2001 ASO USSC Discovery One

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
Moderator
i'm not sure if I understand your goal on this display but I think you might like to see if a filtered mirror on the bottom would give you a nice bounce lighting.
 

DanBKing

Dan the Man
As unbelievable as it seems to me, the post you are now reading, is officially the LAST BUILD POST of this thread! :jawdrop::yesyes::)

So, walk with me, oh faithful followers, as I take you on the last few steps of this long journey. :biggrin:

Let me summarize the lighting system.
  • Backdrop lighting: Consists of: - 1m high intensity blue LED strip for the blue 'wash' effect for the black space. - 1/2m warm white LED strip for lighting the planet Jupiter. - 1 high intensity white standard 5mm LED for highlighting the moon Europa.
  • Model lighting: Consists of:- two 1,2m high intensity cool white LED strips. - and the internal cockpit lighting which is already installed.
  • Control system: Infra red remote control LED strip controller with 10 step dimming capability.
The focus, obviously, is on the model. The backdrop needs to be subtly lit, and not over-power the main subject.
There should be no visible light source to the viewer either, therefore the LED strips have to be baffled.
For the backdrop lighting, I decided to put the LED strips into some homemade light bars. The backdrop lighting also needs to be diffused a bit too, so that has to be incorporated into the light bars as well.

I made up the light bars using thick black card. The bars for the backdrop were made from a right angle black piece, with a curve shaped insert, made from white card to act as a deflector.

General_627.JPG

The white inserts were glued into the black strips and the LED strip was then attached to the bottom of the bar.

General_628.JPG General_629.JPG

To make the diffusers, I applied masking tape to both sides of a sheet of tracing paper. Once cut out, the resulting strips were attached across the opening of the light bars. For the blue LED bar, I coloured the diffuser tapes blue with a marker, to dull the light source a bit.

General_630.JPG General_632.JPG

I tidied everything up and these are the resulting two bars for the blue wash and the planet.....

General_633.JPG

Once I was happy with the position and effect of the lights on the backdrop, I glued the bars into position on the lower board.

A made up a small 10mm x 10mm box to house a female pin-header connector for the single LED that will highlight the moon. I filled the box with hot glue to make everything rigid. I can now plug in and out the LED. This was glued into position on the upper board.

General_631.JPG

Next up were the light bars for the model lighting. These were made up in a similar way to the others, but these do not have any diffusers.
I made up the card bars a little differently to the backdrop bars, as I wanted a 45deg projecting angle when attached to the board. So, I made up a triangular bar and incorporated baffles from black card. These baffles allow me to control the light, so that I can direct it where I want, without too much light spill.
The baffles can be adjusted to form a narrow slit or wide aperture for the light.

General_634.JPG

Once complete, the bars were attached to the front edge of the upper and lower boards of the case.

General_635.JPG .

Once I had everything installed to my satisfaction, I painted the boards and wiring with black schoolboard paint, to help eliminate any reflections. All the connections were made to the controller at the back of the background board and everything finalized and tested....

As you have already seen in my previous post, I then hung the model (at long last!) and connected the wires for the cockpit lighting.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is it!!!!

The model is COMPLETELY FINISHED!!!!! :animated:

I hope you all enjoyed the ride.

See ya!!!! :wave::biggrin:
 

Tonino

Well-Known Member
Now that home increased its value a lot!

Great work!!!! I want to have a beer in front of it sitting on the sofa with the author and talking about LED lighting!

:Drinks:
 

Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Da Warsteiner engineering system was workin' GREAAAATTTTT!!!!!!!!! :Drinks: :D:D:D

You have outdid yourself! Absolutely breath-taking!!!! THIS IS SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF!!!!!!!

:Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo::Bravo:
 

DanBKing

Dan the Man
Thanks, @Revell-Fan :)
A little/lot of Grolsch certainly aided in the endeavour too.;)
But a good portion of 'coffee' from the 'shop', helped enormously, with getting into the "feel" for the lighting ..... ;):smoker::smoker::wacky::)

And yeah, I am SUPER HAPPY with the outcome. :D :D :D

(EDIT: Oh, and a small dabble of Bavaria, too ..... :drinksmile:)
 
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Sky Seeker

Well Established Member
Dan,

FANTASTIC JOB! Thanks for sharing your journey of making this model as well as the final product - definitely deserving / worthy of model of merit :Bravo:. A fine example also how to display a model as well. Love the lighting:animated:. You sure put in a LOT of thought, heart, work, and quite a few beers along the way:Drinks:.

Take care & congratulations! You B the KING!:):Congrats:

Sky Seeker:bigcar:
 

Nexus9

Member
Dan, this has to be one of the best builds I've ever seen. And the clever little tricks you came up with to solve problems are to be applauded. A very fine piece of work. Thanks for sharing this with us.
 
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