one fibre would look like a thin piece of wire, except the wire is sort of transparent and not as flexible. Here's an image of some lit up: Mine are probably the size of the smaller one^ What the heck are you on about JamJar, how come the light doesn't just come out of the fibre? Light bends when passing (at a non perpendicular angle) through one medium to another of difference density. Passing into a medium of a certain lower density at a some certain range of angles, the light will reflect back off the boundary, this is called 'total internal reflection'. Using this, if we have a dense fibre strand (core) covered in a specifically less dense cover (cladding), the light will actually bounce back rather than passing out of both clear materials. This is essentially an optical fibre, we can shine a light into one end and then the light continues to bounce in the inside through to the other end of the fibre. Like this: So, if we shine a light into one end it will bounce through the inside and come out the other end My Plan Thanks to MS Paint , I've put the Arc on the GW Bastiladon to show you guys: For the optical fibres to work, they would simply be placed so the ends are facing the LED, or just in contact and taped to it. How would you get an LED inside a crystal? My best bet would be to cut it in half and glue it back together with the LED inside. What are your thoughts? Fibre Optic Testing I've also fiddled around with the spare fibres to see if I can glue them together without the glue melting them or anything. Still work fine. Wrost case - they don't work, and we can't allow that! I'm also able to cut/trim them without stopping them working. They are also pretty bendy too, just as long as you don't bend them too much that they break otherwise the light escapes out of the break, then they're useless. Also thanks for all the kind words and ideas everyone. I can see you're all keen to see how this turns out
I thought the same and I would extend the wire down through a leg and under the base, then make a base that is high enough to house the battery compartment.
My thoughts would be instead of just cutting the gem in half, making a little dome shaped bevel or indentation where the LED would be and inserting it there. I think if you were to cut the gem in half and glue it back together, light would pour out from that location making a visible illuminated seam if you will, and I don't think it would look that aesthetically great. Now with installing the battery, if it's not completely glued together I think somehow if you made the top carapace removable (or cut out a small rectangle under the gem and it's housing to make it removable) and finding a way to mount the battery inside the body of the Bastilodon itself, that would be your best bet.
What about adding a small switch to the base so you can turn it on and off without having to open up the Bastilodon. That way you would only need to open up the big dino to change a dead battery.
Or you have the switch on it's underbelly or leg in a place that's easy to get to. What I was thinking was along the lines of opening it up just to change batteries.
My thought is how does having an LED inside a gray plastic Crystal help matters glow? TBH. You need a clear plastic crystal --or-- to hit it with LED light from the outside. Edit: Is Amazon an option? http://www.amazon.com/Small-Clear-Crystal-Like-Ornaments/dp/B004ED7H3M http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008CRV5TI/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?
How big is the original Gem? Is it about 20mm wide at its widest point? 30mm? How does it disassemble? I have been looking at pictures and even images of the sprues.. (for lack of the authentic model) ..but it is hard to be sure how big it is. @JamJar : too big? http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000QO1GQM/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
I'm assuming some kind of substitute opaque/transparent gem will be subbed in for the gray plastic one.
Ok where to start. A few more pics, sorry I didn't take enough. There's a little bit of a jump here, lots of decisions made using what I had at the time. At the time I was also in a mix of doing everything at once. Thanks for your comments, you guys are great! I haven't really checked the posts recently after my last one, but some of the suggestions are getting close to what I did. I decided to place to switch inside the tail by cutting a square hole, fitting the switch in and using green stuff to mould some of the scale back over the switch outer case. I've also only glued 2 side-reflection-panes on the engine, rather than the crystal holder, which I've scraped. What of the switch you may ask? Well I found a use for the optional tail scale: First I made a square indent in the scale to fit over the switch. Then carefully drilling through the scale into the switch, I was able to pin them together. Because the scale moves to turn the switch on & off, it was easy to see part of the switch under the scale. So I unpinned the scale and with the help of some more green stuff I extended it. It's able to move without noticing the switch, it's as if the switch were never there. Also there^ testing if the Arc piece fits into the engine (with some cut up spare parts and cutting away) with the optical fibres placed inside and through a hole in the Basty shell. Massive leap in progress here, I did manage to scavenge a couple of clear plastic crystals off someone but they're smaller than planned. They come pretty close to the suggestion by pendrake, but are a little pointier. PENDRAKE SAID: ↑ Edit: Is Amazon an option? http://www.amazon.com/Small-Clear-Crystal-Like-Ornaments/dp/B004ED7H3M To also answer your questions @pendrake the original crystal in about 15mm max wide. I did a test with one crystal by drilling into half of it, putting a 3mm yellow LED in it and connecting to 3v. The whole crystal lit up! Better than shining a light onto it. So the plan was to make that one the front crystal; and for the main crystal I would shine LEDs from the underside and rear like the drawing. In the pic the Solar Engine is just about ready to assemble having used a lot of cutting & gluing and trial & error to make sure the LEDs fit inside the parts. Left to right we've got: - LED for front crystal, and underneath main crystal (the black tube is heat shrink to stop light escaping out and under the Solar Engine) - Front section to hold small crystal (front LED goes through hole into front crystal) - LED to shine behind main crystal (to be placed inside Arc piece through hole in rear-mechanism-part-thing; why did I place it over there in the photo?) - Holder for main crystal (placed in centre of Engine for LED to shine through; made of a couple of plastic gears glued together) - The Solar Engine - The Arc (fibres have been glued to the 4 square tubes and then other ends all collected & cut flat to sit against LED that is also wrapped in heat shrink with them to hold them together; not sure if this needs another pic or diagram) - Main crystal (not as big as expected but the shining LED from the rear does line up with the side corner, which I think lights it better when positioned there) - Front crystal (not as pointy, buy hey, you'll see it light up soon) So when assembled it looks just like my diagram, but the LED in main crystal is pointing at rear of the crystal.
Wow. Just...wow. After you are all done with this, you need to make a detailed, step-by-step procedure on what to do in order and what supplies to get. I think that people would practically pay money for something like that! Its a great idea and awesome work-in-progress! I deserves a Spider-man!