Hey Gang!! I'm gonna go ahead and throw my ROTF Optimus Prime "Fully Illuminated" WIP into the ever growing stacks of Primes! LOL!

Although this is a WIP thread for my Prime, I would like to think of it as a companion piece for all the mods that have been being produced for ROTF Prime! Specifically regarding electronics.

One of the things I love about Radicons is how we all tackle the same obstacle completely differently! This really enhances the hobby and allows us to grow as a community of artists!

I will be giving a brief overview on the mod, with the intent on making a full blown tutorial later on.

The issue at hand is Prime's green eyes, WTF? But look at all the great solutions that have popped up! Encline chose the direct route, and corrected the problem with a new blue LED! Straight forward and super effective! Frenzy_Rumble chose an ultra efficient path by painting the existing LED with clear blue! Innovative and displays an economy of motion and time management!

Both techniques are successful, but to my knowledge still only light the eyes during the "I am Optimus Prime" phrase. Well, I wanted to have the option to have a dedicated LED rig for his eyes. Real estate in the head is a premium, but I got it all in 'ol Prime's noggin! On top of it, I STILL retain the green LED that is activated with the voice. I will take F_R's route here and just paint it clear blue.

Basically, I have 1 3mm blue LED, long shaft SPST micro switch, and 3 hearing aid batteries, size A-10 with styrene battery housing jammed in Op's head! Insanium in the cranium! A correct circuit would also include a 47 ohm resistor, but I opted against it citing space issues over battery life, which is a negligible difference without the resistor.

Until I work up a proper tutorial, mull over the pics and feel free to ask away! It's a pretty straight forward circuit, the only obstacle being the micro switch. The switch is SPST (on), which is a "momentary" switch, the eyes would only light up as long as you had pressure on the switch. The solution, fabricate a pressure switch overlay! Now, all you do to light up his eyes is turn the screw on the back of his head 1/8th turn in either direction, back to center for off! Easy-peasy!

As this is also my WIP thread, I'll update as the electronics are implemented. On the slate are blue fiber optics for the cab/running lights, white LED headlights, red tail lights, amber turn signals and light up swords, possibly using electroluminescent card.

There are a few threads floating around already showing the fiber optics during a test run. ENJOY GANG!!!!!!!!!!---BH

 

Nice one David, but where's the toaster? I swear you said you'd get a toaster in there too! Haha, just kidding, that's insane!

Haven't heard from you in days, now I know why!

 

Maybe there was a toaster in there, I smelled something burning the whole time I was trying to figure it out! 

 

 , maybe it was grey matter burnin up tryin to figure out what you needed to do? Lol, I kid, that's an awesome mod though, I hope that you give a nice tut. for this. Though, I myself would just get rid of the other LED light and opt for the one. It might give ya some room?? Either way, wicked idea, and I love the fiber optics for the running lights, will you be running those through out the figure or just the lights on the roof top? By this I speak of the running lights along the bottom of the cab and the front bumper/grill. And light up tail light will be verry nahce. Great work so far.

 

Yep, allll ooover the place! Trying to get as accurate as possible with the lighting! The front bumper/headlights are gonna be a big project! Hey, there's that burning smell again! 

 

DUDE!!!! Nice. I have a new Prime in the works with a lot of the same mods. But different of course. Now I can steal... I mean use some of these methods. Thanks for sharing and I know this will be SICK!!!!

 

Hah!! I love your LED work man! The Fallen musta been a pain! I need a set of your hands for this Prime too! Hope he turns out as good as I envision, should have the cab lights done tomorrow, then I'll start the dreaded bumper/grill area! 

 

Where did you get the fiber optics?

 

Different places really. I have a couple real nice hobby shops in town and the closer of the two has true fiber optics for railroad dioramas. That stuff comes in clear, but you can paint it with clear paint. Plastruct makes "luminescent" rod in various diameters and colors. I also use acrylic rod. I picked up one of those funky fiber optic lamps from Ikea too! It has very thin (but fragile) strands I picked up specifically for a certain custom. 

 

Genius I say!!!!!! Genius.... Now where is that clapping guy!!!

 

Awesome. I cant wait for your tutorial since i cant figure out how to do this by those pics. lol.

 

great work! on a side note have you thought of putting orange leds in the smoke stacks to make it look like flamethrowers?

 

Alright, i think i can figure this out for myself as long as i get all the right parts but theres one thing im unsure about, i'll highlight it. So what i need is: "1 3mm blue LED, long shaft SPST micro switch,3 hearing aid batteries, size A-10. A correct circuit would also include a 47 ohm resistor, but I opted against it citing space issues over battery life, which is a negligible difference without the resistor."

What does that last bit mean? Do i need to buy a resistor or not?

BTW, any updates on this'un?

 

no you do not, there's no room and the extra battery life the resistor would give you is negligible anyway.

 

Ah i see. Right then, time for some internet treasure huntin'.

 

that looks awesome! i cant wait for a tut!

 

and, i can't wait for this prime...

 

that is soooooooo cool putting LEDs on the top of the windshields. man theyre small!

 

Might as well add the ones on his diaphragm, you know, those little golf ball looking things that are attached to the big red part under the windshield? They are supposed to be lights and are very much brighter than any other lights on the body. Plus it seems to be turned on every time Optimus is in dark places or night time.

BTW, while you're at it, is it possible to route all the electronics on this guy to a different power source? I have this wild idea which, in short, trying to get rid of the battery pack and get rid of the butt area as well to make him more proportionate (as to how I can accomplice that, I have no freakin' idea). In this stupid idea, I'm thinking about casting the cylinders on his back and use them as battery canisters. What do you think? It's crazy enough it's possible right?

 

the tutorial is coming along!

Coming along very nicely, I can only imagine the paint!

Fiber optics actually, but I will have some .5mm leds installed.

Oh yeah! I plan on them as well, totalling out at over 60 points of illumination!

Anything is possible, you could actually install a barrel connector and power him up off a wall adapter! The canisters are an option I have contemplated, just not sure of the max voltage I fit in them.

This Prime will actually have dedicated power modules all over him. In other words, the head has its own batteris, the body, arms, etc.

Spoiler

front grill too!

Thanks for all the interest guys! I will have tutorials together for most all aspects of the lighting mods, but I have a new boss and he's a real slave driver!