SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Zvesda 1/2700 Star Destroyer with custom lighting

9996 views
73 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    August 2007
  • From: back country of SO-CAL, at the birth place of Naval Aviation
Posted by DUSTER on Sunday, January 29, 2023 11:40 PM

   WoW!

Steve

Building the perfect model---just not quite yet  Confused

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Sunday, January 29, 2023 10:50 PM

Tonight I finally finished this. Here's a few pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the lid, which is pretty tough to put on...

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, January 29, 2023 7:31 PM

That looks so awesome!!! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Thursday, January 26, 2023 12:27 AM

Almost done with hte BlueTooth controller...

 

 

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Monday, January 16, 2023 7:47 PM

For ROTJ, when Vader's Super Star Destroyer was being built, the FX crew decided to use brass strips with etched window openings.  They knew drilling thousands of holes and running gobs of fiber optic strands was heavy work, and Vader's ship would require even more windows than the ESB ISD.  So they came up with this ingenious solution and combined it with fluorescent light bulbs to save time and yet end up with an impressive result.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Monday, January 16, 2023 7:40 PM

Incredibly, no fiber optic lighting was used!  The gap between the upper and lower hulls of the 1977 (Star Wars) ISD had simple detail compared to the 1980 (ESB) version.  There were no lights on the superstructure either.

Some other easily spotted differences include the big conduits running up and down the back of the superstructure "neck", and the really weird rounded, lumpy main turrets.

I suppose the 1977 ISD didn't need window lighting, as all the shots it was in were far away or from an angle that  would not have showed it off.

I do remember seeing the ESB ISD for the first time on screen, and gasping at the thousands of lighted windows and increased level of detail.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 6:36 PM

Interesting! So did the first one have a fiber optic lighting as well? Or did they do something else?

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Monday, January 16, 2023 6:28 PM

Actually, the original Star Destroyer prop was only 3 feet or so long.  It still boggles my mind that the focal length in the opening shot was so perfect.

The ISD prop for Empire was indeed 5 or 6 feet long and featured fiber optic lights for the thousands of windows.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 6:21 PM

Real G

It makes it even harder to believe that the original movie prop only had a lit docking bay and main engines.

I think the original model also had fiber optic lighting system, the main difference was that it was just on or off. I don't think it was set up to allow for a "power up sequence" like I wanted in mine. But they had WAY more space to work in, I think the original model was 5 or 6 feet long? I'm pretty sure it was significantly bigger than this one.

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 6:17 PM

Github project:

 

https://github.com/jimcrafton/isd_lighting_audio

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Monday, January 16, 2023 12:51 PM

   Thank you for your kind offer, I may take you up on it. HUGE Star Wars fan, Star Destroyers are the coolest.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Monday, January 16, 2023 11:37 AM

Great googly-moogly, there is so much wiring in that model it looks as though it is about to explode!

It makes it even harder to believe that the original movie prop only had a lit docking bay and main engines.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 10:58 AM

Well feel free to ask any questions here! I'm going to be putting all the code and electronic diagrams, and various other notes up on github, in case anyone is interested.

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Monday, January 16, 2023 9:54 AM

   That sir is up to you. I would watch it so I could understand and see what you're getting at. It my take some of the OMG outta the build and inspire someone to try.

     I have a large Destroyer and would love to have it lit up. Perhaps watching a video would take some of the fear of goofing it up might be helpful.....or I'll just continue to make turbo laser noises and hum the March.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 1:30 AM

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? 

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 16, 2023 1:27 AM

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.

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Saturday, January 14, 2023 7:20 PM

   Love how the engines fire up freaking COOL.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Saturday, January 14, 2023 3:22 PM

Fantastic!  Appreciate the soundtrack as well :)

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Saturday, January 14, 2023 3:10 PM

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.

 

 

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 9:31 AM

Gamera

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

 

 
LOL once I realized what I needed to do I definitely cursed a bit :) And once I realized that one of the LED's was broken and needed to be replaced, I was *really* annoyed! That meant separating the two halves of the hull, which had already been glued together. But luckily they split apart really easily and no plastic was broken.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 9:24 AM

Great to see you back on this.  Amazing project!

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    August 2007
  • From: back country of SO-CAL, at the birth place of Naval Aviation
Posted by DUSTER on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 11:18 PM

  Great job. 

Steve

Building the perfect model---just not quite yet  Confused

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, January 9, 2023 7:05 PM

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

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, January 9, 2023 10:36 AM

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.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    February 2022
Posted by SplatterMan on Saturday, May 21, 2022 12:44 AM

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.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, May 19, 2022 6:49 PM

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

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    August 2021
Posted by lurch on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 8:44 AM

Its going to be very impressive whenyou get it done.

  • Member since
    February 2021
Posted by JimC2020 on Monday, May 16, 2022 11:53 AM

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.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Sunday, May 15, 2022 10:48 AM

Fantastic!  What a project you have going here.

Thanks,

John

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.