Aoshima 1/24 Daihatsu Copen

Finally, this little critter is considered done; after giving me hell loads of problem.

Ok, photo first, sharing later.

Car Exterior

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Front Rim & Disc Brake System

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Belakang.... :p

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Front Light & Signal Light

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Car Interior (Light Grey color scheme)

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Metal Transfer Key Hole

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Some photos on a different color background setting..... (Click to view a 800x600 full size)







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Basically, there r a few mistakes n lessons learned from this build; pretty much most of them could be avoided.

The main thing caught me in surprise was the Tamiya primer; which seems to be reacting when there's a wet coat where thinner's strong. So far has never encounter this problem with Gunze's primer before.

Besides that, the fitting for this kit is not as perfect as the usual Tamiya car kit I build, especially the front windscreen. The problem, however could be easily countered by simply heat up the part n manually bend them.

Other than that, this is pretty much a very fun build, stress free n experience a few things I had never tried before.

Diorama: Laser Pointer II

Update: 1st November 2011

This is a brief record of how i m going to make the laser pointer:


This is the brand i use, can be easily find in the mraket. Cost is around RM4~RM8.



tear away the sticker n the seamline is revealed.




Use a plier, slowly pull out the top part.



This is the circuit board. The whole thing includes a UV light LED, and a laser pointer.



As u can see, the part with the spring is actually connected to the negative side of a battery; while, like many other torch light design, the positive is actually the entire metal part of the device that our hand is holding. the electric current is actually transfer via the metal body of the laser holder n the metal part at the front.

*Note: the switch is actually a contact switch n not an on/off switch which i made a mistake while i edited the photo. contact switch means, u press the switch, the circuit complete n there's current. But once u release, it automatically cut off.




I realised that the so-called "laser" is actually a focused LED light. The lens inside it has made the redius of the light source become very small. As a result, it looks like one point. In fact, when u move the source further away, the dot will become bigger.
It's not laser afterall....
The second photo shows the lens that's initially set inside the metal tube at the front. I accidently make the the thing out. I was trying to solder the wire onto the metal part, hence i heat up the part . As a result, everything inside popped out (one wasted T_T)



Study a bit on the circuit board; it's a fairly simple one.


Cut off the UV LED. Besides that, i have decided not to mess with the contact switch, but instead, i find creating a bypass/loop is much easier.

Reason for doing so it, the transistor n LED inside is extremely sensitive. Without any protection, when i connect it to a current, thru my skin, very small current exist n cause an extremely small short circuit. very small till normally we dont even notice it. But here, it will immediately burn the laser pointer.


solder one side, with a brass rod from a single core wire.


Done! Huhu.

Note: again, the board is so sensitive, when i was soldering n i wasn't careful n made mistake, keep on redoing on it the heat will also burn it...





solder the negative.



wrap it first, just in case anything happened. protection is important.



now the positive.



Done.

Yes, it's not the best looking laser pointer, in fact, looks like a mummy sausage. But as long as it gets the job done i m ok. Besides that, everything is 80% hidden, so i couldn't care more.....





This is all for now..... i hope i wont get bashed as bad as my previous stick boy post.... afterall, electric n light can be quite usual in diorama building....


C&C welcome

Diorama: Laser Pointer

This is actually a diorama i had the idea for almost 3 years. The concept is a very comic like diorama: A GM is trying to sneak into enemy base to plant some bombs. However, whenhe touch down, he realised there r already 10 guns pointed at him.

The guns will be represented by laser pointer light.

Initially, I was trying to create some movement too, just that the unstable hand we have when we r holding something. I've tried numerous methods, with vibrating motor, spring etc. However, in the end, decided to call it off because of a few issues that i cannot solve: the main thing is the randomness of each laser point.

So basically, this is how the diorama looks like (drawing):

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Kit: MG 1/100 GM Kai (Bash with the foot part of an MG GM Custom)
Base: 4 pcs of Kotobukiya Mechanical Chain base (Er… Well, at least one of them is genuine Koto base….)

When the GB first started, we had some discussion in the thread about the difference of a diorama n a vignette: the size, the story telling, interaction among different elements in the whole piece etc. From the discussion, if there’s of any importance, I guess what I m doing here is considered more of a vignette than a full diorama.


Yes, there’s only 1 kit.


Concept: It’s a scene, a frozen scene of awkwardness. A GM or a group of GMs was trying to infiltrate a Zeonic base/hanger to plant some time bomb. It’s during night time, or time that the hanger/base supposed to have the least guard. So he dropped, and second before he’s going to touch down, he realized there’r 10 laser pointer on all over its body. Yes, a troop of Zakus are aiming their weapon at this shocked n stunned visitor.
This is absolutely awkward, n embarrassed, well if the GM still have it to feel embarrassed. Time freezes, air freezes, everything’s frozen.
It’s like u r just trying to convince your wife u didn’t buy anymore gunplay. But while telling lies after lies, n when she’s almost about to believe u, a resit of Graffiti Toys showing RM700 for a PGOO suddenly slip of your pocket and falls face up onto the ground. The word “RM750. Thank you. Please come again” is clearly visible to both of you…..

Yes, it’s something similar to that. The moment of total silence before all hells break loose…..


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This is how it’s going to look like: Koto chain base as wall n ground. One GM’s hanging in the middle, while 10 laser pointers r pointing on its body.



This is a brief description on how the laser pointers r going to be hidden.
The bad part about this arrangement is the distance between the GM n the laser pointers in relative to the height of both objects. Seems like I m going to have some tough time adjusting the location of the pointers since the angle is pretty big.

Sorry, since I m still rushing the project, no photographs is being taken…..



Name/Title:

Currently I m still struggling with the title of this dio/vignette.
There r 3 types of direction I could go for for this dio:

1. Conventional title:
Actually I m not so keen of this…… yeah let’s forget about it…..BORING…..
“ Ambush”
“Lamb Among The Wolves”


2. Conversation:
I m thinking of using a conversation as the title. Something like a box in a comic. This is a more indirect approach to make the viewer understand about the whole story. However, am still struggling in a very strong punch line….

The bad part about conversation is, in this awkward moment, the GM should be frozen in shocked, n speechless. Saying something might be a slight moment away. Which is think the tension’s already broken.


“… yes, I’ve touched down…. No, seems like they don’t have the habit of sleeping early…”
“I wont be joing the karaoke session later. I say I won’t join. DON’T YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND!!!?”
“ Er… hi, if I say I m actually Santa Claus, U think u ll let me go?”


3. Caption:
This is the one I favor. Again something like a comic strip, more of a one frame comic strip like “The Far Side”. The caption explain the situation, n the humor is slipped thru from here.

“ For a second, Chuck was considering whether the joke about the cow in the bar would ease the tension….”
“In the tensed air, Chuck suddenly remember Listen to the rain. The song his mother always sing when he did something wrong….”



Guys, this is generally what I have in mind currently. I would really appreciate if u can help me out in the brainstorming of the title. All sort of outta the box ideas are welcome!!!!!!!


Crazy Stupid Weirdo Freak Suggestions Are WELCOME!!!!!

(for a wip without even 1 single photo....)