Thanks to Randy Nuebert of VooDoo FX’s I have everything I need to finish lighting this Star Destroyer.
I got a lot more fiber optics installed yesterday. Today I’m doing more top and bottom and installing the engine lights.

The 1/32 Cooper is coming along well. I did a test body and painted it Royale blue as I’m getting a bit tired of BRG. This tells me how much work still needs to be done on the body master before I make the final mold for production.
I worked on the test frame some more. As it turns out the front axles are not dead center of the body openings but rather forward of center and closer to the nose. I moved it for an accurate fit.

All it needs is the intake cover for the carburetors. And I’m good to go. The body came out great.

John Warren from New Zealand I made contact with again and this fine modeler makes tires, rims, and inserts for 1/32 scale slot cars. He has exactly the parts I need to make my cars accurate to the full sized car. He is currently making the parts for me. Here’s some picture of his work and parts he makes. He also is building a Cooper seen here with the blank body and the accurate parts and tires he makes.

Still I have the windscreen, intake cover and exhaust to make. All these parts will be molded in silicone and produced in resin. Lots to do still. 

So here I wait for the post office to deliver something 6 hours from home over 5 days. My much needed package from Voodoo FX! It has all my lights in it for the engine bells and more. Still I wait.

But in the meantime I found some more warm white LEDs and started adding more pepper of tiny windows to the hull. However after looking at the actual Star Destroyer models used in the movie I found they are hardly lite at all. As is typical of fan models they are all over lighted and too bright. I want this model to reflect more the movie models and the later CGI which was loyal to the original ILM models.

So today I’m going to move some of the lights to the other side of the hull not yet done and start more on the tower and sub structures on the hull but not too many.

The hangar bay looks great. I’m very happy with that outcome. All Fiber done with optics and the correct brightness.

One the slot car I struggled with the test frame and got it to fit inside and have the axles the correct height. From this I can duplicate the correct frame each time I build one. However I think I’ll have Mark 3D print a frame I can mold and produce out of resin for the eventual kits to be.

  I got a pressure pot yesterday from Harbor Freight. May not seem like a big deal but it is to me. Finally I’ll be able to cast small resin parts bubble free. The idea here is you mix resin, place it in your small silicone molds and put it inside this  pressure pot. Then increase the pressure to around 30 pounds and it forces the resin into all the tiny areas of the mold crushing the bubbles. No waste and a perfect part every time.

I did some more on the Star Destroyer. Still waiting for my lights to get here I started to drill holes, rigged some fiber optics, finalized the base fitting and did the wiring to the power sources for the lights. Works great!

Lastly I built a test frame for the Cooper. Now I’m on the net tirelessly locating the correct sized and shaped tires, wheels and incerts for this car. Time to build a car and see how she runs.

It’s up early. Enjoy!

A very mixed bag yesterday and it seems it’s going to be that way for a while. Good!  

The Star Deatroyer’s base is coming along well. This un-screws from the base so the model can be shipped. I can’t begin to imagine shipping this model on the base.

I opened the second mold in a series of molds to make this T51 copper pristine as possible. I cast up a test body to see what still needs to be done and there’s a bit more. But it came out excellent.

The sub is now pretty worked out in my mind and starting to shape up well for me. It took a bit of adjusting and head scratching but next week I should be able to frame up the bow and stern.

While working on the lighting for the Star Destroyer I realized quickly that with all the LEDs I had built up over all the long years of doing this stuff I didn’t have a single bright blue LED.

I got on the phone right away and called one of my favorite people in the world. Randy Nuebert of VooDoo effects. The last thing I wanted to do was get on the net and search for LED’s or order them from someone I did know. I like to support my local businesses, friends, and hobby shops. Last resort is Amazon in China.

Randy answered with his usual happy voice and said “how can I help you?” I told him the model and he knew in an instant exactly what I needed and why. Next week I’ll have the blue lights, more 220 ohm resistors and a selection of warm white lights to simulate those incandescent lights used in those old models back in the 70’s. 
He also advised me not to overlight the model as so many do these days. Don’t make them too bright either. The idea here is to make the model appear as it did in the film.

It was just great to talk to him. He’s one of the good guys and the very best.
I did a little work with placing fiber optics and making holes in the engine bells for the lighting. What I need to do before I go any further is make a base and set this model up with the microphone jack and brass pole. That’s today’s project.

I worked on the sub a bit and did a test sheet of styrene on the hull. This is going to work.
Then I put some time in on the slot car body making yet another mold on the master. From this mold I’ll make a car body to test. I’ll make another use to open up the scribed holes in it for the exhaust, seat, nose intake, gas caps and so on. I’ll add anything I missed to this body and then make another mold for production.

Mark Helmick brought a bunch of Laser Blast parts for the action figure guns and the parts for the slot car body. I’ll be molding the slot car parts next week and making production runs on them along with the bodies.
Still to do are the exhaust pipes, gas caps, and the wind screen. A lot of work goes into making a miniature car.