Been a couple of weeks, with slow steady progress. Got the landscaping of the plaza in front of the Daystrom Institute (gold windowed building) pretty much done. I built 10 4 scale foot high lights, using 0402 nano SMD LEDS, and lined a path from the building entrance to out near the basketball court. Added some shrubbery, a few trees. I just placed the people on double-sided tape for the photos, and the rings around the tree have not been glued down flush, yet. Once glued, they will be filled with dirt. May also add a bench or two along the path
I decided to try making some custom "cool" lighting fixtures for in front of the blue (Torchwood) building. Evocative of the lights in Millennium Plaza in Cardiff (where the "real" fictional Torchwood is set) I took 1/8 inch square tube, about 7/8" long, and glued 3/4" of 1/8 acrylic rod, with the sides sanded. A 0603 bright white LED mounted in the base, and the acrylic glows These are simply set on a piece of scrap styrene for drying and photo purposes. Figures are placed for scale reference These will surround a fountain that will be in the plaza, as well
Nice use of light containment for the cause. I would also paint the tops silver for a few layers and then a black or gray cap. This will reflect the light back into the acrylic rod. For a really cool effect, you could have a SMD on the top by running the wire down the center of the rod as well. Now a simple circuit ramp these on and off in an offset sequence would give them a really cool effect by the fountain. If the timing was right, the light in the rods would be "dancing" by the fountain. If this is of interest, I can provide all the help you need on the circuitry. It can be a simple as a few op-amps using analog circuitry. Or is can be done digitally using BCD up/down counters.
Great light detailing. . Keep up the top notch work on the modules. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Thanks guys. Dave, the acrylic rod is solid, so can't run a wire through it. I did paint the top of the acrylic silver, if you look closely, you can just make it out. I might be interested in a circuit, though, for some lights within the fountain. Not sure exactly what or how I will be making that,
Just let me know, I have already started working on one a similar application on my NTrak module. The plan is to do something similar. I will take a the acrylic rod and drill a hole down the center and attach a SMD on each end. I will be painting the sides of the rod silver and then cover with black. Next I will sand a flat spot use that to leak light inside the machine shops. There will be a couple light bars per building to give the appearance of florescent lighting. It will be a simple intensity setting for my application. For yours we could vary the intensity of the light in each rod using a simple interval to start over again. It would start out on, but dimmed and gradually grow to full brightness and then cycle back down. The control and effect is all up to you. Like I said it could be done with a few capacitors and resistors and a 741 Op-Amp. Just let me know....
It has been quite a few months since I've posted anything here, or actually gotten anything done! Between our big summer vacation trip, a second trip to Denver and the Grand Canyon and life in general, I had not accomplished much until this weekend, with the exception of creating foam inserts for 2 storage bins to carry all the buildings and misc parts in. Finally got back to some work this weekend, the fountain for in front of the. Torchwood building. Based on the actual fountain in Roald Dahl Plaza in Cardiff, very prominent in the show, here is how mine looks. This shows on the workbench, after most of the painting and water effects. I used gloss enamels, then a coat of gloss Modge Podge, followed by a coat of Futura. This morning , I added some details with matte Modge Podge tinted with a very very pale blue Here is the final fountain, placed on the module
First post. I lurk a lot but when I saw Torchwood when reading I got super excited! It looks great, I'm sure Jack would be proud. When I finally get a module done it will have a a Blue Police Box! Lol Great work!
Thanks, all. Guess when I get the lights in, will have to put the TARDIS in the next set of photos. Don't take to shows, since I am afraid it may walk, being so small
