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This is more of an "I'm wondering" than anything, I already have an Imperial Knight, which I put 2 red SMD LEDs in the eyes, but I'm wondering what else could be done to the model, if I bought another one, to make it look a bit less static/boring.

The model has that nice big cavity in the body for housing stuff like battery packs and stuff, maybe even an arduino nano...

...I know you can add smoke generators to model railway locomotives, but they're 12v as far as I know.

So, if it is possible to do the same to an Imperial Knight, put a smoke generator in to make at least the exhausts smoke, using lets say a 9v battery or even better one or two 3v CR2032 batteries (I used one to power the LEDs in my first Imperial Knight) how would you go about doing so?

I've also thought of making the gatling gun rotate (slowly as though firing, with an LED behind the topmost barrel so that when each barrel rotates round to the top you see the LED, thus it looks like a flash of a round being fired) and making the other two guns (battlecannon and melta) smoke (as though they've just stopped firing) but I think that might be too much to achieve, mostly because the weapons would be magnetised for easy swapping.


Thanks in advance for any tips/ideas on doing this.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451711.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451711.page GMT
I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to fit a big battery in the cavity, and then it's just a point of finding housing for the smoke machines- which there should be plenty of space for.
I really like the idea of a turning barrel. There is quite a big block that it sits on at the end of the arm, so I guess it would not be hard to fit a small motor in there. At that point it's a case of ferrying wires back to the battery, and the arms are definitely large enough to be drilled into.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451730.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451730.page GMT
- led in the eyes (1)
- led in the exhaust (2) whilst smoke is made with syntethic wool (the same that is inside some pillows). It has a great effect, honestly, I won't bother using a real smoke machine.
- of course converting the pose and leg is mandatory
- I created a few extra accessories that can be used: one has a destroyed tank under his heel (with led), the other a flashlight (also, led) and so on. I used some connector so I can used them when needed, and I'm not stuck with a precise configuration.
- I put led into all the ranged weapons.
- finally, into a standard quaestoris I created a cockpit AND a battery slot, but you need to do that before assemblying it in order to manage the limited space. However, you can fit both.
- the last knight I'm working on is a fully poseable Acheron, since FW articulation can effectively move on their own. I also inserted a glass ceiling on the cockpit cause the FW model has a pilot on the throne so it is visible

The rotating gatling was a dream of mine too, but since you need a small motor and those rotate pretty fast, I suggest you do that only if you have tools with mechanical precision ad standard.. something that is precise to the fraction of the fraction of a millimeters.

Anyway, I'll try to upload pic soon.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451787.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10451787.page GMT http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10453400.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10453400.page GMT We have one at work for when we're testing the filters in the paint booth (spraying cars) and most of the liquid smoke doesn't affect the paint, we have had one before though that caused some of the paint left on the wall to bubble up, this wasn't a problem for us as we were cleaning it anyway, but on minis this would be an issue, so check the liquid smoke first.
My other concern however is heat, smoke makers work by heating up a coil surrounded by cotton that absorbs the liquid, causing it to evaporate, and they can get very hot, in such an enclosed space I'd be worried about the heat affecting the plastic.

Best of luck with it though, love to see it when you pull it off! ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10454064.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/775604/10454064.page GMT