Antsnest
Sr Member
According to Santa I was good this year and he brought me the new AMT 1/32nd TIE Fighter I'd asked for.
A really nice looking kit and it's been designed to make lighting easy but there's a few small tweaks I've decided to do to improve this a little
more.
The one major issue I did have with the kit out of the box, was that one half of the cockpit ball was pretty badly deformed in one corner. There
was a mis-alignment of nearly half an inch when the other two connection points were held together - far to much to just try and strap while
glueing. I'm not sure if this happened in transit - the box is very stuffed with parts - or whether it was deformed after pulling from the mold
whilst still warm.
My initial thought was to try to warm the part in very hot water (just off the boil) and hope I could pull it back into shape, but as it happened
after being submerged for 10-20 seconds it mostly returned to shape on it's own. A small misalignment remains, but this is now easily pulled into
place. I didn't take any pics before I heated it, but this is what I'm left with.
On to the enhancements - the 2 laser cannons are provided as clear inserts that fit into the fuselage and can be lit from behind, but only the
center part should be clear and ther rest needs to be light blocked and painted. The detail at the very front of these pieces is a bit simplified
and does not really represent the old style 5mm LED panel clips that were used, back to front, for these on the studio model, so I decided to
design and print some replacements. These now feature a separate inner lens part that will ultimately be printed in clear, but for now I just
printed test pieces in grey along with the outer tube which features the more accurate 'nozzle'
The back of the tube is hollowed out to 3mm to allow the direct insertion of a 3mm LED.
The engines on the rear also feature clear parts designed to be lit from inside, and while there is _some_ space between the cockpit ball and the
inside of the outer fuselage, there is not much and it looked like it would be fiddly to get something to line up properly. So out with the CAD
again and I made a couple of tiny little gizmos that will each hold a tiny 1206 SMD LED at exactly the right angle and position to shine directly
out of the engine port on each side. These fit snugly in the available space inside without getting in the way.
For the rest of the cockpit lighting I plan to make up a small PCB to sit in the lower section of the TIE and shine up some red LEDs through the
transparent floor. Number and placement still to be determined.
A really nice looking kit and it's been designed to make lighting easy but there's a few small tweaks I've decided to do to improve this a little
more.
The one major issue I did have with the kit out of the box, was that one half of the cockpit ball was pretty badly deformed in one corner. There
was a mis-alignment of nearly half an inch when the other two connection points were held together - far to much to just try and strap while
glueing. I'm not sure if this happened in transit - the box is very stuffed with parts - or whether it was deformed after pulling from the mold
whilst still warm.
My initial thought was to try to warm the part in very hot water (just off the boil) and hope I could pull it back into shape, but as it happened
after being submerged for 10-20 seconds it mostly returned to shape on it's own. A small misalignment remains, but this is now easily pulled into
place. I didn't take any pics before I heated it, but this is what I'm left with.
On to the enhancements - the 2 laser cannons are provided as clear inserts that fit into the fuselage and can be lit from behind, but only the
center part should be clear and ther rest needs to be light blocked and painted. The detail at the very front of these pieces is a bit simplified
and does not really represent the old style 5mm LED panel clips that were used, back to front, for these on the studio model, so I decided to
design and print some replacements. These now feature a separate inner lens part that will ultimately be printed in clear, but for now I just
printed test pieces in grey along with the outer tube which features the more accurate 'nozzle'
The back of the tube is hollowed out to 3mm to allow the direct insertion of a 3mm LED.
The engines on the rear also feature clear parts designed to be lit from inside, and while there is _some_ space between the cockpit ball and the
inside of the outer fuselage, there is not much and it looked like it would be fiddly to get something to line up properly. So out with the CAD
again and I made a couple of tiny little gizmos that will each hold a tiny 1206 SMD LED at exactly the right angle and position to shine directly
out of the engine port on each side. These fit snugly in the available space inside without getting in the way.
For the rest of the cockpit lighting I plan to make up a small PCB to sit in the lower section of the TIE and shine up some red LEDs through the
transparent floor. Number and placement still to be determined.
