Air-raid Siren
This project is finished. I'm happy with the end result and can't
think of anything I would have done different, always a good sign when
a project wraps up.
This project was born from a desire to have a pulsating light shining on the mini
suspended in the distortion chamber. Unfortunately, I based that project too small
and left no place to hide or incorporate the proper Leds and power source.
The next best thing would be to have a portable, pulsating LED that could be
independantly placed anywhere on the board to provide a little cover, intresting objectives,
and just an all-purpose cool (and functional!) piece of terrain.
Given the objective (I wanted a blinking light angled downward to
illuminate minis on the ground or in slightly raised terrain, casting movie-like
strobing shadows across the battlefield) the choice was clear - I had to
make a pole-mounted Warning System. It could alert the troops of impending air
raids with a warning light and siren (Duck and cover! The commies are comming! The commies are comming!).
I drew a quick sketch of how it should look.
I purchased the battery powered blinking led, complete with all wiring and
the battery case, batteries not included, at Radio Shack for less than $5.00 Canadian.
(That's about $2.00 US or 1 pound for those in the UK). Everything else is standard
terrain material - scrap margarine container lid plastic, card from the package the LED
came in, a long bamboo skewer, a few random med caps, and lots of glue.
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After detailing it like mad (about half way through the project) it needs more detailing
(more wires I think) and the megaphones at the top need to be added. The blinking LED
is fully functional at this stage and the piece allready has a great feel to it, I can't wait to
finish off the detailing and paint it up Boltgun Metal and maybe a little rust.
The loudspeakers will make no noise, because while a flashing light looks cool and can add to the
play, an alarm going off constantly is so annoying that it would make
me smash it after a few minutes. I just remembered watching MASH all those years, they constantly had
close-up shots of the base radio poles giving orders and announcements.
Subconscious inspiration is always working.
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The Finished Product
