JimC2020

Pretty easy. The Arduino IDE works great in terms of seamlessly uploading your compiled code to the actual Arduino hardware. The IDE is simple, but then again the programming is crazy complex either, so it's OK.

Can't argue with that. Arduino's are geat little devices.

Had some fun once coding up a homemade laser tag set.  Complete with Ammo count, Health bars, and sound effects.  Kids had fun with that but discovered TV IR remotes were like nukes and could aim practically anywhere in the room and get a hit. 

Your build is going to look awesome when completed!

More progress... bottom half and engines all wired up and hooked into the circuit boards. Yikes, no turning back now...

Ok I do believe the little engines are not supposed to be on when the mains are on. They were not lit on the original filming model. Good probability those engines are for light speed not really sure unless someone has the schematics laying around for Star Destroyers?

Thanks for the info, sorry for the long delay. Finally solved the remaing electronics isues (hopefully all of them now), and made some more progress. The bluetooth controller is now sorted out, so I'll be able to control various bits, including the start up of the light speed engines vs the sublight. Not sure if the big ones are lightspeed or sublight, will have to look that up.

Ok finally some more progress, battery supplies hopefully sorted. Assuming I did this right I'll be powering this with ~12v ~2.2A, with a battery pack of 3 18650 cells, and if I attach it all up correctly hopefully it won't burn down my apartment!

So this showing the separate battery cell holders, spaced individually instead of all together to allow everything to fit.

the Battery Management System, this makes sure the battery drain is kept even and handles the logic to properly recharge them as well. 

Little on board voltage meter, press the button and it will show the battery voltage, to see when it needs charging.

component placement

and after mounting and wiring up for good:

The Bluetooth controller lives!

Test rig for the bluetooth controller, 

wired up for real

It talks to this program (test app on my MacBook that will then get ported  to iOS for usage on iphone):

And when the two are connected the controller outputs this on windows (when the arduino is connected via USB):

Arduino pro mini mount:

Not done yet, just have the power/gnd leads in place

Audio board to place sounds and imperial march

That's all done now, it will be connected to above arduino board. 

There's one other little component, there's a special blue LED that drives 5-6 fiber optic cables in the top front area, that will blink when the Bluetooth control is not paired with the app, and then go solid when a connection is succesfully made.

All the programming is basically done, it's basically down mounting up the electronics and praying that I solder things correctly. Hopefully a couple more weeks and this thing will finally be done.

Oh wow that's amazing!!!

I've lighted up a few kits years ago with fiber optic cable and bits and bobs from Radio Shack but nothing like this. That's insane all the cool stuff you've got there!

Really looking forward to seeing her all lighted up like the proverbial Christmas tree!!!

Thanks, this is crazy what this has morped into, next time I'll plan better. Omg the budget for this! Insane...

Bluetooth model in place! The blinking lights mean it's looking for a connection, it will go solid once it's properly paired with my app.

Pro mini board now wired in place, with wires for the usb connector to upload code. Those are just temporary and will be removed prior to final mounting.

Left side is the HM-10 bluetooth module mounted in place now.

THAT IS

Can't wait to see the finished product!

That is sooooooooooo cool! 

Batteries in place!!!

So far nothing has burned or melted!

Voltage meter works...

steady at 11.9 volts, basically matches what the multimeter reads.

Custom power on/off switch that I added

Works!

Brains all wired up

From left to right,

1) The main Arduino pro mini, handles all the lights, bluetooth, and primary audio

2) primary audio chip, reads from sd card

3) Secondary Arduino pro mini, handles secondary audio for sound effects during the power on stages, engine sounds, etc.

This gives me multiple layers of sound, overkill, but the actual hardware is pretty cheap.

LED Lights mounted in place on top half

very close to being done, maybe even this weekend...

Audio test, running on internal power!!

Oh wow you'd almost have to be a real starship engineer to get all this wired up, great job!

It looks so cool!

Sealed up the model yesterday! No more fiddling with internals now.

So much stuff inside, next time smaller wires!!!

Quickie walk around. The audio is being played via the secondary audio circuit.

This thing has enough wiring for a real starship. Pretty impressive to me. Not sure if I could do that. How much is the electronics costing for this project? Looks very expensive to me.

What a massive project. All the wiring and fiberoptic makes my head spin. Congrats on this milestone. It has to feel good reaching the point of closing it up. Can't wait to see this baby lit up.

Fantastic!  What a project you have going here.

Thanks guys, 

For the electronics I'd guess the actual components probably around $50-60? The battery cells were $23. I had to go from nothing (I'd never done electronics before this) to all sorts of components, transistors, capacitors, resistors, different IC chips, soldering iron workstation, etc. If I were to add all that stuff up, I'd probably choke in embarassment! The colored leds were a little more expensive since they are the individually addressable ones, which cost a bit more, but makes the electronics circuit a lot easier and less hassle to deal with.

Its going to be very impressive whenyou get it done.

Again, that's sooooooooo friggin' cool!!! 

This is amazing. Going from never having lit a model to a whole star destroyer; talk about trial by fire. Hats off to you! I'd be curious to know how long all that fibre and wire would be if you put it all end to end.

Damn long time.... got burned out, but finally made some progress. Got sound files mostly done, but when testing them, found out one of hte LED's stopped working and ended up redoing the wiring and taking apart the model to track it down.

Oh wow, I'd pull out what's left of my hair trying to get all that straight!!! 

 Great job. 

Great to see you back on this.  Amazing project!

Gamera

Oh wow, I'd pull out what's left of my hair trying to get all that straight!!! 

 

OK so hopefully everything but gluing the two hull pieces back together gets done this weekend.

Working on testing the communications between the two arduino pro mini's. One drives the audio for the fx, like the startup sounds, and the other drives the background music like the imperial march. Currently I've got both powered up and audio running together.

Fantastic!  Appreciate the soundtrack as well :)

   Love how the engines fire up freaking COOL.

Finally after a frustrating 2 days to debugging arduino code, I think I can say all the electronics are done, the two arduino mcu's are talking to each other and both audio devices can play succesfully. I need to re-test the blue tooth controller, and then I can start figuring out how to pack all this crazy crap back together again.

Do you think there would be any interest in me making a youtube video with all the WIP shot and voice over explaining what I did?