1/72 VF-1J Motorized Flight Deck Elevator

That is so cool!!  well done.  Robotech is one of my favorite shows, and really the first anime I was exposed to.

John

Very nice!  Are both the elevator and the plane's wing fold bluetooth controlled?  You must have some pretty good machine  tools.

Don Stauffer

Very nice!  Are both the elevator and the plane's wing fold bluetooth controlled?  You must have some pretty good machine  tools.

 

 

Thanks Don. Yes, you can see the Blutooth controls in the later part of the video. I actually don't use any real machine tools, except for a dremel. It is all hand made. But I did need a drill press for the straight holes in the scissor lift, and a table saw for the straight legs of the box.

Outstanding work arbit! That took a lot of mechanical and electrical knowledge to accomplish. Great work on the model too. If you have any more projects like this one, we would love to see them. 

You should think about sending the photos to FSM. Would make a great article for all to see.

Jim  

Now that's about as cool as you can get. 

fox

Outstanding work arbit! That took a lot of mechanical and electrical knowledge to accomplish. Great work on the model too. If you have any more projects like this one, we would love to see them. 

You should think about sending the photos to FSM. Would make a great article for all to see.

Jim  

 

Thanks Jim, that's very kind of you. You can see my other wired builds on my youtube channel. I don't actually have an electronics or engineering background at all. I learned everything step by step starting with an led to light my models. And I had to figure out each gear one at a time for this project through trial and error, testing different motors and different mechanisms until I liked the result. 

So if you are fascinated with lighting your models, I've added many tutorial links in my video to help you get started.

Amazing work!Really impressed how smoothly the parts moved!

philo426

Amazing work!Really impressed how smoothly the parts moved!

 

Thanks. Since I didn't have experience with gears before, I tested the gear mechanisms with MDF, cardboard and popsicle sticks to see how they work, before going at the model. I had to try different mechanisms until I found the best one for each gimmick.  I also had to test different N20 motors and compound gears to get the right torque on each mechanism.

The scissors lift required the most torque, but also ended up being the most steady of the gears due to the form and materials used.  

I love it.  The only thing left is to get the jet flying off the carrier ...

That work must take you quite sometime to get it right through trial & errors. 

Well done man.

I'm utterly blown away by this. Outstanding!

Well done - and what a fun project.

cnq

I love it.  The only thing left is to get the jet flying off the carrier ...

That work must take you quite sometime to get it right through trial & errors. 

Well done man.

 

Thank you. It did take some time. But I was determined to get that lift working one way or another. I learned that gears don't have to be all that perfect to work, as long as everything is alligned.

keavdog

Well done - and what a fun project.

 

All I can say is COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sickdude

Too kool dude! Your modelling skills are waaaaaaaaay above mine, to say the least. Well done sir.

Thanks dude. I'm glad you liked it. But actually my basic modelling skills are very much at a beginner level (painting, coating and weathering).

But I don't worry about that. Painting skills can take years to develop.

I just build what makes me super excited to work on.

Well Now!

     You want to come to New Braunfels, Texas? You could take over the animation dept on the model train Layouts at the Railroad Museum! That is awesome. !!!!!!!!

   I cannot believe your last statement though. You have skills,You just don't realize it ! I liked it all, by the way.

Tanker-Builder

Well Now!

     You want to come to New Braunfels, Texas? You could take over the animation dept on the model train Layouts at the Railroad Museum! That is awesome. !!!!!!!!

   I cannot believe your last statement though. You have skills,You just don't realize it ! I liked it all, by the way.

 

Thanks for the invitation Tanker. I don't know where that is, but I did grow up in Houston. So if you have good Tex Mex and BBQ, I will be right there.

I'm not into trains, but I do learn a lot from train guys and other hobbyists outside of scale modelling.  

And as I tell my kids, "I have old man skills", which is basically patience and using your head.

Tanker-Builder

Well Now!

     You want to come to New Braunfels, Texas? You could take over the animation dept on the model train Layouts at the Railroad Museum! That is awesome. !!!!!!!!

   I cannot believe your last statement though. You have skills,You just don't realize it ! I liked it all, by the way.

 

sickdude

  Here here! I think you just gave him a big boost in confidence , he diserves it.  

Thanks sdude. What interests me most is lighting my models and making things move. It's even more satisfying when a gimmick works, because I have no electronics background.

I've never really given painting practice its due. Mostly because when you have wiring, you only have one chance to get the paint right. You can't go back and strip the paint when you've encased a bunch of electronics in the styrene.

But project by project, my painting does improve. I'm planning to prime a bunch of spoons this weekend and have at it. Clear coating is still a mystery to me.

sickdude

That sounds great man! And i'm perty much in the same boat as you, painting wise (probably way worse...). I have more experience wood finishing from my 2 year stint in woodworking, then plastic modelling painting. I just ordered all my painting supplies for the enterprise refit i'm working on, all Tamiya acrylics of course. I liked Tamiya paint when I tried my hand at modelling awhile back, should have better luck brush painting it since I learned about paint retarder (slows down the drying process). Should be a lot of fun! Also going to try my hand at basic airbrushing too. We are learning as we goo, and that's what makes it so fun!

 

Funny, I could have used some of your wood working skills. I bet you would be really good at scratch buiding. During this build I had to study furniture making videos to see how to make a stable box and how to lay in the hinges for the deflectors.

I did a good job notching out the tabs in the deck for the hinges, but in the end one of the hinges set a bit off. You can see that one of the deflectors is not right. But as long as it works, I'm not a perfectionist!

Finally finished a gimmick I was planning for a long time, but couldn't get to it for various reasons.

I almost didn't do this because I ran out of bluetooth controls on my Arduino setup, but I figured that an old-school switch is just as cool!

The set-up is a reversing DPDT switch, with two limit switches. The red and blue control lights are also linked to the DPDT diagram. 

I'm using 2x N20 3v motors, which go in opposite directions to open the hatch. When the doors open, they ht a switch to turn on the cola machine.

Nice!  Even more fun

keavdog

Nice!  Even more fun

 

Thank you. You're right, when I start a project, I think, "What would be really fun when I was 12-years old?" 

Arbit, I don't know what to say except, "impressive." Very impressive. Is this part of a kit of some sort, or is this all you?

Again. Damn cool.

bvallot

Arbit, I don't know what to say except, "impressive." Very impressive. Is this part of a kit of some sort, or is this all you?

Again. Damn cool.

 

Thank you. The base models are a 1/72 Hasegawa VF-1 and a 1/72 Trumpeter Flight Deck. The rest is hand made. You can follow the steps in the WIP link.

The diorama is crazy cool, and that guillotine door just perfect in terms of speed of motion.  Even the sound is appropriate!