Gamera

That's cool Bakster! It's good to have you back! 

Good to be back, Gam. 

Gamera

To be honest though 'LiS' is one of those shows I watched a couple of episodes and it didn't catch my fancy. I did enjoy Dr. Smith but everything just bored me to tears. 

 

You are not alone in that. For me, it started good, but it went silly fast.  But lets face it. The hardware was cool and that my friend, is the motivation for the build. It is definitely not the show. The sillyness could make good fodder for discussion though. 

That's cool Bakster! It's good to have you back! 

To be honest though 'LiS' is one of those shows I watched a couple of episodes and it didn't catch my fancy. I did enjoy Dr. Smith but everything just bored me to tears. 

keavdog

Massive improvement!

 

Thanks John. 

Massive improvement!

I cleaned up some joins on the housing and I started with the fiber optic strands.

I did testing on how best to color the fiber optic. I tried many things and including clear colors paint on the optical end. I found that paint does not work all that well. For me, the light appears too blotchy. In the end, and for me, what works best is to use colored LEDs to drive the filament. Either an led works well, or colored gel film between the led and the optic works well too. For my purposes I am going with colored leds. It is a much simpler solution that requires far less fabrication.

Also... I found that rounding the filament end using a flame seems to work Ok. I am going with it.

In the image below I used a red led to light all the filaments but for the actual build I will route the strands to various colored leds.

As usual, led light is difficult to image. In person the light has much more pop. I am pleased with how they look.

Terrain scanner

I thought the center eye was a bit soft so I replaced it with brass tubing.

I drilled out the lights and inserted fiber optic. I rounded the ends using a flame. It is TBD if I will leave it that way. I like it but experience has shown me when you round the ends it affects the light output and/or the light pattern. Some preliminary testing seems to indicate the small amount I did has minimal negative effect. I will add color from the backside. Also, the two holes at the bottom require a size of FO that I don't have in stock. I need to order some. Anyhow, the FO I have in the piece is not afixed.  It is purely for testing.

The End

keavdog

The original was built off of this snow vehichle

Made by none other than Thiokol!

 

Hey John. I knew a LITTLE about this but the images you posted are awesome to see. It brings it full circle. Thanks for that contribution. Very cool!

keavdog

That was cool to watch!

 

Agreed! I remember that scene when it first aired. That set off our imaginations.

It is so cool to see in color. I love the scenic backdrop and the dramatic music too. And of course the chariot is off the scale cool.

The original was built off of this snow vehichle

Made by none other than Thiokol!

That was cool to watch!

And for your viewing pleasure. Here is a video of the actual chariot used in the movie... in color.

https://youtu.be/XS5BQBOou1w

Started some cleanup and dry fitting. Nothing is glued yet. The pieces fit very nicely. 

Below: A good view of the dash. I plan to light some sections as well add decals.

Speaking of decals. I ordered this set for the 1/24 scale kit. I will scan, scale, and print a copy onto decal paper for use with this kit.

Below: The boxy looking thing is I believe what they called a terrain scanner. I plan to add lights to it. Maybe by using fiber optic.

Below is what the 1:1 replica looks like. 

I can see that most of my time will be spent making the lighting, detailing, and with paint. There are not a lot of parts to this and that is just fine by me.

End of update.

keavdog

Good news.  Clear parts look a lot better.  Man those tracks look cool - I could see stealing those for some kitbashing projects.

 

Hey John. Yeah, the tracks a cleanly molded. They did a nice job on them. Kitbashing them...now there is a cool idea.

InternationalRescue

Fun!  The windows look super clear!  Looking forward to following your build.

 

Hey IR. I agree and I am looking forward to starting it. Should be a fun one to build.

Thanks for posting!

Good news.  Clear parts look a lot better.  Man those tracks look cool - I could see stealing those for some kitbashing projects.

Fun!  The windows look super clear!  Looking forward to following your build.

A perfect fit. It would not even need glueing.

Tracks 

It looks like a sweet little kit that offers a ton of potential. 

And that's that.