Heya boys 'n girls, I just finished a really cool little project. I haven't shelved the CR90, don't worry, I just got a little distracted with a side project that turned out to be a really cool little idea. I noticed a long time ago that the main engines of the Slave I mini are almost exactly the same diameter as a 5mm LED. I also noticed that I had a surplus of yellow 5mm LEDs.

"Hmmm. I wonder if the mini is that hard to disassemble," I wondered. I didn't really want to risk one of my Firesprays on an experiment, but as luck would have it I saw that one of the two I had was missing its socket. I asked FFG for a replacement, and before it arrived I went about disassembling the miniature. It turned out to be rather easy, because the factory uses superglue, which is brittle and easy to break if you gently rock the joint back and forth.

Once I had it apart, I went about constructing the lighting circuit. It went really quickly. So quickly in fact that I forgot to take any pictures of it while it was under construction. Sorry 'bout that.

But in any case, I think it's pretty hard to argue with the results:

And in case you wondered how I got it all squeezed in there, here's a pic of the interior bits:

It all fits together pretty well, too:

**** nice, great job

"Here's a pics of the interior bits"

Nice tease.

I hope you will edit and put up the correct image (cause some of us are very curious as to how you did it).

And that is total awesome sauce!

Already took care of it, actually.

Get a set of hose, like the ones you wear to bed and slip one over that desk lamp. You wonderful modeler, and horrible picture taker you!

Get a set of hose, like the ones you wear to bed and slip one over that desk lamp. You wonderful modeler, and horrible picture taker you!

Lol!

Heh, I never claimed to be a good photographer (ironic since my last job was photography for GE).

Anyway, thanks for the advice! There needs to be a photography thread...

BTW I am being serious. Just a white or black knee high hose over the lamp will improve the photos a hell of a lot.

Do not use skin colored, unless you want orange-yellow pictures.

See how wonderful my glorious pictures are...oh the majesty, the triumph, and splendor of it all!

You can get well lit images without that horrible glare.

If you use a paper-towel held in place with a good rubber-band that works too.

Tried putting a paper towel over the lamp, and the result is basically the same:

It has to be my camera's settings, but I have no idea what to do to fix them. For the record, it's a Nikkon Coolpix P80. I have autofocus on, and the exposure setting is automatic.

You are not using the built in flash?

Sweet job.

You are not using the built in flash?

I turned the flash off because it illuminated the backside and washed out the engine glow.

Yeah I figured that, but wanted to ask.

Okay try to shine your lamp at the wall, instead of the model, with nothing over the bulb, but the lamp shade. The light reflecting off the wall should be better. Have the lamp and model close to the wall when you take your picture. I am assuming that you have a light colored or white wall...

Alright, I tried that and it seemed to work better:

Perhaps a piece of paper or some other white surface angled toward the model would work?

Now you have it my dear fellow!

The rest is kinda just messing around with the setup. I think your cameras ISO setting is high too, and that can be adjusted. Lower is better, say at 60%'ish rather than 100% which is what it looks like it is set to now.

Good job!

Thanks so much for the help! Google has been a poor source for information on this, so I just went with my gut. But I'm grateful for the help. I'll look for the ISO setting and see about dialing it down.

Great mod and great photography advice!

Cool!

Okay, the ISO setting was on auto, so I turned it to 64 and got this:



I don't think this is an improvement, though.

Yeah these cameras have their own mood...lol...so let it do the auto thing but keep adjusting the lighting as we have covered already.

Heh, I'll try other combos. I want to get this right because I intend to eBay a few more of these and want to make my minis look great.

I recommend not shooting the LEDs on against a dark background. The human eye has a very wide range of contrast, but most cameras do not. Try a grey background; that might help even it out a bit.

I also recommend the stronger light from the top, and get a piece of white paper to reflect light on the front (while you're shooting the back LEDs).

Fantastic light work, by the way. Does that inner bits part just slide on and off to remove the battery or is there a switch?

Thanks for the compliment. There is a switch on the back, right below the bar-style engine.

I really wanted to shoot the pics of it against a starfield. I've seen work by guys like ZombieHedgehog who can shoot nice photos of their lit models against black backgrounds and it comes out just fine.

The later pictures were alot better op