Maybe a small diameter acrylic rod (with LED in the tripod) with some cotton wraped around it would replicate your vision. But yeah, you wouldn't see the beam, so perhaps another method is more practical.

Ive beat my head against the wall to create convincing fire, smoke, steam and muzzle flashes, never to saticfy ..now you want a death ray!  The first image that came to mind was wax..I know.I know...but I can see the rough static edges like dripping from a candle...of course lighting it up and anything else you want to do with it would be a challenge...id maybe explore some casting resin to see what kind of shape you could get..great question, great ideas above! Will be following this to see how it pans out...sorry if im way off base..good luck!

lowfly

Hello fellow modelers!  I had an interesting idea about a dio that i want to do but i am stuck.  How in the world do you model the blast from a heat ray? I can do melting metal on the ship but the actual laser blast fvrom the tripod ......i just cant figure it out.....any ideas?

 

I guess I'm a purist on this, but it's a HEAT ray. Wells made it quite clear that the ray was invisible. But even if the ray was visible light, you still couldn't see it from the side, you would only see the illuminated ship.

I'd vote for using a small lens and red filter to focus a light source onto the ship. The ship would glow red and there would be no visible ray. The light source would not need to be located within the walker. A small LED flashlight might work quite well.

Gosh, I hope you pull off the diorama. The Thunder Child is one of my favorite pieces of SF of all time! Please post pics!

Tom

 

I wonder if some really fine acrylic rosd could be "captured" inside some clear heat-shrink tubing. The different rod bits would help scatter the light from the LED. The other thing might be to have LED around the outside of the LED on the rod itself. (might need fiberoptics around the emitter) which would wash down the length of the rod, to give the movie effect.

The only problem of lighting an acrylic rod with an LED at one end is that the light only shows at the other end of the rod!  The light from the LED needs to "escape" along the sides of the rod.  Try roughing up the rod with a light sanding.

Sounds like your best bet to me. You could maybe use a fiber optic cable but it will probably curve, the acrylic rod will probably work better. 

that isnt a bad idea at all.  I will try that! the only issue i can see would be that in the recent movie...the heat ray wasnt really "Laser" straight....sorry couldnt resist.  There seems to be some fuzziness or distortion along the edge of the beam.  Any suggestions on how to replicate that

modelcrazy

 

Cdn Colin

A clear acrylic rod with an LED at one end?

 

 

That's a good idea, I would try that.

 

 

Couldnt you use an actual minie laser? I'm not sure what scale you are shooting for, but ebay is loade with those small laser that may be able to be maded for such a thing.

Cdn Colin

A clear acrylic rod with an LED at one end?

That's a good idea, I would try that.

A clear acrylic rod with an LED at one end?