Calling all sparkys! Post your pics of your custom work! Please share your how-to's and where you can get parts for your project! In my opinion LED's and fiber optics look better than paint, or are at least cooler lol. So let's see 'em!

P.S. Nothing against the great work the painters on this site do, I'm just a sucker for anything electrical lol.

EDIT: fixed some Grammer.

I can afford paint.

I can't afford Electrical bits and bobs.

Or I would.

Here's pics of my first attempt at lighting the engines of an ISD. I'm not very happy with it but I passed the point of no return and had to finish it. I would NOT recommend using 20 AWG wires again lol. That was stupid and was the whole reason why I broke the legs on 4 LED's and in the end couldn't completely close the ISD back up (there is a small crack but it isn't noticeable when playing). The soldering job was one out of hell. A blind gorilla with it's thumbs cut off could have done a better job lol.

I can afford paint.

I can't afford Electrical bits and bobs.

Or I would.

I do electrical because I know it.

I don't paint because I don't have a steady hand or know-how.

Its really not that expensive. The most expensive thing you could buy would be a Handy-Helper (also really good for painting squadrons which I'm butchering as well!) like this:

That was the most expensive thing I bought and it came in around CAN$25. The next thing was a soldering iron which was $10 (piece of **** but it got the job done). The only other things you have to buy that are electrical is wire, LED's, resistors, battery and battery holder, and solder. Those I would be surprised if you you spent more than $20-$40 unless you bought huge resistor and LED sets or something. LED's and resistors are like no more than a dollar each. And besides the solder and wire you'll have plenty of leftover and can be used on other projects. I also used a drill and a hot glue gun but those aren't really exclusively "electrical bits and bobs".

EDIT: the spacing of the pic and the words around looked bad

Oh, I know what I'm doing with it, too My Father was a Grade-A Sparky when I was a kid...

Back when I lived in Australia, we had **** Smith's Electronics, which was fantastic, because I could go in with a handful of dollars and just pick up components I needed on the spot, completely separate... So I'd know what to get and where to get it...

Now I'm living in Canada... Not an Effing Clue.

I do own a heatless soldering iron (that I havn't touched in 6 years) and a microdrill for Fiber Optic. So when I know where and how to get components for cheap, I'll be giving another try.

As a Going Away present, I made my old man a Fully-Lit, Windowed DS9... SO MANY FIBER OPTIC DRILL HOLES.

Oh, I know what I'm doing with it, too My Father was a Grade-A Sparky when I was a kid...

Back when I lived in Australia, we had **** Smith's Electronics, which was fantastic, because I could go in with a handful of dollars and just pick up components I needed on the spot, completely separate... So I'd know what to get and where to get it...

Now I'm living in Canada... Not an Effing Clue.

I do own a heatless soldering iron (that I havn't touched in 6 years) and a microdrill for Fiber Optic. So when I know where and how to get components for cheap, I'll be giving another try.

As a Going Away present, I made my old man a Fully-Lit, Windowed DS9... SO MANY FIBER OPTIC DRILL HOLES.

I still gotta learn about fiber optics once I get my fleet LED'fied.

I live on the Prairies here in Canada so I know your pain about getting a line on cheap components. Thankfully I found http://www.dx.com they are cheap and have free shipping but it takes a few weeks to get here. I plan on buying most of my stuff from them from now on.

I can afford paint.

I can't afford Electrical bits and bobs.

Or I would.

My solution for that has been plug/play solutions like Powered Play Games . They're fairly inexpensive, and when you combine their solutions with cheap fiber optics from Amazon, you get something pretty sexy. I lit my X-Wing Raider, Falcon, and Decimator and am in the process of doing a Gozanti.

I am in the process of lighting a ISD at the moment. I have the holes drilled, wires ran, and everything set up but am now hitting a small issue-

First is finding a switch small enough for the job. I have spent weeks searching, and actually purchased 2 variants both of which ended up being a bust. One ended up being too large, and other wasn't marked as such, but ended up being a momentary switch and so pretty impractical for the project. I was getting pretty exasperated trying to find a switch small enough so my current fix was to ground out the peg hole and mount the switch into the slot so whenever the stand is slotted into the hole the lights will be on. But that is less than ideal. What are you using as your switch?

I am in the process of lighting a ISD at the moment. I have the holes drilled, wires ran, and everything set up but am now hitting a small issue-

First is finding a switch small enough for the job. I have spent weeks searching, and actually purchased 2 variants both of which ended up being a bust. One ended up being too large, and other wasn't marked as such, but ended up being a momentary switch and so pretty impractical for the project. I was getting pretty exasperated trying to find a switch small enough so my current fix was to ground out the peg hole and mount the switch into the slot so whenever the stand is slotted into the hole the lights will be on. But that is less than ideal. What are you using as your switch?

I had the same problem when I did my first one. You can be uber cheap and just remove the battery and not have any switch (also saves on space and time soldering). I also ordered a couple of these battery holder/switch . I haven't received them in the mail yet (they are really slow getting here but shipping is free) so I can't tell you how good or bad they are but they look pretty tiny. Another user on this forum used them on a VSD so you can get a sense of how small they are.

EDIT: I received my battery holder with a built in switch and I gotta say they are worth the money! Totally worth picking up if you are looking for a power supply.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11259

I've used it in the belly of my ISD. It takes a single AAA battery. The nice thing is that it ups the voltage from 1.2v to 5v. 5v is more than enough to power your LED's and in fact you will want to solder in a resistor to step down the voltage to 3v or 4v depending on your LED. And of course, it's going to last a lot longer than a wafer type battery.

I currently have 9 LED's powered off of one of these. I'm running 7 blue LED's for the ISD engines and then a white LED (connected to fiber) in the belly and another white LED (connected to fiber) in the top for the window lights.

It greatly simplifies wiring. I would say the only down side is that the battery is only good for about 3 hours and then it visibly begins to fade. However, I am powering all LED's at there brightest and I will have to say the blue engine lights are 'eye-searingly' bright. Adding a high resistor to these LED's will bring down their power a bit...and I think (I could be wrong on this) might help conserve the power draw.

@jasonkc25 wow, beautiful work!

Thanks, I have to credit Kuk111 and his ISD fiber optic mod that can be found here: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/198637-isd-full-optics-mod/

He inspired me to go beyond just doing engine lights and adding fiber optics.

Freaking GORGEOUS! Love it! Love it! LOVE IT!

The lights, the paint job! Beautiful!

Another option is this guy:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11259

I've used it in the belly of my ISD. It takes a single AAA battery. The nice thing is that it ups the voltage from 1.2v to 5v. 5v is more than enough to power your LED's and in fact you will want to solder in a resistor to step down the voltage to 3v or 4v depending on your LED. And of course, it's going to last a lot longer than a wafer type battery.

I currently have 9 LED's powered off of one of these. I'm running 7 blue LED's for the ISD engines and then a white LED (connected to fiber) in the belly and another white LED (connected to fiber) in the top for the window lights.

It greatly simplifies wiring. I would say the only down side is that the battery is only good for about 3 hours and then it visibly begins to fade. However, I am powering all LED's at there brightest and I will have to say the blue engine lights are 'eye-searingly' bright. Adding a high resistor to these LED's will bring down their power a bit...and I think (I could be wrong on this) might help conserve the power draw.

First off, that work is beautiful! I totally gotta go back and do that to mine. Absolutely love it.

What are you using for wire? I'm having trouble finding suitable wire

You guys need to do a list of supplies and a step by step I would love to learn to do this.

You guys need to do a list of supplies and a step by step I would love to learn to do this.

I think I will for my next one

Anyone ever try to add sound effects? I'm interested in doing that but have no idea where to begin.

Anyone ever try to add sound effects? I'm interested in doing that but have no idea where to begin.

I've been thinking about doing sound effects. I'm just not sure if you could fit everything inside. So right now my only idea would be to add it to the underside of the model base. But like you,

I'm not sure where to begin.

Im still lighting my ships (will post a brief how-to guide soon) but after that I will see what my next project will be.

I think you would need to use an app with a phone to do sound effects. You could probably use Bluetooth to connect a small speaker either inside or under the base.

I think you would need to use an app with a phone to do sound effects. You could probably use Bluetooth to connect a small speaker either inside or under the base.

I was wondering if the sound effect guy would weigh in on this lol.

Your turn counter looks sweet! Do you have a video or pictures of it?

I was wondering if the sound effect guy would weigh in on this lol.

Your turn counter looks sweet! Do you have a video or pictures of it?

Yup! It's linked from on the github page for the code:

I was wondering if the sound effect guy would weigh in on this lol.Your turn counter looks sweet! Do you have a video or pictures of it?

Yup! It's linked from on the github page for the code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9OXkD8ghBs

Ah yes I remember seeing that a while back! Looks sweet! Do you use it frequently?

Ah yes I remember seeing that a while back! Looks sweet! Do you use it frequently?

Did it always require the laptop work?

Did it always require the laptop work?

It didn't use a laptop. The Arduino Yun ran everything but is an expensive board at about $80. I think an Arduino clone and an audio board that supports MicroSD could cut the total cost to about $30 before the speaker.