Destroid Defender Radar - Spin or not?

[NZEOD]

Working on the Wave Defender and trying to determine how to cram in all the wiring, LEDs, Fibre optics and servos when I noticed the Radar can spin.

So the question is... does it actually spin or rotate in search mode like a Marine radar?

If it does I'll definitely be adding that feature.

[wmkjr]

I've never seen it spinning. It would be cool too if it oscillated back and forth in an arc the same width as the barrels reach. Why not? Go for it!

[Major Focker]

i think oscillating would be cooler.

[NZEOD]

just watched the animations searching for the Defenders and no, it doesnt move... but... doesnt mean it shouldn't

Edited February 7, 2016 by NZEOD

[kajnrig]

You need to make it levitate. And oscillate. And rotate. And all of this needs to be remote controlled. Only then will your skills be considered adequate.

[MechTech]

I've never seen it oscillate in any media. Just tell everyone that it's phased array with forward and backward planars and you're good to go Rotating would be cool though. If you're short on space, look up Gizmoszone in my signature. They will have something small enough. - MT

[Nyankodevice]

never seen it rotate, dont think it rotates in the tv show, but my memory could be faulty

[VF-1A Grunt]

Since I've never seen it rotate in any animation, I've always thought it was supposed to be some sort of phased array style of radar that could be used for both scanning and targeting. While it doesn't look like typical phased arrays in use today, which are usually octagonal panels or similar flat shapes, a phased array would allow it to search a wide area with low power beams and then use a higher power mode for determining range, speed, and trajectory for the guns. The shape does look like a conventional rotating sweep radar, but I just attributed it to more advanced technology that behaves like a phased array.

[NZEOD]

Ahahahahaha Mechtech,my wife will hate you now... I just looked on that site and talked with a couple of other EOD operators. A plan has formed!!

That site now has a permanent short cut on my desktop.

Edited February 8, 2016 by NZEOD

[Nyankodevice]

maybe its the hammerhead principle...

having a wide target scanner or something like that..

better precision for fast moving targets..

it IS an AA mecha..

Edited February 8, 2016 by Nyankodevice

[NZEOD]

I'm making it spin for 360° targeting. Thanks to MechTech I have found the perfect 100rpm output motordrive for it!

Edited February 8, 2016 by NZEOD

[MechTech]

Glad I could help! Make sure your wife knows I'm in the U.S. and too far away for her to beat me up! By the way, I have bought from them a couple of times and everything was great. The 6mm diameter motors are awesome for models. They may be a little noisy because they drop down high RPM to lower. You can do two things if you care about the noise. 1) Drop the voltage down. 2) Mount the pieces in rubber housings to isolate them. The plastic conducts the noise. The brass metal housed motors are more quiet. Overall, they are torquey!

Here's the 6-7mm diameter micro motors (in case you drop your cell phone) I used several on the Daedalus build and still have a couple. - MT

Edited February 8, 2016 by MechTech

[NZEOD]

Had some fun last night hollowing out the Defenders Chest cavity of all the mount points and bracing it no longer needs with a dremel.

Points to note with a Dremel...

1. clean the bit off often, a build up of melted plastic can cause havoc. Just use a small pair of pliers to run lightly against the bit shaft to shave off the collected material.

2. WATCH THE DREMEL CHUCK!! while you are busy shaving away inside your item, the chuck could be unknowingly up against the model melting it down to slag while its spinning at high speed!!

While planning for the motors I looked at the weapon arms to plan out the XV models 35mm Gatling system. I need to be able to fit a 20mm long (max) motor inside that will direct drive the centre shaft of the 6 barrel assembly with enough room left in the arm to fit two bearings per arm to carry the weight and spin the barrels at 1000 rpm and still have room to run a fibre optic line to the top breech area to light up the barrels as they spin past that point to simulate firing.

Nothing like a challenge....

Edited February 9, 2016 by NZEOD

[mickyg]

And what an achievement this will all be once you finish it! Love the progress so far. And great tips about the dremel - been there, done that a few times!

[NZEOD]

I have too many projects now... 4 carrier deck Valk dioramas, 3 street fight dioramas

Found the right motor to spin the vulcans... The GH6122S will spin them at about 1172rpm

http://www.gizmoszone.com/shopping/html/pages/612datasheet.htm

The GS6321S-10 will do the Radar at about 60rpm

Just need to work out the servos or stepper motors for the arm lifting and how that will work and one got the torso twist.

For the barrels I found these....

And even though everything in Macross uses caseless there is something about a sea of spent cartridges at the Defenders feet that yells "GET SOME!!" so I found these!

Edited February 9, 2016 by NZEOD

[mickyg]

That master model stuff is awesome! I think I bought one of their items for the GAU-8 in an A-10 that I still plan to build at some point. Even in 1/72 scale, it's a work of art!

Edited February 9, 2016 by mickyg

[NZEOD]

unfortunately they only do the GUA-8 tip and not the whole barrel assembly.

[mickyg]

Ah yes, that would be an issue when trying to depict the whole thing like you are. I completely forgot about it being only the part that sticks out of the nose.

[MechTech]

Those M61-A1 barrels and ammo look awesome! I got to get some just because they look so cool - and then make it somehow work with my bitty 1/350th scale stuff

I don't think those barrels are hollow to see light through; are they? If you need close-ups, we have an M61-A1 at the museum that is stripped of the drives and feed mechanisms. We have to somehow move it too!

If you're interested, a trick to keeping the styrene from mucking up your bit is to let it breath and cool. I cut a bit, back off and then cut again. Lower RPMs and sharp bits help too. Even when I'm cutting on the mill, same thing. It's not fool proof but actually saves time trying to cut globs off your bits. And yeah, the chuck IS a cutting bit! I hate that!

The attached photos are from our EOD guys taken a few years ago. This was a retired training cannon with simulated closed loop feed as if the drum magazine was in the loop. - MT

[MechTech]

Those M61-A1 barrels and ammo look awesome! I got to get some just because they look so cool - and then make it somehow work with my bitty 1/350th scale stuff (even the 1/72nd scale version)

I don't think those barrels are hollow to see light through; are they? If you need close-ups, we have an M61-A1 at the museum that is stripped of the drives and feed mechanisms. We have to somehow move it too!

If you're interested, a trick to keeping the styrene from mucking up your bit is to let it breath and cool. I cut a bit, back off and then cut again. Lower RPMs and sharp bits help too. Even when I'm cutting on the mill, same thing. It's not fool proof but actually saves time trying to cut globs off your bits. And yeah, the chuck IS a cutting bit! I hate that!

The attached photos are from our EOD guys taken a few years ago. This was a retired training cannon with simulated closed loop feed as if the drum magazine was in the loop. - MT

[NZEOD]

Amazingly simple system too. All cam driven bolt locking, Firing pin unlocking and extraction. So in theory you could fire one by hand just by rotating the barrel.

Barrels on the Master Models one are not drilled out. So no firing lighting effect for now. Also they aren't very long at 39mm. Defender Mk X twin cannons are 60mm long so I'm hoping thiese smaller Rotary cannons will still have "Stage Presence" and wow factor.

Really good customer service as I sent some questions in to them yesterday and had all the answers from them in Poland sitting in my email this morning!

Edited February 10, 2016 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

Hahah space is SUPER tight inside the Defender now!! I've dremeled as much as I dare of excess material out of the inside of the body and still have to switch from $3.95USD micro servos to $30USD digital Sub micro servos just to get the servo heights to under 18mm.

So now I have a 6mm motor driving the radar at the rear in continuous rotation at 100rpm, the same style motors, one in each arm spinning the Vulcans at 1000rpm, the Hitech HS5035HD Nano servo driving the torso rotation leaving the issue of the arm raising and lowering to solve...

Probably with another nano servo ... somehow...

http://hitecrcd.com/products/servos/micro-and-mini-servos/digital-micro-and-mini-servos/hs-5035hd-digital-ultra-nano-servo/product

That servo is as of right now, THE ABSOLUTE smallest servo you can buy off the shelf.

Digital servos are more convenient for Arduino programming and control that conventional analog ones and you can set end points and soft starts (so it doesnt jerk into motion but it more human in movement) as well as the speed it moves and flash those parameters to the servo with a PC.

The next major hurdle is the wiring. Using ribbon cable I would need to route it though the legs and into the chest. THis will be... interesting... to achieve at the leg to hip joint as its exposed and then up into the upper torso while still allowing the torso to twist 90° to 120°.... the alternative is to run enameled wire instead but the digital servos will be power hungry so the bigger the gauge wire the better. THe single strand enameled wires could then be spun in a drill to make into a braid and then not be so noticable BUT... will be a nightmare to match up.

I need:

2 wires to the radar motor

2 wires to the left weapon

2 wires to the right weapon

3 wires to the torso twist servo

3 wires to the arm servo or 6 if I run one servo per arm

3 wires for the chest floodlights

2 wires for the arm weapon targetting LEDs (these can be daisy chained)

So 17 to 20 wires...

in each foot I have a 10pin connector to jack into the Diorama base to power everything. 10 wires up each leg is the goal.

Edited February 11, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

Looks cool.

Have you done something like this before to show us?

[NZEOD]

nope

Electronics and engineering yes but that's all military related

Edited February 13, 2016 by NZEOD

[Grayson72]

This is really cool but we need pictures of your in progress work please!!!

[MechTech]

Yeah, pictures! With all this robotic stuff, is it going to walk and grab drinks out of the fridge for you? Or at least shoot the cans off the table? I know - "wise guy!" - MT

[NZEOD]

Working on the Tomahawk tonight while I wait for the new smaller servos to arrive. Beam cannons both have a Neopixel LED unit in the last ring before the muzzle. The muzzle will then be filled with clear resin to form a lens like I do in the VF Superpack nozzles only a lot bigger. This will magnify the LED and should make for an interesting display when the LED "fires".

The Beam LEDs will not flash but power up over a few seconds, fading up in intensity and colour from a deep purple to a Blue at about half intensity then flash to Blue White at max intensity (which is almost blinding without the lens!) to simulate charging up and firing. Then they will go from orange to red to fade out to simulate barrel heat.

The biggest chest guns also have an LED and the base of each barrel and will flash Intense White/Yellow like conventional weapons.

The Spotlight has a Neopixel and resin lens and will be lit like an HID light.

When the motion detector triggers the Arduino sequence, the weapon arm targeters will come on first (love to use a low power red dot laser but not worth the risk to viewers) then the torso will swing as the spotlight powers up, followed by the gun fire sequence then the reverse but the spotlight going off last.

In the photos are the Tomahawk which only arrived at work today, the hollowed out Defender body, one of the four Carrier decks I'm working one with an ardruino Neopixel control board, a servo control board and one of the micro servos that's still too big for the Defender!

Even with all the wiring through the legs and arms, they can all still be moved and posed.... so far.

Everything is still test fitted only and not glued together or mounted properly. All in good time.

These pics show how the connection is made between the model and the diorama base where the Arduino boards and 5v power supply will be hidden.

The VFs only needed 3 pins, one hidden in each landing gear wheel as they only have Neopixel lighting. One +5V, one GRND, one Data In line.

The destroids get a whole lot messier when you start adding mixed servos and motor drives, neopixles and standard LEDs. So each foot has a 10pin connector for 20 lines into the units.

Edited February 15, 2016 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

I'd love to be able to mount weapons in them but no....

Maybe some old CRTV cathode tubes for some wood burning or some Bluray lasers for balloon popping!

Edited February 15, 2016 by NZEOD

[MechTech]

That's cool! -MT

[NZEOD]

hmmm isnt it just.... and easy to mount in the Tomahawk arms.

The issue is the type of laser diode you'd need is a class IIIb laser and so is NOT a toy, should NEVER be used without the corresponding wavelength Laser Safety Eyewear and needs a focus defocus lens set up so you can apply the safety on it. Even off reflected surfaces it will still destroy things.

We've made them before in the bomb hanger but that doesnt mean you SHOULD make them.

Its a bit like mounting a .22 on a drone, you can but should you?

But yes... a Glaug or Tomahawk mounting IIIb lasers in a dusty darkened room would be cool. Especially melting Gundams to slag.

Edited February 15, 2016 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

Progress tonight

Tomahawk beam cannon and searchlight lenses poured and test wiring.

[NZEOD]

Wishing my imagination and ambition matched my talent some days... assembled the tomahawk with all the lighting this time and its busy! Not going to add a torso twist servo to this one but will on the second tomahawk.

Assembled the missile launcher (SRM6 for you Battletech/MWO players) and realised I could make the hatches open and close... Either an arm inside the launcher with a flexiacutator cable snaked back into the body for the servo or a tiny solenoid or the craziest way would be an electromagnet that repels the doors to open them and attracts them to close. The house is fare too small for a serov or wormdrive to be fitting directly inside the launcher.

Edited February 20, 2016 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

...and... the airbrush has crapped out!

Blowing air into the paintpot

[NZEOD]

Vulcans arrived this morning! Now for the magnifying glass to build them!

Edited February 21, 2016 by NZEOD

[mickyg]

What sort of airbrush have you got? Sounds like the tip is clogged. Put some solvent into the paint cup and tip it so it soaks the tip parts for a few minutes?