I decided to take the plunge and start my first LED project. So without any further ado, let me present to you...

Part I - the Saga of the Italian Raider

A while ago, I was planning on gifting my brother a Raider Corvette. As most of you are probably aware, those are kind of hard to find. I stumbled upon an Italian vendor purportedly selling a Raider Expansion in English. Of course it turned out to really be in Italian and the vendor was not responding to my e-mails. So I was left with an Italian Raider (not to forget the super-valuable "Ammiraglio Ozzel") that I had no immediate use for.

What better ship to potentially ruin by pulling it apart?

I started by taking the wings off. The lower one came out without a hitch. The pegs for the left and right wings broke instead of sliding out, so I'll have to glue them back on at the very end.

Then, I followed @Khyros ' advice and drilled out the engine before opening the model. Drilling into a miniature feels strange and kind of wrong. I took my time with it, using slower settings and regularly checking my progress with a flashlight. I used a 3mm drill, the same size as the LED. This is as far as the drill went in before hitting the support. But the little Raider's misadventures were far from over:

That moment when… you're not sure whether you're about to do something really cool or something really stupid. The knife slid in easily, but pulling the two halves apart was impossible and I ended up just cutting the support.

Once I had the Raider opened up, I decided that the support was in the way of my planned LED placement, so I cut it out and filed down the remains. I also drilled into the hole on the bottom because that's where the wires will come out.

That was it for day one. All in all, opening the model and preparing it for the LED took me about an hour. I didn't break anything important, so I considered it a success so far.

A few days later, I finally found the time to sit down and do the LED work proper. First up, I soldered the LED to the wires and placed it inside the model:

Once I'd cleaned the dust and taken a blow dryer to the shrink tubing, it looked a bit tidier than this. The crown of the LED fit right into the hole I'd drilled without going through and while there was no need to fasten it, I held it in place with some electrical tape. Better safe than sorry.

Next, the moment of truth: testing the lights!

We have ignition!

The project itself has been a breeze. Opening the model took me an hour on a Friday night, placing the LED and soldering everything into place took me another two on Tuesday.

Finding the right tools and materials, however, has been really tiresome. If you have a good hobby electronics or miniature electronics store in your vicinity, count your blessings. I've had several employees tell me there were no such things as 0.3mm drills, small clamps, or even wiring smaller than 0.25mm². I'd had to order most things online and in most cases, shipping was more expensive than what I was ordering. A decent set of locksmith files was invaluable after a cheapo file broke.

You might notice that the wiring goes out of frame for now. This is because BEC plugs will not fit through the slot in the base. I was mightily annoyed by that and now I'm considering my options. After all, I'd like to hide the coin cell battery under the base of the model. If anyone has an idea or knows a kind of connector that will fit through the slot, I'm always open for suggestions!

7 hours ago, SleepyDad said:

We have ignition!

The project itself has been a breeze. Opening the model took me an hour on a Friday night, placing the LED and soldering everything into place took me another two on Tuesday.

Finding the right tools and materials, however, has been really tiresome. If you have a good hobby electronics or miniature electronics store in your vicinity, count your blessings. I've had several employees tell me there were no such things as 0.3mm drills, small clamps, or even wiring smaller than 0.25mm². I'd had to order most things online and in most cases, shipping was more expensive than what I was ordering. A decent set of locksmith files was invaluable after a cheapo file broke.

You might notice that the wiring goes out of frame for now. This is because BEC plugs will not fit through the slot in the base. I was mightily annoyed by that and now I'm considering my options. After all, I'd like to hide the coin cell battery under the base of the model. If anyone has an idea or knows a kind of connector that will fit through the slot, I'm always open for suggestions!

Nicely done! As for your question regarding options for the base... This was one of the first ones I did like this, and I've drastically cleaned it up since then. I use LOSI connectors ( https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Battery-Charging-Quadcopter-Multirotors/dp/B01MXE9IE8/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=losi+connector&qid=1571241863&sr=8-6 ) on the base, and JST connectors ( https://www.amazon.com/Letool®30-1-25mm-Female-Connector-Cables/dp/B013JRWCBU/ref=pd_sbs_201_1/140-7988835-2191006?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B013JRWCBU&pd_rd_r=30ac0d66-be51-4b13-a630-2920cc5b11d6&pd_rd_w=RsOJT&pd_rd_wg=sMEey&pf_rd_p=52b7592c-2dc9-4ac6-84d4-4bda6360045e&pf_rd_r=C1NDW2EQTARV1BYSY0G6&psc=1&refRID=C1NDW2EQTARV1BYSY0G6 ) between the fin and ship instead of all of these fickle magnets. But the overall concept is the same. Links just for reference.

Part II - Dad doesn't have time to play with spaceships

This little project of mine has just been dormant since October while I fiddled with other stuff (work, apparently?). A few weeks ago, I found time to dust off my ships and finally finished the Raider.

To connect the ship to the battery, I used a JST connector (thanks for the suggestion, @Khyros !). I cut it down to minimal size so that it would fit through the hole in the base. The ship is now permanently connected to the fin (a WSF model by @melminiatures , painted black). It's a simple, yet effective setup:

I glued the wings back on, added a bit of velcro to the underside of the base and the battery to keep it in place during games, and here we finally are!

Next up: A spare Assault Frigate Mk2 that I've got lying around. I'm torn on whether to try my hand at fiber optics or not.