Electronics in miniatures

[Jacob]

Hey all

Ever consider how cool it would be to have electronics built in to your 40k tanks? I have, and I am currently playing with the idea of designing and producing such electronics for 40k vehicles or other models with the sufficient internal space.

Now, I have some ideas of my own, but what I would really like is some community input on what people would like to see, and also what price they would be willing to pay for an electronic product for building into their miniature tank or whatever else they can imagine.

Some of my own ideas:

Movement like an RC car, controlled from a smartphone
Light and sound effects when a weapon is fired. Bang, followed by whistling of flying grenade, followed by explosion.
Light and sound effects when the vehicle is shot to pieces. Explosion, followed by a continuos burning sound and glowing orange light from inside.
Laser sight showing fire arcs, like what you can get already with a special laser pointer, just built into the gun turret.


Assume anything is possible!

I'm looking forward to reading your funny/good/ridiculous suggestions :-)

[eldargal]

You see a few LED mods every now and then, they look nice. RC movement sounds good but my brothers experimented with it once and ended up bulldozing a dozen models off a table so be careful with that.

[Wolfshade]

I've seen some from the ktisch to the cool.

There are the holiday templars
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4nzgPbHlNo4/SVCeJtwwy0I/AAAAAAAADl0/LSabrUclWdM/s1600-h/BT-xmas-01.jpg

And glowing eyese for crons:
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e353/Polkadotgrr/immortals.jpg
http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=2185

The glowing lith on the front page :http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/11/40k-hobby-pimp-my-monolith.html

I seem to recall a unit of flamers that were re-cast in clear resin with led lights in the bottom, also internal lighting for an Avatar and Balrog to bring that molteny/flamey look to life.

[Psychosplodge]

I really couldn't be arsed, it'd be too much like being at work :D

Though if you recast clear horrors and fitted a blue and a red LED you could have pink or blue horrors appropriately...

[glayvin34]

I've always wanted to integrate the dice-rolling PIC from this kit into something:
http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkskl09.htm
The kit as-is looks too large for any decent mini wargaming solutions and it only displays the number for about 15 seconds. But you could get smaller LEDs and re-engineer it a little to be placed somewhere like on the base of a large monstrous creature. You tap it on the table to roll charge distance.

Fiery flickering is cool, this guy's site has an interesting way to generate a candle-like flicker:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/06/candle-flicker-stripboard-veroboard.html
I breadboarded this one and it wasn't that great, as he mentions you kind of need one dim LED behind the flickering LED to get it to actually look like a candle, but this next one was really good:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/06/candle-flicker-stripboard-veroboard.html (http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/07/led-ring-oscillator-stripboard.html)
I found the flickering to be a little slow, but I reduced the resistance a bit with R4, R5 and R6 so the caps fill faster and it fixed that.
Electronics are fun and WAY cheaper than models, both of these examples from Paul in the Lab cost less than $10 for components (and less than $5 if you find the right vendors).

@Wolfshade- I saw those WHFB lit up flamer-based army around the web a few years ago, probably one of the most impressive modeling achievements I've ever seen, can't seem to find any pics now.

[glayvin34]

Sorry if this posts double my first post didn't show up.
I've always wanted to integrate the dice-rolling PIC from this kit into something:
http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkskl09.htm
The kit as-is looks too large for any decent mini wargaming solutions and it only displays the number for about 15 seconds. But you could get smaller LEDs and re-engineer it a little to be placed somewhere like on the base of a large monstrous creature. You tap it on the table to roll charge distance.

Fiery flickering is cool, this guy's site has an interesting way to generate a candle-like flicker:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/06/candle-flicker-stripboard-veroboard.html
I breadboarded this one and it wasn't that great, as he mentions you kind of need one dim LED behind the flickering LED to get it to actually look like a candle, but this next one was really good:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/06/candle-flicker-stripboard-veroboard.html (http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/07/led-ring-oscillator-stripboard.html)
I found the flickering to be a little slow, but I reduced the resistance a bit with R4, R5 and R6 so the caps fill faster and it fixed that.
Electronics are fun and WAY cheaper than models, both of these examples from Paul in the Lab cost less than $10 for components (and less than $5 if you find the right vendors).

[Iceman]

Jacob,

I would be interested in the two light and sound ideas.

[Denzark]

I think sound or motion is a pants idea - I like to play with wargaming miniatures or model soldiers, not piow-piaow GI Joe tanks. Lighting adds a little je ne sais quois and the laser poiter would be good for arguments but probably hardest to achieve.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Even though its' Warmachine, it's the most impressive use of electronics iv seen :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vqA6nbk2zos

Smoke stacks, led's, working weapons ect....mindblowing work

[whargoul666]

That was an awesome video! The only thing is, I don't speak German or play Warmachine so I couldn't figure out what the weapon ect was (that seems to short for chain gun)?

[Chaoschrist]

That was an awesome video! The only thing is, I don't speak German or play Warmachine so I couldn't figure out what the weapon ect was (that seems to short for chain gun)?

If you check the vid on youtube, it has english subtitles (which the control panel of the embedded video on here doesn't show).

But yes, it was a chaingun of sorts

[Jacob]

Wolfshade / Psychosplodge:

While it's a cool idea with the clear resin lighted models, recasting and selling the models of other companies would be illegal, so that's a no-go unfortunately. Also, I'm really more into the electronics side than the model casting side.

Those Necrons are pretty awesome actually. A simple and effective mod.


Denzark / Iceman:

The laser pointer would be easy enough to implement. It's just sticking one in the barrel and putting in some controls. Your two posts illustrate how it might be nice to have some flexibility in what this thing does. Maybe programmable buttons and the option of using ones own sound files?


Asymmetrical Xeno:

That WARMACHINE model is frikkin' awesome! I do see some problems with it, mainly that it shoots flaming cotton. The smoke effect could be used with the sound and light idea for when the tank explodes. The smoke liquid could be a problem if it dissolves paint though, but this is a brainstorm so I guess problems can wait :)

[Psychosplodge]

I'm not suggesting selling I agree with you. just doing it for yourself as something cool its probably illegal too, but definitely would possibly look good :D

[Wolfshade]

I'm not suggesting selling I agree with you. just doing it for yourself as something cool its probably illegal too, but definitely would possibly look good :D

Arguably it depends where in the world you are. In England & Wales re-casting even for personal use is illegal, but that isn't what the thread really is concerned with.

These are what I was looking for:
http://poots.com/card/images/img_2561.jpg

Oh look it was on BoLS front page all along..
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2008/12/jody-tuckers-cult-of-fire-daemons-of.html

[Psychosplodge]

Yeah they look awesome

[glayvin34]

I saw these things on the Maker Shed site:
http://www.makershed.com/product_p/mkskl09.htm
They run off a PIC that outputs random dice rolls to a bank of 7 LEDs. I'm not 100% sure what it would be good for in a WH40k context since the numbers turn off after 15 seconds, but maybe you could put them in the base of a monstrous creature or something, then tap it to get charge distance.
For fiery or magical effects you could use orange and red or blue and purple LEDs, respectively, in these circuits:
http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/06/candle-flicker-stripboard-veroboard.html or http://www.paulinthelab.com/2012/07/led-ring-oscillator-stripboard.html
It's just a simple way to add some dynamism to an LED display for under a few dollars.
And if you're feeling really creative, dancing cornstarch in the back of a Nurgle-possessed vehicle would be AMAZING. http://www.instructables.com/id/Visualizing-Sound-With-Fluids/

[gwensdad]

I have a noise marine rhino that has a USB drive MP3 player on the bottom that plugs into speakers built into the rhino so I can blare music from it during games.

[Warptiger]

Wolfshade / Psychosplodge: The smoke liquid could be a problem if it dissolves paint though, but this is a brainstorm so I guess problems can wait :)

Naw, it shouldn't harm the paint. Model railroad people have entire setups for creating smoke for scale model steam locomotives, and they go nuts on painting, weathering, and decals.

[Jacob]

A little research suggests that these are the option for "smoke":

1. The smoke liquid also used for model railroads. This is petroleum based and will leave an oily residue around the area it is used. Requires heating.

2. Ultrasonic water fogger. Used in water fountains to create mist. Safe since it's only water and with no heating. Will humidify the air and may condense as water in the vicinity.

3. Incense, unscented. Requires burning and will leave particles.

4. Dry ice. Would be very impractical to transport around.

Number 2 seems like the best and safest bet, with a piston to pump the "smoke" out of the chimney.

Anyway, it's possible.

More ideas please :)

[jgebi]

well with the laser pointer idea it's now that hard as what you want is a fine strong beam of light thats not hard to do, and if i was doing that I would properly make my turrents move but thats just me

[magickbk]

I've made a few attempts at this, most of which are too old to have any pictures. The last time I did a simple lighting job http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?25096-MagickBK-s-Grey-Knights-Inquisition-Crusade/page2

The biggest problems I ran into in the past were how much hacking apart of the model was necessary to put the proper electronics and motors in to the point where it becomes obvious what has been done to it, and the fact that few models have enough space to put what was needed inside at a reasonable cost. Most cheap, small, components aren't powerful enough to move, say, a Land Raider. That means you either need to spend more money on expensive components, or use larger ones and lose the ability to have interior detail and opening hatches. Doing both then introduces madness, because the places you need to run the wiring aren't large enough to get it through.

The other issue I encountered was probably my lack of electronics skills, as I couldn't make it start slowly enough to not be jumpy when you started moving it. Most RC vehicles jump when they start, which isn't an issue when you want to move a large distance as quickly as possible, but if you want to maneuver a tank on the tabletop, it has to go really slowly and smoothly to not knock everything down.

If you make an attempt, be sure to post progress on the forums, as I am interested to see how it turns out.

[archimbald]

this one in particular sticks out for myself a fire prism lit up,
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?20302-Lighting-Up-the-Fire-Prism