# My Jupiter 2, now the hard part begins.....



## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Well, I have basically assembled my J2 completely, and now it's completely disassembled! All of the paintwork and pre-fit has been done, holes drilled for LED's and fiber optics. Now it's time to start actually wiring the entire ship. I spent a few hours yesterday figuring out the locations for fiber optics tubes, and making some simple mounting platforms. 








This larger platform will have the console and most of the wall fiber tubes mounted on it. There will be another one on the opposite side of the ship for all of the rest, along with the electronic boards which will control the computer lighting, all of the wall controls for elevator, doors, astrogator, etc;
I have one small platform which will hold a single backlight for the one wall behind the cryo-tubes as well.








All of the plastic light diffusion panels are installed under the cryo-tubes, in the stairwell, and the bottom of the elevator. 
















I used some plastruct tube to make holders for the LED's for the cryo-tubes.
I thought you'd like what I did with stairs/elevator area's for LED holders. I have a ton of small vending machine toy capsules (I own several vending machines). I drilled out the bottom to house a 3mm LED, then blacked them out on the inside. They fit perfectly under the floor, and will contain all of the light inside and direct it to the floor panels!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Geez, excuse that third photo! Must have had too much soda!!! Yeesh!
Anyway....








These worked out great after I blacked them out!
Next, it's on to soldering some resistors in place for the first board. I got my light kits from Randy at VoodooFx, it makes it too easy! These boards keep everything clean and neat and right where you want it. Even if you have no experience with this stuff, you can do these boards.








I use a third hand to hold the boards while I solder.








Once my resistors are in place, I nip off the excess wire, and it's ready to start running some wires to the LED holders in the floor. 
















More as this progresses later this week!


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## skinnyonce (Dec 17, 2009)

Thats great Tim,
I like the voodoo kit pics, I want to wire mine up someday and will use your pics as a photo guide. keep the electronic pics coming


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

Tim,
I mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating.

Power each of Randy's boards separately. I chained them together as directed originally, but the power drain from a single 9v. battery was too rapid for my tastes. By separating the main cabin lights from the freezing tubes, I was able to make each battery last longer, plus it adds versatility to your lighting scheme as you don't have to go for all or nothing. If you make a box to go behind the pod bay door, there is room for two 9v. to rest side by side.

keep up the good work!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

It will actually be operating off a 5-volt power source that plus into the wall Lou! Randy knew it would be too much drain on the batteries, so I did a bit of an upgrade and it has worked great so far!


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## scifimodelfan (Aug 3, 2006)

Hey Tim, I have the lighting kit also and have been looking it over and over and still am a little confused. Your walk through is great for the person with very little electronic exp. like myself. Again thanks a bunch.
Jim


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## starseeker (Feb 1, 2006)

Getting close to this part , so this is fun to watch. I'm going to steal as many ideas as I can, if you don't mind. So keep posting!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Well, at least someones actually reading these posts, so I'll keep doing it!! LOL!! I sometimes wonder when I post the pics and get like one comment with 200 views, if everyone isn't saying "what a moron!" I have been writing articles and doing "how-to's" for a long time with car and bike models, the internet has made it easy to share, and I like doing it. I'm still new with the sci-fi stuff and with all the lighting techniques, but I'm working on it. 
I actually forgot to photgraph a few other things before I tore the whole pre-build down. I boxed out the area behind the Pod door and used Henry's "simulated Pod in hangar" decal to make it look like it's in there. I also boxed out the area behind the see-thru computer wall to retain all the light as well. I'll post some individual shots of those pieces later.


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## hedorah59 (Nov 24, 2008)

Any how-tos with pics like yours are MORE than welcome! Thanks for taking the time to share, it will help greatly when I finally get around to building my J2!


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## skinnyonce (Dec 17, 2009)

scifimodelfan said:


> Hey Tim, I have the lighting kit also and have been looking it over and over and still am a little confused. Your walk through is great for the person with very little electronic exp. like myself. Again thanks a bunch.
> Jim


Gotta second that..
Tim, your doing a great job and service providing the pics. Thanks alot


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Reading your build-up with great interest - most informative. :thumbsup: I'll be most interested when you get to the fiber optics.


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## mmmmp (Jan 15, 2010)

I, too, am following your build with great interest. I'm further along in mine, but you're giving me great ideas for my "In Flight" version.

Great work,
Mark


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

OK, I shot a few more pics for you guys,a nd I even did a couple of few-minute videos on the board soldering!!! AND AWAAAAAAY WE GO!!








Here's how I boxed out the "Pod hanger bay" and the area behind the main navigation computer. I used Henry's decal from TSDS to simulate the Pod sitting in the bay. It will have an LED inside to illuminate it when finished.
























Please excuse the dust, it will all get blown clean when it's done!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Here's my astrogator still in progress.....I used decals from the kit and from Henry's stuff from TSDS. I like lot's of color, so I'm pleased with it so far. The top was kind of boring, so I made an insert from blue acetate for it to brighten it up. 
























I made some simple brackets from plastruct stock and aluminum tube to mount the circuit boards on. It is removable for access is needed. It took about 10 minutes, very simple.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

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## XMAN64 (Dec 30, 2009)

TIM....your post is fantastic and very informative......an amazing help...Please keep it coming.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Thanks. I have all of the floor lighting soldered up and installed now. I was too tired last night to do any "how-to" videos, but I took a few shots of it anyways.....

Floor lighting wires all soldered up on board #1...









I use black silicone adhesive/sealant to secure all of my LED's in thier respective cans. It offers not only strength, but some flexibility, and blacks out the back surface of the lenses to prevent escaping light. 









My blacked-out gumball capsules worked out great!









Geez, I don't know if I could live without my 3M blue tape! Of course, it all gets removed once the silicone cures for 24 hrs. I broke this install into two phases while this stuff cured. Too many gooey blobs to not stick your hand into when you get too many going on at once! 









Next, I'll be bundling up these wires a bit to make for a cleaner install, and it's about time to start assembly of all of the walls and doo-dads so the rest of the LED's can go in. The fiber optics will be the last step.


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## spocks beard (Mar 21, 2007)

hi Tim! You are really coming along nicely on your J2.
I can't wait to see the finished result.
If i had the electrical skills,I may have went the route of using fibre optics to light the interior my self.
Good luck!:thumbsup:


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

*Update 6/5*

The lighting is moving along well. Very time consuming, I have about 6 hrs. in wiring and soldering so far! I have it mocked-up yet another time. This photo shows how light is bleeding from under the main console.....








I made these small cans from tubing, shot them flat black....(note angle cut to direct the light)








Still had a bit of bleed, so I broke out my good ol' black silicone, and fixed it completely!








I also made these taller cans for the wall lighting behind the cryo tubes. It worked really nice, and the affect of the prismatic diffusion material is great!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

The prismatic diffusion material really disperses the light nicely. It comes with the light kit from VoodooFx.








A taller tube for the science station....








Lights installed in the main computer wall...








I found this roll of reflective tape in the automotive area at Wally World. I cut it into 3mm strips to put on the front edge of the wall to simulate the lighting.








This worked pretty well, and hides the seam down the middle. You can see the pod bay thru the door window, with a new LED, a diffused 5mm white.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

This is tedious, but it's pretty fun once you get going!









I'm about to the point of starting to glue all of the walls in place, because everything now fits the way it's supposed to.









This small board will control the flashing lighting in all of the computer consoles and walls. (Once all the fiber optics are inplace that is!)


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Tim
What an amazing job, especialy on the lighting area.
I hope I can have enough talent to "steal" all your ideas.
I can't wait for the begining of your work with fibers optics.. :thumbsup:


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Tim, is that clear tinted paint you have on the lighted panels next to the hatch ?


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Thank you Fernando! Steal at will! (I stole most of it myself or learned it from Randy at VoodooFx! Another huge inspiration is that dude in Japan, Studio IS. I love his work!) 

Bert, yes, I used Tamiya's transparent colored paints on that wall, and it has a yellow 4.8 LED inside of it for illumination. It worked pretty well, with the kit decals applied over it. 

I've started the fiber optics on one side today! 

This is the finished upper units on the main console. This is one job I'm not sure I would tackle again. It was a royal pain in the ass to modify and fit all this stuff inside of! I'm not sure the results will be worth all of the work. It took HOURS to do these 3 units! 









I sealed up the backs, and the fibers have been strung and are ready to go in some cans soon.









I ran 3 large strands into the astrogator.









At this point, I glued all of the wall components in place. This thing goes together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. 

Next, it's time to start running some fiber optics strands to the elevator controls.


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Holy cow ! I can see how time consuming that was or at least I think I do. having made a full size replica of the flight computer 10 years ago that was time consuming but no where near what you did in that small scale. I want to see it lit when you are done.


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## XMAN64 (Dec 30, 2009)

Tim this is great.......hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your ideas.....keep it coming.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

I had drilled a hole in the wall behind the elevator, and passed the optics thru. I use black silicone to adhere all of the from the backside once they are in place. You don't want to use CA glues on the fibers, it will cause them to become brittle and hazes them as well.









I made some cans for my LED's and fiber optics from aluminum tube. I like using the aluminum because it's sturdy, and doesn't bleed light. I use CA to glue them in place, and then silicone them from the backside to prevent light loss. These cans contain red, green, and yellow lights for the wall and elevator controls and the astrogator so far. 









I drilled out almost all of the door controls on the walls after putting the decals in place and clear coating them. You have to be very careful not to damage them at this point.









Board #1 is now full, and I've started using Board #2 as well. I also have to start building the components for the computer lights that will make them flash randomly. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works! This board was custom made for me by VoodooFx, but if it works, will probably become available! I've done some test lighting on the wall controls, I can't wait to show you guys soon when I get it done! 
Boy, there's getting to be a lot of wires under that floor!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

X-Man, PLEASE use anything you want to! Makes me feel good someone else is learning from my work! I'm trying to take this build "one step further" as I go along. I love this kit, and really want to do it right! We are all here to help each other. I learn something from this place all the time! Lot's of very talented builders here to share with!


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Hey, Tim,
Awesome work as usual! Could you elaborate on the fiber optics some, primarily how you got them to stay put in the computer consoles. I'm assuming that you left the fibers long and then cut them, but how did you keep them in place? It seems they'd all fall out once you cut 'em. Loving the build up.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Firebird, 
Yes, I left the fibers long first. They stay put in the photoetched face panel fairly well during assembly. Once it was in place, I did two things. One was to use an old airbrush needle, and put a blob of black silicone on the INSIDE of the unit. (it's hard to see in that photo) Under the console, I used some lager heat shrink tubing to run the fibers thru, then pushed it all the was flush with the console bottom, and LIGHTLY warmed it to constrict around the fibers just a bit. They can be damaged by heat so you have to be REAL careful!! Once all this was done, then I cut the fibers on the faceplate and applied the decals over top, rubbing them hard enough to punch the fiber tips thru the surface. (this isn't the greatest, but the only way I could think of to make it work) I haven't lit them yet, but soon! I do have the LED's lit.

One all of the fibers are in place in the big cans, I will use black silicone to seal them in place as well!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

*Nice Job Sir*:thumbsup:


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## fire91bird (Feb 3, 2008)

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I don't have experience with fiber optics but I do have the blinky circuit all ready to go. I could just see cutting the ends flush with the console and all that work spills out the back. You are an inspiration, sir!:thumbsup:


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Hey no sweat man. I did a boatload more work on the fiber optics last night, and will try to photograph it tonight and post it. I made all 9 cans for the computer lighting and got it mounted. I did some preliminary testing with some of the strands, and looks way kool! I got myself in a mess with the small board that controls the LED's. I apparently crossed some solder on one of the lines and grounded it out, so it wouldn't work, then I killed the one next to it as well. I ended up cutting them of and grinding all the solder off,have to redrill the holes tonight and do it again, very frustrating. I was worried it was a bad port on the board, but it wasn't. I think it happened because the tip of my soldering iron is starting to get to big from wear. I'm going to grind it back to a fine point as well. Will post more pics later!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

*Update 6/9/2010*

Well, my J2 is getting heavy, and crowded inside!!! Lot's of wires and fibers!
Here's an update of what I've gotten done this week.

Fiber optics cans for the main control panel and the wall computers behind the cryo-tubes:









With a short video showing it working:Click on photo!



Wall and elevator controls illuminated...


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Astrogator almost finished and lit. (I had to redo the decal band around it, the kit decal completely broke apart after I put decal-set on it. I ended up using one of the TSDS decals, which is fine except it doesn't have any numbers on it) 









Elevator controls lit:









Backside look:









Console coming to life:









Fiber install video:Click on it!


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Fiber optics getting installed behind cryo-tubes:


















Video of the first panel doing it's thing! Click on the photo!



Another video of upper hull test fit: Click on it!


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## scifimodelfan (Aug 3, 2006)

Hi Tim, first let me thank you for doing thses vids for all of us out here with very little electronic exp. Second what size fiber optics are you using? I am confuses on what size I should use. Thanks 
Jim


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

The computers on top of the main console are done with .25mm, most everything else will be .50 and a few .75mm strands. I would HIGHLY recommend getting your strand from The Fiber Optics Store. Super nice, very reputable to deal with and fast shipping! You can order online at:
www.thefiberopticstore.com 

I would recommend the variety pack if you are starting out, it's a great deal. If you know what size fibers you are going to be using a lot of, you can buy it in spools of different length. I just ordered a 400 ft. roll of the .50mm. I use a lot of it. (I probably have 200 ft. of it in my Destroyer alone!) The J2 will easily have that much or more in it when I'm done. There's approximately 450 holes in the walls behind the cryo-tubes, the strands are cut anywhere from 6.5 to 11 inches in length! See how fast you can use a few hundred feet?!!! 

I would strongly advise sticking to the .50mm for most things model-wise, at least on space ships. I had to use the .25 on the console, but that stuff is like pulling hairs thru a needle! I use the .75mm on my bigger figure kits and such, it's a dream to work with!! he lighting is harder to see on the fine stuff too, unless it's dark in the room!


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## XMAN64 (Dec 30, 2009)

Tim...this is really great.Thanks so much for sharing......


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

No problem Xman, thanks for following and the nice comments! Here's some more updated shots, including the HUGE HOLE IN THE UPPER HULL!!! Geez, I was a nervous wreck hacking this hole in there, but it worked out great, and I finished the paintwork on the upper hull as well. The lighting inside the top bubble will be on a 2-pin connector if I have to seperate the pieces again for maintenance, and the fiber optics for the outer door control will not be glued in place to remove easily.

I cleaned up the wiring and soldered everything permanent on my Alpha Control box, and covered all the wires with some kool plastic covering I found at Advanced Auto. It's nice and solid, and all of the switches are dialed in, works too easy!









I made some of these plastic ferrules from plastruct tube to help manage the fiber optics strands. They were a bear before, and kept pulling out of the LED cans. This simple solution keeps them put real well!

























I finished the fiber optics to the Science Station as well. It has some stationary lighting as well as blinking lights on the console.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

And here is the massive hole I cut in the upper hull! 









Here's a short video on some of the fiber optics, which has been permanently affixed....
CLICK ON PHOTO TO VIEW:


Here's that upper hull video of the viewing window!


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## WmTodd (Feb 11, 2010)

You're a braver man than I, slicing into the hull. 

Well done!


Thanks again for all the pics, looking at them reminds me of another thing I have been wanting to do, and that is to fabricate another one of the ladder rungs and fitting it into an extension of the wall leading into the lower deck.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Getting down to the fine stuff now. I'm waiting on more fiber optics material to arrice to finish the cryo-walls, but in the meantime I got my figures mounted in the tubes and they are ready to be glued down when the walls are done. Man, I love having them in there, it really makes the model! I did finish most of the fibers on the main navigation control wall last night. 

One thing I also did was to drill out all of the holes in the seat brackets. They look much more realistic. Just have to give them a quick recoat of paint tonight and assemble them, I think I will make them swivel on the cockpit floor as well. Should be easy to do. 









Someone asked what I used to cut the hull open, here's my weapon of choice:









Strands in the nav wall:









More to come as it progresses! I see the LED's at the end of the tunnel! :wave:


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

Incredible! But I've heard that people are having problems with the ship supporting all the extra weight of lighting materials--are you doing something to give the bottom extra support?


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

My leg support arms are shimmed with aluminum tubing. I did have a foot pad come loose a bit, but another shot of zap-a-gap and it's all good. I think I am going to make a stand using transparent acrylic rods to support the whole thing though, just to be safe. Once the upper hull is attached, that's another big chunk of weight. I think I will barely have it off the ground though. I have a friend who is building his, and I think the main problem is the edges of the lower hull kind of go "up and down" ~~~~~~~~~ where points of weight are at. I affixed blocks of styrene inside my upper hull in like 12 points, and I will be threading some self-tapping optical screws up thru the bottom into them to draw the hull halves up tight. (Lou Dalmaso did this first) If you are going to leave the upper hull loose for viewing, I think your always going to have those fit problems on the edges. That was the main reason I opted for cutting that view port in the roof! I want to try and have those edges drawn up clean and tight if possible! (We shall see.....)


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