Lit-Up Shield Generator

This time I wanted to make a fancy Shield Generator look all glitzed up. The Shield as is is just a small frisbee on the forearm, and is supposed to be a forcefield that protects the entire suit! Anyway, I mostly started this project because it seemed simple, and would look extremely cool!

So, starting from top left, and going clockwise: First is the shield generator piece itself. I smoothed away the bumbs on the bottom so it would lay flat on its forcefield. Next, is the arm the shield attaches too. I put a big hole in it (big is relative, its actually 5mm!), big enough for the next part. The LED. I trimmed the wires very close and soldered wires in a very compact little arrangement, so that it could be covered by- The rear cover. I used a Fusion Blaster to make this vented 'box' to cover up the solderpoints, and to cover the light emmiting from the base of the LED (yet still allow some to spill out of the vents I carefully carved out). Below is the forcefield itself: a large flying base. The LED wil poke through the forearm, and the base will fit over the tip of the LED, and the shield piece will cover the hole on top, and block the main beam of light. Last, the metal bit is a dremel attachment, and the only tool, besides an exacto knife to do this whole thing! (ok, and a soldering iron too) That little router bit is simply amazing! And it eats through this plastic like butter.

The plastic of the flying base conducts light so well, that the flat surfaces didnt light up at all, resulting in a bright blue ring around the edge only. That was not good enough. So, I scratched the flat surface of the base with an exacto knife, first by holding the base in my left had, and sweeping from the center hole to the edge using my wrist, then rapidly repeating that motion as my left hand spun the disk in small incements (Red arcs). Then, I reversed the procedure: holding with my right hand and sweeping with my left (Green arcs), to get a nice 'weaving lines of force web' effect, that should light up as the light passes through.

Pretty straightforeward, all in all. the result?

Hrrmmm not very awesome... wait! lets try the pic withOUT the flash...

yeah, thats much better, and more how the eye sees it. As a preview, heres the shield mounted on a suitably posed Suit, with a sneak peak at my next project: a lit-up plasma rifle!

I dont know about anyone else, but to me: this is the height of coolness, and the techno-flashy style that made me pick the Tau race to begin with! Stuff like this just wouldnt look right on any other races' models, but fits this races style perfectly!