I figured out how to add images again.

Epsilon also sent me this guy (below).



With a lick of paint on the uniform this guy is a perfect Lt. Gorman! He looks very much at home in his command chair.

Another friend, a local mate who came to visit yesterday, brought me this string of cool-white micro LEDs, perfect for interior cabin lighting.



There are a ton of LEDs here - more than enough!



They light up really well - not too bright and they'll look the part when incorporated into the APC.



Here's a look at the size of the individual LEDs against a scalpel blade. It looks like there's a little blob of hot glue type stuff on each one, which makes them look like 'emergency' lights. I'll just have to scrape or burn off the lacquer coating on the wire when I solder them together.

I feel blessed to receive such kindness from forum buddies and local friends alike and I'm really looking forward to getting back to it.

Good to see the new recruits arrived in one piece, wel mostly Thanks for sharing all these build updates over the years!

Thanks Epsilon - you'll see that Gorman has gotten a little attention today.

So, I got a couple of hours in on the APC.



Yes, the colour of the rear lights has been bugging me for a while. I made mine red, thinking logically and not even checking any reference.



Of course they're blue in the movie, so my red LEDs got dug out and replaced with blue. I needed to shave them down on the dremel to get rid of the 'dome' top.



Next step was light blocking with thick black acrylic. (I'm sure I've been here before).



There we are. It looks a little weird on camera but looks fine in real life.



Gorman got a couple of khaki base coats too.



Last up for today, I tackled the searchlight brush guard. Brass rod was bent up, glued into pre-drilled holes and given a lick of paint.





There we go. The exterior of the APC is all different shades of Olive Drab at the moment. I can't get a regular paint to match what's in the rattle can. It'll get a final overspray from that but I only have one can left, so that'll be one of the last jobs.

I'm back on this, hoping to get a second video together showcasing the lighting of the APC but first I have to get the wiring to a decent state.

I was wondering if I have enough crew to fully man the APC and it looks like I do, 8 in the back, 2 on the rear pair (Ripley and Burke seats), Gorman at the console, Apone on the front pair and a driver - 13 bodies.



I couldn't think how I could route the lighting wiring under the seats without raising either them or the flooring panel - room is pretty tight in there and I also have to work out where the safety bar wiring goes too.



I found a literal out of the box solution and I'll be adding little clips and a paint job to tidy up where the cabling goes around the wheel hub.



There was a similar routing issue for the headlight wiring which runs over the side door. I wanted to keep the roof section removeable so this is getting worked in around other elements.



The rear lights are wired in on the opposite side and you can see where they emerge behind the wheel (green/white wires). I'm keeping them as close to the hinge as I can to avoid unneccessary wear.



You can just see the wires at the bottom of the back wall but the seating will cover these up - and they'll be painted.



..and here's where we're currently at. I think I'll add mini magnets to all of the interior pieces to hold them in place.

Looking so cool mate, you should be proud!

*Patiently waits for dropship build*

_________________
AKA: Simon

Firstly I just had to do something about this awful bird's nest of wiring. If I'd planned it properly from the start (and with what I know now) I'd have used an all-purpose 'power rail' running through the interior and tapped off from that where I needed for the individual lights. I'd also have used thinner guage wiring from the start.



Anyhow, I found a solution using GPIO headers from an electronics kit I bought to supplement my meagre knowledge in the subject.



I've soldered all the short sides together and will use the long sides to clip wiring to for modules that need to be removable - like Gorman's console.





These donor connectors are used in testing on breadboards - I'm using just one end to connect to the GPIO headers.





In this next shot you can see the rough wiring plan I worked out.



There was some heat shrink sleeving in the kit I got but it's too wide for these little wires.



I also started working on the paint finish for the overhead details in the console area. They got a coat of chrome and will get a dry-brushed top coat of colour.



The lights from the console (screens and desk) got twisted together, tinned then had the connector for positive and negative soldered on.





A quick test and all OK.



On with the rest of the interior lighting - all bundled together into a single pair of + and - connectors.



Tested and all good.



The whole area got a much needed tidy-up and I reorganised the workspace prioritising the tools I currently use most.



... and that's about it for now. I've wrestled for a long time with the wiring but it's getting done, which has given me enthusiasm to push ahead.

Thanks for looking and see you again hopefully soon.

Awesome work! Also doesn't make me feel so bad for taking so long building my Alien Warrior..

_________________
still alive

Man this is looking good!

_________________
"Awww, someone tell me that's a boot!

It's a boot!"

III drops

Thanks metalalien, I'm taking comfort in the old adage: 'It's done when it's done'.

Hey Dropshipbob - thanks for sticking around!

I was scanning the shelves at me local model/hobby supplies shop and was overjoyed to see that they'd restocked their tubing - specifically styrene 2.4mm hollow which is exactly what I've used for the tube-light sections on the APC's seating restraints. I've been waiting for this stuff for a long time and couldn't find it anywhere else (unless I was prepared to spend hundreds on a full point-of-sale display).

Anyway, I can now finish the last of the seating elements that was just waiting for that last short piece of tube.

I dug out the 'kit' of parts I already had from storage. I'd made all of the other elements in one big batch. I know I've gone through this earlier in the thread but I needed to remind myself - so here's how it all goes together.

Here's the kit of parts - now complete with the hollow tube.



1/ Two TINY LED's that drive light along the fibre optic strands.
2/ Two short lengths of fibre optic to go inside the tube.
3/ The hollow tube which will be drilled in the centre for the LEDs.
4/ Two tiny magnets that hold the whole thing in the 'up' position - one on the rail, one embedded in the back wall. (I couldn't get these any closer to each other without them snapping together).
5/ The small rail that supports the tummy cushions.
6/ The main vertical spar with pre-sawn bend points. The LED wiring will be fed down this to the tube.
7/ Two tummy cushion sets, each with inner and outer.
8/ Tummy cushion brackets.
9/ Hinge points for the rear wall.
10/ Central hinge tube to take the main vertical spar.

The plastic tweezers are essential for handling the magnets. The only thing missing from this image is a small length of 1mm brass rod for the hinge.

So, I'm aiming to go from this.



..to this.





These little LEDs are pretty powerful.



And the final effect once all of this is done will be..





Another small job I did was to add brass brackets to the practical wiring I hid in the wheel arches (paint's still damp here). With the wheels on very little of this is visible anyway.



I hope to have some time this week to get this seating completed. It's afiddly job and needs concentration. Wish me luck.

the lights really bring it to life!

_________________
still alive

Thanks Metalalien - it's the first time I've attempted any 'proper' lighting.

Okay here goes with the last of these seat restraints. No part of this job is easy - it's all really fiddly, especially with my old sausage fingers.



Still, I've got some moral support playing on the tablet while I work.



I managed to get the LEDs threaded through the brasswork, got that bent up properly and added the hinge sleeve and brass pin.



Got the LEDs oriented back-to-back and installed in the light tube. That tested OK so I added the fibre optics and sealed the whole thing.



Next up is adding the magnet in the rear panel. Plastic tweezers at the ready.



..added the hinge plates, glued the unit into the frame and this is where I left off for today.

Still to do: add the tummy cushions and the secondary rail, paint and finish.

Those tiny details make it, but always a PITA to pull off...

_________________
DON’T call me eighty-five.

Assistant Superintendent Leach,
Fiorina 161
"Serenity Through Confinement"

You got that right ID1OT. I spent a few hours today cleaning up / touching up some paint, re-soldering dodgy connections and figuring out the rest of the lighting rig (including the switches).

More pics soon.

More work on the light bars now that I've got the last of them up and working.



In this screenshot you can see (top right) that the light bar is 'capped' at either end and I noted elsehwre in the movie that it doesn't go all the way around too. I presume the Art Department built a tubular metal cage to house the flourescent tubes used for these lights.

I found some thick paint in an older pot - just right for light blocking - started in on the ends.



I used an old sign-writer's trick to paint (hopefully) straight lines on the tubes.



The painter's bridge is made from an old steel rule and a couple of Tamiya paint jars.





Well, it's as straight as it's going to get.



Looks like I'll need another coat once this has dried.



Here's a candid wide shot with flash - trying to look like an on-set continuity polaroid.



..and a couple with lighting and without/with crew. The seat restraint here isn't yet rigged up to the battery box.

You need some India ink/panel line solution around the details to make them "pop", like that (thing) on the back of the seat on the left side of the photo.

I bought some stuff (decades ago) for the purpose- I bought black and brown- and I use them all the time to not only bring out the details, but also to hide the "less than perfect" paint lines where objects intersect.

_________________
DON’T call me eighty-five.

Assistant Superintendent Leach,
Fiorina 161
"Serenity Through Confinement"

Amazing work on this project!

_________________
"A writer needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a filmmaker an army." - Orson Wells.

http://www.rookscastle.com
http://www.alchemyarms.com

ID1OT - you're absolutely right, there's just a base coat on the model at the moment. Lots of finessing to do. I'll definitely be introducing pin-washes, as you suggested, as well as adding different shades and semi-gloss lacquers to areas that I want to have a bit of shine.

Russ Krook III - thanks!

Perfect. It’s going to be awesome.

_________________
DON’T call me eighty-five.

Assistant Superintendent Leach,
Fiorina 161
"Serenity Through Confinement"

I love those last shots of the interior. Just awesome.

ID10T - I hope so.

Space Jockey, I couldn't have got where I am without your input mate, so thank you very much.

More to come soon, I promise.

This is simple but no less genius; thank you for posting your process pics [esp these wiring ones ].
I've been working on a wee project with an arduino nano, and have run out of gnd pins ... idea yoinked = problem sorted

_________________
Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1

I had some time and got the APC out and onto the bench today and..



You can see Lt. Gorman's not happy. The rear roof has detatched from the back wall. Without the turret runners to keep those parts together, and with the inner rear wall not being glued yet it's no real surprise - but still disappointing.



Oops. This didn't go smooth, or by the numbers.



This inner wall goes a long way to secure that join but I was nervous about closing in that wiring.



At the moment my APC has a rear hatch for speedy debussing of troops.



I planned to add some strenthening brackets to the join between the rear roof and back wall panels. To allow me to align and glue them in place I put some sellotape over the side walls - I definitely didn't want those getting glued and sticking the roof closed.



Here I've got the brackets on and the glue is drying.



I glued the inner rear panel on too so this is all sealed and strong.



Hopefully I won't get too much grief from Lt. Gorman - maybe a latrine cleaning detail.

I bought a selection of heat-shrink tubing this week too, something I've been meaning to get - to stabilise and strengthen the solder joints. More on that later.

I kinda like the idea of the rear ramp
Getting there buddy!

_________________
AKA: Simon

Awesome! Love it.

_________________
still alive

I started in on soldering one of the new connectors I bought (thanks for the heads up Ant from Starship Modeler) which are the same ones Adam Savage and team use on their Starfield ship build.



That worked great, although the cheap heat-shrink I have got toasted a little. I think better quality gear is needed there.





I'm also painting in some areas that are unseen until the model opens up - areas that wouldn't ever be seen normally, so I've chosen to black them out. I might even blank some of them off if I'm not using the space at all.





In the background you can see 2 test prints of the Martian ship from Quatermass which I'm building in 3d in the evenings sat in front of the fire watching TV. There's also some choice viewing on my tablet to keep me motivated.