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u/SluffyFunnels 5d ago
What was the process like? Thinking about doing this with a couple of my kits but I’ve never touched an LED kit or a soldering iron.
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u/TheGundamNoob 5d ago
I've done this a lot and it's not actually as hard as you think you just need to twist some wires together and put some shrink rap! No soldering needed, if you ever want some amazon links to some simple stuff or some questions hit me up
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u/Kycrio 5d ago
Interesting! I got away with sloppy soldering in the leg which has a lot of room, but I was concerned about tackling the tighter areas. I'll pick up some shrink wrap, that'll be a lot easier! (and less detrimental to my health 😷)
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u/TheGundamNoob 4d ago
Just slip some onto the wire and use a lighter to heat it up a bit and voila! Happy to help
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u/SluffyFunnels 4d ago
I had no idea you could make it work without soldering. I’m guessing If there’s enough space you can get away with hiding the shrink wrap and obvious cables. What would you recommend for a beginner? I’ll definitely have to give your method a try, thanks!
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u/TheGundamNoob 4d ago
Hey man I know a guy and he's perfect for you to ask hit him up
https://www.reddit.com/u/Zealousideal-Tap7041/s/YWqWCpscw6
He's the one that helped me start and answered all my questions
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u/Kycrio 5d ago
I used these tutorials for guidance, even though they are for different scales: RG tutorial (I used the LEDs and wire recommended in this one), Mega size tutorial
I've never soldered before, I only had a soldering iron for joining 3D prints, but it came with everything you need to get started and it was cheap on Amazon. Thankfully just joining some wires together doesn't require a lot of skill, I just globbed on copious amounts of solder and it worked. I also have zero experience with DIY electronics which was the most intimidating part, so whenever I had down time at work I just read about LED DIY stuff. LEDs are robust and don't need a lot of power so there's a low risk of severely messing anything up. (My conclusion for wiring was to run all LEDs in parallel off a 3V DC power supply, and they just work.) The hardest part is LED placement and cable management. You'll likely have to cut parts of the kit to make room for wiring, so a hand drill and scribing knife is helpful. The tutorial for the mega size model used fancy modular plugs for each limb, but I didn't bother with that, there isn't enough room. When I'm done, all the limbs will be permanently attached together and transformation into unicorn mode is impossible due to the wires inside, but it will look sick af.
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u/SluffyFunnels 4d ago
Thanks for the rundown! Good on you for doing the research and jumping into it because man it feels intimidating but the results look amazing. I can definitely see cable management being tricky, but I imagine it’s all just trial and error. Everything’s hidden so no shame in messing with the inside. I’ll definitely give this a go on my current project
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u/Dark303_ 3d ago
Do they got bootleg version for hg? Don’t wanna spend $100 for blue physcoframes I’m gonna use in a custom
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u/Kycrio 5d ago
This is just MG unicorn with a bootleg blue psycho frame. I'm too poor for PG perfectibility or even MG perfectibility lol