A walnut, Brengun 1:144 Kübelwagen and a miniaturised SMD version of a BJT oscillator - and with a bit of practice, some close-up model magic.
Here's a quick demo..
I picked up this pair of 1:144 Kübelwagen on impulse when buying a PE kit from Hauler/Brengun.
They sat on the shelf for some time. I think it was seeing some artwork for Episode 21 "Going small" of the just making conversation podcast that inspired me to wonder if I could use the two vehicles with a bit of sleight of hand...
I asked James & Malcolm from the podcast about the artwork and they clued me in: The original model was by Mike Zax. He has a video covering the build:
The vehicle he used was a 1:150 Ford GPA Amphibious Jeep/Seep, rescaled from a 1:87 R & P Models paper kit.
In the "exploded" view, I have some fast flashing LEDs to intimate a blazing fire. I'm using a simple BJT oscillator, but with SMD components and a 3V battery holder to try and conceal it within the shell of a walnut.
The circuit uses a tilt-switch to turn on the circuit when up the "right" way.
I verified this on a breadboard first in order to finalise the component selection. I settled on 1µF capacitors and 100kΩ resistors for the RC circuit, leading to a relatively fast flash of around 7.2 Hz.
NB: same basic circuit as covered in LEAP#049 BJT RC Oscillator
I used a small piece of perfboard for mounting the SMD version of the circuit as compactly as I could.
The Brengun kit is very nice - resin with PE and decals for quite a detailed model at 1:144. I think the front door handles are back-to-front however, ended up fixing this.
I grabbed a handful of Vallejo Model Color for the paint. Didn't record all the paints used...
Just a Walnut shell, carefully split with a piece of plasticard as a ground plane between the two halves.
In one half we have a "peaceful" scene with a tree and some kind of bowser (actually it is the tilt switch)
With the Kübelwagen in place.
On the reverse, we have the destroyed Kübelwagen with a plume of smoke and the LEDs flickering like flames. Don't know exectly what happened, but it was pretty devastating!
- this project on scalemates
- Volkswagen Kübelwagen - wikipedia
- Kübelwagen - Brengun BRS144052 - 1:144 - scalemates
- Kübelwagen - Brengun BRS144052 - 1:144 - brengun