Land Raider Crusader "Disco" Pattern

Tomash · Post by **Tomash** » 30 Jul 2007, o 21:44

OK, this is my first own-work post on this forum. Be gentle

Actually this work is old like hell. The whole project started in march, after gathering necessary knowledge, the tank (I somehow can't call Land Raider "mini") and some thinking (the last one always hurts me most).

The idea is that my Black Templars army is "going heavy support" and thus deserve a Land Raider Crusader, their famous superheavy assault tank. I've made a decision that such a ride, the first one in this Crusade, and being so cool & epic, is going to pimped. Pimped so much that white-haired bitchez from Adepta Sororitas are going to beg for a ride

So I'm going to "pimp my ride" by installing good lighting system. Where "good" means:
1) effective, i.e. combining high brightness with low power consumption
2) alter&damage the original construction the least possible way
3) more than one light source
4) independent from light colors selection
5) failure of one light won't affect the rest
6) reliable - long life

So, to fulfill these conditions, I've decided on:
ad 1. LED lights (pretty obvious) - high brightness, low power consumption
ad 5. connected paralelly
ad 4. driven by current source (batteries and DC adapters are voltage sources)
ad 3&5. actually, a multi current source

OK, time for the project.
1. Lights arrangement (first project, later changed a bit):

Click to see full-sized image

2. Powering-up LEDs
I've decided (after some research) on using LM3914 - power-effective regulated current source for up to 10 outputs (LEDs). For my application a very simple project was enough:

Click to see full-sized image

820ohm resistor is selected to give 15mA current for every LED (using formula given in lm3914 datasheet).

I'm not going to dwell further into electrical details of this project - it's enough for the ones who have necessary skills, and it doesn't have a chance to be a complete "from scratch" tutorial for complete starters. Do the homework if You want to harness the power of electricity

3. Wiring
Due to flawed design (as I see it today), I had to break (bend) condition 2) and make IC visible in LRC's cabin. I hoped such "chip of machine spirit" won't spoil the overall look - now it seems it hasn't

Click to see full-sized image

4. Gluing & first photos
OK, this is the part I took a lot of photos of, so please see the post in original thread:
https://forum.wfb-pol.org/viewtopic.php?p=34785#34785

5. Finished interior, priming exterior
Again, a lot of photos - please checl
https://forum.wfb-pol.org/viewtopic.php?p=37065#37065

Now there's a long break - I've put away the pimped LRC for about 4 months, sometimes painting a line or two on rare occasions. This is how march ended

Tomash · Post by **Tomash** » 30 Jul 2007, o 21:48

I've returned to it this weekend, pushed by small contest on Gloria Victis forum called "Play Mini Of The Month" - the summer vacation topic was "heavy vehicle", and what suits such topic better than a Land Raider?

So after some painting and finally solving the problem of powering the thing up (looking for a battery of small frame, voltage slightly over 3V and ability to give current of about 100mA) with an Ericsson k700i battery, I've decided to return to this project and here are some recent (from yesterday) photos of the whole thing.

This is still a Work In Progress!
(guy with multimelta temporarily replaced with storm-bolter operator)

Clicking on the thumbnails will give a photo in better resolution

Post by **Demi_morgana** » 30 Jul 2007, o 22:09

nice one! a must-have in case of night fighting ^^

Slawek · Post by **Slawek** » 5 Aug 2007, o 18:40

Tomash Black Land raider against my red one...

Hmmm in painting and conversion contest I give up, but at least on gaming table I have some chances for winning

Tomash · Post by **Tomash** » 12 Aug 2007, o 12:21

True, two twin-linked lascannons is something even a Land-Raider has a tough time against