Topic: JDeck's dioramas and displays.

[Tamer]

side glow eh? Sounds interesting.

[JDeck]

side glow eh? Sounds interesting.

I never heard of side glow fiber optics, until recently. The basic common type is end glow, you put a light source on one end and the light passes through to the other end. I believe the side glow is hollow, it's much thicker at 2.5mm. I'll have to get some and play around with it. I got a snowglobe kit that would make a good personal shield, but I'd rather have the hemispherical dome. I can probably make the 1/48 legion figures a dome shield. If 1/48 figures are 1.5", then a 4.5"-6" dome would work well.

I made a little Squad Shield Generator. It's a bit big for 1/48, but it'll just be a larger variant. I don't think I can make it any smaller while being able to fit everything inside.  It's mostly made of 1/144 Y-WING parts. I'll place the LED inside, and run the fiber optics out of the top, like in the game version. It'll need modifications once I get the LED in there. I think it'll be doable. I'll go ahead and order the parts I need.  I was able to find side glow fiber optics on Amazon, with a 1.5mm thickness, coincidentally the thickness of the penny.  So that'll work, I want to fit four strands of fiber optics in that device. 

[Tamer]

Cool project. Neat light kit. I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

[JDeck]

Cool project. Neat light kit. I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Thank you, Tamer. I got my Amazon packages in today. Star Wars Legion Rebel Commandos, 5.5" fillable Christmas ornament, and my side glow fiber optics. I finished detailing my generator, and I'm test fitting everything now. All I need is the lights coming in from Evan's designs, 3mm 9v purple bulb, with corresponding battery pack and switch.
     I cut the 3 ft. fiber optics into 8 pieces, I ended up hot gluing 4 of them onto the dome. It looks messy, but that was the only way.  So I covered the glue mess with clear blue and red paint, making a plasma effect. It needed something other than just the fiber optics.  It'll look really cool with the light passing through.

[Tamer]

Yep, gonna look cool all lit up. Nice.

Off to the front pages. I like what you did with the red and blue paint.

[JDeck]

Yep, gonna look cool all lit up. Nice.

Off to the front pages. I like what you did with the red and blue paint.

Well thank you  Tamer, yup just playing the waiting game. Model train software is really good about shipping, but they're based out of Colorado, which is a ways away. But seriously thank you Tamer. You make this happen. I've been here and I've seen forums come and go, I've gotten banned from a few. I really and truly enjoy it here. I can't go anywhere else  This is where I grew up, as a customizer. I've learned A TON, here  This is my home.  Seeing and sharing ideas is what it's all about. You've been diligent and patient, through, ups and downs. I just figured I'd reciprocate the support you've given me and everybody else throughout the years. I know all about some thankless jobs, but I believe I can speak for anyone who has been here. Thank you.

[Tamer]

Sniff. Sniff. Small tear. Appreciate the comments.

[JDeck]

Okay, I got my lighting kit. 9V 3mm purple bulb with 9V snap connector and switch. I don't have a base yet, I think I have a big enough scrap piece to do this. Anyway, I just wrapped electrical tape around the bulb and fiber optics, made my electrical connections and that's it. So now, I can either paint the figures or work on the base. I'm going with an Endor environment. Hoth would have been cool. It would have been like a badass snowglobe, but the figures wouldn't work for Hoth. Oh well.

[Tamer]

Wow that looks tough. I know you were setting wires and what not but that paint work really sets this off. Off the share on the front pages.

Man, Hoth would have been so cool. Heck I could see you doing quite a few environments like this, but yeah you are gonna have to try this with a Hoth Theme sometime. Man, wouldn't it be cool to do a SW Xmas Dio like this too. All kinds of ideas.

[JDeck]

Wow that looks tough. I know you were setting wires and what not but that paint work really sets this off. Off the share on the front pages.

Man, Hoth would have been so cool. Heck I could see you doing quite a few environments like this, but yeah you are gonna have to try this with a Hoth Theme sometime. Man, wouldn't it be cool to do a SW Xmas Dio like this too. All kinds of ideas.

Yeah you know, I proved the concept, it's looking just like I imagined. I'm really happy with how the generator itself turned out. Originally, I was just going to build a simple bow, but I looked at the reference pics, and realized it's made out of Y-WING parts.

This might sound dumb, but I always wanted to build a Christmas Ewok village. Little Christmas lights and a tiny Christmas tree, and a Ewok in a santa suit. I dunno. Lol.

[Starchaser]

Whoa, I'm way behind on commenting. I love how the lighting turned out on the "Cloud rider" speeder. But thus shield generator is off the hook , as they say. It looks fantastic. The fiber optics work well and your paint solution was really clever. I'm very impressed!

I think a Christmas Ewok village would be really fun, BTW

[hemble]

Damn that shield and lighting looks awesome mate.

Ron

[JDeck]

Whoa, I'm way behind on commenting. I love how the lighting turned out on the "Cloud rider" speeder. But thus shield generator is off the hook , as they say. It looks fantastic. The fiber optics work well and your paint solution was really clever. I'm very impressed!

I think a Christmas Ewok village would be really fun, BTW

Thank you Starchaser! Yeah I'm going to build a non Christmas Ewok village. Maybe later I can Christmas it up.

Damn that shield and lighting looks awesome mate.

Ron

Thank you Ron. At the moment I'm stuck on how I want to run the wires. It's difficult to place the dome assembly to the base/ lightbulb. I'll figure it out.

[JDeck]

I've been super busy, I always forget how busy it is in the fall. Fall is also the time of year when I get into an Ewok kick. I don't know why, maybe it's the leaves changing? I have a tradition on Thanksgiving Eve to watch the Ewoks movies, while drinking Moscow mules.
   I've been wanting to build an Ewok village for a long time. My other Ewok display is cool, but I need the village. This is just a mock-up. It's just going to be a display for my Ewoks. I'm not looking to build some elaborate diorama.

I made the trees by first balling up some brown packaging paper, then wrapped foil around it, and glued brown paper around that. Then I used instant papier mache to make the bark. That ended up taking a couple of days to dry, even though it's "fast drying". Then I painted them. I bought these natural sticks on Amazon they're 5" in length, and fairly uniformed in thickness. I ended up getting 400 of them. I think it'll be enough. About 1/3 are not straight enough, but I can still use them for something else. I just mocked up the flooring using foam core and scrap pieces of foam board. I made it about an inch smaller, so the sticks will overlap, and it won't be visible. I'll glue it all together and paint it Black.

[Tamer]

Now I like your Thanksgiving Tradition. Mine usually involves a new craft beer (anything but pumpkin), but I like your idea. Off to share your great new project. I like the work so far!