Dollar Store LED/Fibre Optic Lighting Hack for Star Destroyer Model

As we gear up to build a Star Destroyer for the kids' Star Wars movie, we explore some cheap options for getting that distinctive sci-fi model ship lighting look. Go get some stuff and make a thing!

[@ncstonecrew]

YOUR LITTLE HELPER IS ADORABLE. LOVED WORKING ALONG SIDE MY KIDS WHEN GROWING UP. YOUR A GOOD MAN!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Thanks, Todd! Really appreciate it. I have a blast doing projects with my kids. I learned so much working with my folks, so I'm trying to pay it forward.

[@ncstonecrew]

YOUR OBVIOUSLY DOING GREAT BROTHER. KEEP ON, DRIVING ON!

[@williamgomer9756]

The project is a great idea and who cares if it is on the cheap end, you just introduced a little one in to the world of model making!!! Great going Dad, you should be proud!

[@hourenschaiss2]

The fact that you did this video together with your kid elevates this to the next level. You're a great Dad. You just earned a new subscriber.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

That's very kind of you to say. Hope you enjoy the rest of what we get up to on the channel. :)

[@hourenschaiss2]

@@LoveMakeShareTV For sure. I love everything related to Making.

[@LaughingInTiny]

Agreed. Ditto.

[@farfoe5106]

What a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing. Teaching kids to build models teaches them how to use their hands, follow instructions, troubleshoot solutions when something goes wrong and the pride that comes with following a project to completion. Great on you, dad! She must be 9 or 10 now... did she keep at it?

[@owenauer3406]

The extra plastic on the LEDs are so the light focuses into kind of a spotlight, sanding them down flat will diffuse the light better for use inside a spaceship

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Cool! Thanks for the tip!

[@dustincleary6834]

Had an idea for a toy utilizing optic plastic and LEDS; this was the exact video I needed for inspiration. Love that you got your little one helping, kudos to you.

[@dustincleary6834]

By the way, do you think fishing wire would work with this?

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

@@dustincleary6834 Thanks for the kudos! We had a blast, she and I just finished another big project - a fantasy novel - this past month. I don't think fishing wire would work since it doesn't have the same optical properties as fibre optics. But I think the piece we scavenged fibre from was like $2.50 CAD.

[@History1984]

You and your helper did a wonderful job! Thanks for the info!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@kargandarr]

It is a good thing to get the kids involved in those projects. It could come in handy later in life where they might be able to get a job building movie models.

[@paperjerry]

Good tutorial! And good thing that you have an assistant!

[@bobbypierce7608]

Great tutorial.. Did you ever do a follow up video to this? Id love to see how you wired it all up.😎

[@Strawfoot]

Your kids adorable, that is so kind that you include her in videos. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Thank you! We have a good time. 😊 Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MarkMichalowski]

Bloody lovely, mate! I don't have kids, but if I did - THIS would be what I'd hope to be doing with them. Soooo cool :)

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Thanks! They're a blast to work on projects with. We never used this in a starship model, but I *am* about to use this technique in a starship-adjacent thing for the newest baby... You may want to sub and stay tuned for that. ;)

[@MarkMichalowski]

@@LoveMakeShareTV I'm ahead of you there, buddy - already subbed and looking forward to it!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

@@MarkMichalowski Cheers bud! Looking forward to seeing you around the channel.

[@russellgosselin3325]

Awesome video. Very resourceful. Might try this method sometime.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

If you do, come back and let us know how it works out!

[@SlicePrintRoleplay]

Fantastic info and a great tutorial! Thank you!

[@scotteverroad4545]

You gotta Helper! lol so cute man! and great-video

[@gordonyork6638]

Looks like you have a liitle artist on your hands. Reminds me of my daughter

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Your daughter must be pretty cool then. :)

[@oldbaldfatman2766]

Nov. 2017---Thanks for the video & modeling tip. Didn't know you could grind a led bulb down in height. Haven't been to Dollar General in a long time, but will now take a look see. Last year at Dollar Tree, bought a dozen or so led Christmas tree lights. There's a dozen led bulbs per set, each led about half the diameter of a pencil eraser and uses 2 double A batteries. And you can either have them all on or flashing on/off.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Sounds like another great option! And flashing lights have me thinking now... Having a combination of solid lights for windows and flashing ones for running lights is something I hadn't actually considered for this (somewhat defunct) project. I usually think of Star Wars as having pretty static lighting on its models, and Star Trek as having blinking and rotating and other dynamic lighting effects. Wonder what a latter-day Star Destroyer would look like with blinking running lights and other funky effects?

[@johnfoster3895]

To purchase fiber optic cable itself can get quite expensive because people do not use any frugality or creativity. Decorative lamps, such as this one shown, have quite a bit of plastic fiber optic. This is great for models as you are not transmitting light more than a handful of inches - perhaps a few feet at most. Thanks for the idea! ! !

[@danielhubbard9927]

Sooo cool I'm glad you got your kid involved be cos this is a dieying arte keep it going mate 👍

[@anthonyalvarado9307]

I love the kid involvement!! Super Dad!!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Aw, thanks. 😊 This one just helped me build a UV curing station for our new resin 3D printer. Video for that is coming soon - hope to see you around the channel!

[@les4767]

Mind=Blown! A very resourceful solution in a world of expensive mail away for lighting kits we're currently in(Although, to be fair, I just live in a terrible location. The closest Radio Shack is over 90 miles from here).

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Glad you liked it! There's a lot of expensive lighting kits online but we were looking for something much simpler that we could throw together for a very disposable project. Just had to find workable material at a price point that worked!

[@les4767]

@@LoveMakeShareTV You opened up my mind to the possibilities. Now I'm hunting for lighting components at my local thrift shops.

[@darrelld.paveyjr.1477]

Very cool and hip father crafting with family. I grew up crafting with mine. Shellac & mount puzzels, Train layout, Pinewood Derby. Show the Star Destroyer in process. I will watch more.

[@willvanicheck8993]

The best part of this video that really hit home was, I think it's time for bed, no... Thought maybe this was a video I made with my kids hahaha

[@michaelvonfeldt9629]

Great idea. Subbed

[@fuelban]

Excellent, what a very intelegent daughter... Nice one guys... Thom in Scotland.

[@ssskids123]

Great idea!

[@DadSews]

Cool idea!

[@hoytwhitmore8872]

That Is Cool Great Video SIR

[@vinny9708]

Great helpful vid thank you,and great dad👍

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@markfrederick6202]

was wondering if you made that model with the fiber optics from this video? I have several of the big Star Destroyers and wonder how the lights are in scale look like. Great video with the your kid!!!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Hey! Thank you! Unfortunately there's nothing really to show for it. We did start installing the fibre optics in a sort of trash-bash build, but we ended up breaking our questionable solder and moved on to other projects before we came back to it. It was working a treat until we busted it, lol. But you'd need to experiment to see if the scale works for your specific model. Fortunately it's so cheap to throw together that you can try it out without making a big investment!

[@starholedesigns]

I'm going to try it

[@bapisteful]

nice work !!! :)

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

bapisteful Thank you!

[@fuelban]

Hi I really enjoyed this video.. and at one point you refer to making mistakes... Well this cununundrum I know very well, but if you're afraid to make mistakes then go to the store for the stuff... Needless to to say I've made and continue to be make mistakes, and I enjoy "NEARLY" every minute of it.. lol.. very cool video... Thanks.. Thom in Scotland.

[@madcowrebel4216]

...yes the original trilogy ships (not just destroyers) were all light with fiber optics and for the Executor (Vader's super star destroyer) LEDs behind drilled brass sheet.

[@WhisperWorksGaming]

To make sure I'm watching this correct, you bound together the fiber optics with electric tape, then placed a dot of gorilla glue gel on the LED diode to glue the fiber optic cable together? I can't tell if the glue went on the diode or the plastic casing around the diode.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

If I understand what you're asking, we didn't Dremel right down to the diode itself. The Gorilla CA glue was to fuse the fibre optics to the plastic of the LED. We ground the plastic down to give us a flat surface that would be easier to adhere to, not to expose the diode.

[@native0069]

question??...Can the fiber optics be woven together?..or braided together?...to make blended colors?

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Hmmm... They're both flexible and kind of brittle, so I don't know how tight a weave or braid you'd get. They also mostly only illuminate at the end, which is why they're used for tiny windows on models and things of that sort. I've been thinking about roughing up the sides of some strands so they do transmit light along the whole length... Subscribe and stay tuned, maybe this experiment will happen sooner than later!

[@charliejeans2413]

Can you use 20lb fishing line ? Not as rigid but more flexible. Optic fibre is nylon stretched.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Charlie Jeans Couldn't say as I've never tried it, but I suspect it doesn't have the same properties as fibre optic... Interesting idea though. The benefit of this is that we got everything we needed from a couple of dollar-store pieces that we just stumbled across.

[@EdwinvandenAkker]

​@@LoveMakeShareTV The trick is to have a fiber that consists of two materials. They act like a tubular mirror, that bounces the light internally to get to the other end of the fiber. There are several video's of how fiber optics actually work. Having just a fishing line won't do the job. Trust me, I tried it... And even coating the line with some silver paint won't work. Yep, tried that too. You're better off using cheap stuff like shown in this video. Or, order some online. I just purchased a huge of like 50 meters roll for only $15. That's more than I will need for my next project.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

@@EdwinvandenAkker This is a great explanation - learned something! Thanks!

[@owenauer3406]

No

[@YODAMAN5]

GREAT IDEAS DUDE I DO THE SAME ALL THE TIME, THE DOLLAR STORE IS A GOOD SOURCE FOR THIS STUFF. ALSO JUST AN FYI, YOU CAN PLACE THE FIBERS IN A SMALL TUBE THEN USE HOT GLUE OR THE CRAZY GLUE ONTO THE LEDS...LOVE UR HELPER.. {:-)

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

When you said "tube" it occurred to me that heatshrink tubing would be a great material for this too! Thanks for the tip!

[@RedHeadKevin]

Next time, don't clip the LED assembly wires so close to the LEDs. Leave some wire attached to the LEDs, so you can see where the red/blue wires go, and you can make battery contacts way easier. You might even be able to just splice them and avoid soldering altogether.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Great tip!

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

RedHeadKevin You can tell which is the anode and cathode by looking - the cathode is the big dish-shaped element :)

[@EdwinvandenAkker]

@@RoamingAdhocrat As a child, I thought a cathode was that thing a pastor is standing at in a church... haha... 🤣

[@Batakmusikchanel0683]

how do you make the optical fiber very stiff, sir?

[@OddAndAbout]

What if I wanted to keep the multicolor changing lights

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Then there's lots less work you need to do! The CA superglue we used does a great job fusing everything together, so I'd still open it up, file the LEDs flat, and glue it all together. Just don't replace the included multicolour LEDs with white ones like we did!

[@esbenrasmussen4289]

Did you ever build the Star Destroyer? And which one? I am building the 1/4000 as a test then I move on to the 1/2700

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

So we did, sort of. It was a scratchbuild/trash bash Star Destroyer-like ship for a video project, but the project kind of fell away and we scrapped the model. It was never a model kit, unfortunately. I scavenged the lights and fibre out of it for use in other projects later on.

[@MaddawgJAG]

FYI crazy glue or CA will eat through fiber optic wires

[@sonyasmith666]

Thank you for the heads up! 👍🏼 Question: Would using a drop or 2 of clear resin secure the optics? 🤔

[@MaddawgJAG]

Sonya Smith never tried that.....I’ve always used low temp hot glue on fiber optics

[@Hpynos2010]

0:19 wait, what? AFAIK the original filming model was indeed lit...at least the engines were. They had halogen bulbs back there. Search for any pics of the studio miniature and you can clearly see them.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

I think you might be right about the engines - I guess I was a little broad in my statement. There were no window lights on the SDs in ANH is what I meant.

[@Irieict]

Bet you could use a marker like a sharpie to color leds on the fly , then you wouldnt need to get different colored leds!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

That's a way to go! I've never Sharpied an LED, wonder how that would work...

[@esbenrasmussen4289]

you can paint them with transparent Tamiya paint. I saw PLASMO do that for his Star Destroyer

[@adrianapabon5956]

Cuties!!!

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Thanks. :)

[@georgefaltus]

Nice work man and good on ya for wearing the mask watch those solder fumes too man 👍

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Gotta model safety for the kiddos! Thanks for commenting.

[@calvinhuddleston576]

3$ at the dollar store?

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Canadian dollar. 😖 Still, it's everything you need to add lights to something in one convenient package!

[@calvinhuddleston576]

thanks! the other options for optic lighting were looking pricy

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

What are you planning to light? Would love to see what you make!

[@calvinhuddleston576]

i may be making a model of sevastopol station from alien isolation from foamboard but i think i will use it for instrument panels on models too

[@faizalaharbi]

B

[@peterplantec7911]

This was interesting and I loved your daughter’s participation. She’s a great companion. But it was frustrating to watch. I have absolutely no idea how what you made can be applied. I once did this to make stars in the sky boy tediously drilling hundreds of holes through black painted Masonite. You do not appear to have done a second as follow on. Please do.

[@pureforce56]

Apparently you never used it on the destroyer. Guess you get what you pay for.

[@LoveMakeShareTV]

Just to be clear, we didn't use it on a Star Destroyer because we moved away from that project, not because this didn't work out. It was an easy and convenient way to get all the parts we needed to run fibre optics. In point of fact I'm going to be using similar scavenged parts I tossed in the bits box a while back to light a different project with fibre optics. Not all learning is done in a straight line.

[@Space1999Builder]

What "dollar store"? We need a name??? You haven't helped us find any of the things you mention.

[@Space1999Builder]

You took the time to post three lines of reply, but STILL not simply a name. Thank you.

[@bill7778]

Space1999Builder Dollar general, Dollar Tree, oh yes Dollar STORE. That is the name of the dollar​ store.

[@hattedsandwich2415]

@Space1999Builder Those are names dweeb, all 3 of those are "dollar stores" that sell these items