[WIP] Mechanical Chain Base LED custom WIP 3

So I finally bought the remaining pieces of my chain base project.

These are all the add on parts from all the chain bases.

My plan was to make a display base for my 1/100 scale kits that I'm going to use specially for taking photos of my kits. With that I decided to make a 4x4x4 mechanical chain base which used:

1 x CB2

1 x CB3

1 x CB4

1 x CB5

2 x CB6

1 x CB7

1 x CB8

I've already wired one of the bases before but after putting everything together, I did not expect it to be that big.

Here it's show with a 1/144 FG Age 1 Gundam and a 1/100 MG Hazel Custom.

Also here's some perspective shots of the kits. I'm very satisfied with how the images turn out. Having a backdrop like this really looks better than just random stuff in my room. hopefully I can take better pics of my kits with this. 

For now the base looks plain plastic but I think some dry brushing would bring out the details and give it that realistic look. I'm not planning on fully painting this(yet) since this was originally just a minor project that I can work on in between the other projects. 

On the next update, I should at least finished putting lights on one side of the walls and maybe started on the dry brushing.

Read More

[WIP] HG Unicorn Gundam (Unicorn Mode) WIP 3

It's been 10 months since I last worked on this. I've put this project on hold for quite a few reasons. 

1.) This project required some painting to deal with the light bleeding and to make the kit look better.

2.) I didn't have the right size of LED I wanted to use.

3.) I haven't worked out a plan how to pace and wire the LED.

Obviously, there has been some improvements with this project hence the update.

After working on so many other kits, I think I've thought of a way how to light the kit. 

For the head part, I'm using 0603 SMD LEDs. These are white LEDs and I just painted them with clear paints to get the color I need. Here I used Tamiya clear green. The number of coats depend on how intense the required color.

The chest part was one of the easiest part to do since it just needed minimal cutting to make space inside. I used 3528 SMD LED here because the I need to light up a big bit of seam here. The consequence here would be the ugly light bleeding which would be fixed by painting.

Next thing I worked on would be one of the hardest parts of the project, the legs. I had to do multiple trials to get the appropriate LED positions to get the lighting I wanted.

So far the pieces look a bit dirty due to the black paints I put on the insides to deal with the light bleeding. This will still be cleaned up and painted. Hopefully by the next blog update I've finished wiring the whole kit so this project can proceed to the painting phase. I'm still unable to do paint sessions due to busy work-life stuff so I might have to commission the painting for this.

Read More

[WIP] HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] WIP 4

We're down to the home stretch with this project.

Now that  all sections of the kit has been wired, it's now time to put everything together.

I started first with the upper body. At this point, it's important to make sure there is enough wire allowance for the articulation. As usual I'm wiring everything in parallel. Combine all the positive wires together same as with the negative wires. Once that's done, I'll have just one pair of wires going out the abdomen area that will be used to connect the upper and lower bodies together.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pics during wiring of the lower body. But it's just the same principle with the upper body, Just combine all the positive wires together, same as with the negative wires. 

Since I'm using the smaller 0603 SMD LEDs, there isn't much light in the clear pieces but still enough to spread light evenly. I've also put connectors on 3 locations, 1 on each foot and another underneath the crotch area near the action base connector. That way I have options how to hide the connection to the power supply depending on the way I want to display it. 

Now I just need to do a proper photo shoot of this. same as with my other completed projects.

Read More

[RANDOM] Mechtalyer 2.0

I've finally decided to upgrade the blog.

The blog has a new face and a new domain. mechtalyer.com

I decided to have a simple layout, following gaijin-gunpla's site as a guide. I wanted the blog to focus on my WIP projects. Plain background and plain layout means less distractions.



Notice the new logo? Same with the design principle of the blog, I wanted the logo to be easily distinguishable. Simple and straightforward. Hopefully I can get someone to make custom decals that I can put in my kits.

Thanks for the continued support on the blog. I think that means you're learning something from the stuff I'm posting here. I'm still trying to put up more useful content and I'm planning on new ones. Hopefully I could do videos soon.

Thanks to Yan Birog of yanbirog.com for the layout, new logo, and overall assistance during the upgrade.

Aside from design works, she's also a blogger and a writer. Check her out to see her works and feel free to contact her if you think your site also needs some creative upgrade.

Read More

[WIP] HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] WIP 3

We're nearing the home stretch.

Continuing where I left off in the upper body, I proceed on working the chest area. Using the 0603 SMD LEDs were really helpful that now I can place LEDs in areas I was previously unable to. Now, lighting kits specially in 1/144 scale need less modding to fit the LEDs. Less mods means less plastic removed which equals more sturdy parts specially in the joints.

For the chest area, I used the back to back LEDs so that I could light up more areas of the chest pieces. Again, due to the size of the LEDs, aside from drilling the holes for passing the wires, no mods have been done on the parts. Previously I had to cut off as much plastic inside the chest to allow the LED to light as much area of the clear piece.

The shoulders were also quick and easy, I just glued an LED underneath the clear pieces.  

And that completes the pieces for the upper body.

For the waist area, the peg holes originally for the clear piece fits the LEDs quite nicely.

The front skirt area actually took a good amount of time during planning since it was a fairly large piece to be lit by a small LED. Though there were plenty of space behind the piece, the problem was finding the right position for the LED to light the whole piece. 

The crotch piece was fairly easy. I just glued the LED onto the frame part and ran the wires on opposite ends. This will be the start of me segregating the wires per polarity. Separating the wires on each side makes managing the wires easier.

Finishing the legs required the most amount of work. Each leg used 9 LEDs from upper leg down to the feet. There was also limited spaces inside that made managing the wiring more challenging.

There was just enough space to manage the wiring in the lower leg. good thing I was using very thin wires.

Passing the wires through the knee joints also challenging. I need to be able to pass the wires through the joint without sacrificing articulation and without putting too much strain on the wires that could damage them.

Last part was the upper leg area. this required 2 LEDs since I needed to light up 360 degrees of the part. Here it can be seen that I used 2 types of LEDs, a 0603 LED and a 3528 LED. The 0805 was used to light up the separate smaller clear piece while the 3528 LED was used to light up the other 3 sides.

Good thing I didn't get any issues putting the leg together, no parts were damaged beyond what was already there, articulation is still good and light looks good. It only appears too bright in the pictures but it's dimmer and more balanced in actual.

Now it''s time to put it all together..

Read More

[WIP] Mechanical Chain Base LED custom wip 2

So the much awaited component for this project finally arrived. Which is the LED holder for my 3mm LEDs.

My first LED build for the Mechanical Chain bases required too much work specially soldering the SMD LEDs, that's why I decided to use 3mm LEDs. Initially, the 3mm LEDs looked a bit too big for the bases but with the LED holders, They look a bit more in scale and the LED holders help blend the lights to the base.

I just ripped the old circuit out and enlarged the existing holes to fit the LED+holder.

Using bigger LEDs also made wiring easier, though it's not as clean as I wanted it to be, what's more important was that it looked good in front.

I'll also be expanding the bases so it could fit 1/100 kits. I'm currently planning on how to light up the other walls of my Mechanical chain base, hopefully by that time I've already bought more bases. I'm planning to do a 4x4x4 display base.

Read More

[WIP] RG Wing Zero Custom EW X LED WIP 4

I finally bought a glue gun. So its time to finish this project. From where I left off, all I had to do was fix the wiring in the base.

Actually all I had to do now was glue the USB connector to the base then trim the wires to the appropriate length.

I'm currently postponing my plan on repainting the replacement forehead piece since I still don't have time to do some proper painting. I'm also not skilled enough to achieve the finish that I wanted. And it appears that the difference in colors aren't that noticeable so I'm going to keep it at that for now.

Read More

[WIP] HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] WIP 2

Here's another summary of what I've done up to now.

This has got to be one of the easiest part of this project. I just glued the LED onto the part. To add strength to the connection, I drilled a hole through the peg and pass the wire there. 

Continuing on the feet, I've also put LEDs on the ankle areas. This was a bit tricky because this required me to light up 360 degrees of the part while using minimum amount of LEDs. 

To fix this, I soldered 2 LEDs back to back. Taking note of the polarity, positives soldered together, same as with the negative side. 

Then it was just a matter of running the wires around the ankle joint and exiting towards the upper portions of the kit.

Next thing I worked on was the shields. 

It was just a matter gluing the LEDs on the corners of the psychoframe where it is out of view. Then running the wires around the arm connector. I drilled a hole in the arm armor and frame to run the wires through.

Same with the ankle area. The arms need to be lit 360 degrees so I used the back to back LEDs to light the arm parts.

The lights appear to be a bit spotty or concentrated in some areas but they do look better in actual.

Read More

[WIP] HG Unicorn Gundam [Destroy Mode] WIP 1

Since most of my projects only require a few minor touch ups or just plain photo ops, I think it’s time to work on something else.

I recently got a well painted Bandai HG unicorn gundam Destroy Mode for cheap. I'm still having trouble making time for painting sessions so for now, I'm just looking for well painted kits to buy. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about painting my kits and I get them cheap. Though this setup limits my options to what's the original owners paint scheme is. I'm more of a "default/original" kind of collector. Meaning I like my collection as how they appear in the anime/manga. I like the original colors and configurations of my Gunpla and I'm not much into custom or kitbash builds.

Anyway, another factor that made me buy this kit was that the kit was not glued so I can still disassemble it to do my work. I have forgotten how many HG Unicorns I've worked on (I actually still have an HG Unicorn UM in my WIP pile. :P). But after gaining some experience with my past projects, I think this will go a bit differently. 

Since I'm only able to work on this for short periods of time, I decided to work on smaller pieces at a time, not following any particular section of the kit, depending on the time I have at that moment.

For now here's what I've already worked on so far this past week. I've had around 1-2 hours of WIP time a day for this.

Unfortunately the head was already glued so disassembling this was out of the question. Luckily the "inner frame" of the head was a clear piece so all I need is to put the LED as close to the clear piece and the light should reflect throughout the head. I decided to glue the LED to the ball joint in the neck so as too retain the articulation of the head. the LED is placed slightly forward pointing towards the eye area of the head for maximum illumination.

Next area that I worked on was the shoulder areas. The 0603 SMD LEDs were small enough to fit in areas I wasn't able to work on before. Here I was able to light the shoulders with minimal modding. And the best part is that articulation is not affected.

I was also able to work on the lower leg and rear skirt verniers. Again, the size of the 0603 SMD LEDs proved to be very helpful in lighting up this kinds of areas. Before, I used 3mm LEDs to light up the verniers which required lots of modding. but now I can directly drill a hole in the existing peg to pass the wires and the LED could just sit inside the vernier.

I also finished working on the feet areas. For the feet, I used 3528 SMD LEDs. They're quite bigger then the 0603 LEDs but I find the 3528 to fit perfectly in the space in the feet. I also put some terminal pins under the feet. Those will be used as power supply connectors whenever I want to display the kit in a standing pose so the wires are hidden. Aside from the feet, I'll be putting another connector in the crotch area for display base use.

The last part that I've already worked on was the backpack. Aside from the psycho frame, I also had to light up 4 verniers. For the verniers, I used 0603 SMD LEDs, but for the psycho frame, 3528 SMD LEDs was used. So far this section had the most mod done to it. For the verniers, like the other verniers, was just drilling a hole through the pegs and gluing the LED inside the vernier. For the psycho frame, I had to cut off the pegs and remove some plastic inside so that the LEDs could be positions properly. 

Read More