Been working on the Paragraphix corridors set for the past week or so.

Cutting away the edges was a bit tedious but I think it all went well enough in the end. I went with a semi-gloss black finish for the corridor floors. (I'm only up to Issue 24 so I don't have the final corridor pieces yet).



My first though on lighting was to use the Easy LED strips (also from Paragraphix). Colson got great results with these based on his photos; I wasn't as happy with the way mine turned out here. Maybe the difference being the curved vs. straight corridor -- with the straight LED strips and curved corridor, the light-to-grill spacing is uneven along the length resulting in variation in the light intensity. (Just noticed this photo was before I soldered jumpers between the sections, but my solder work was ugly enough that I'm probably happier not showing it :-) ).





So I decided to take a different approach and go for EL tape along the sides of the straight corridor ... Was much happier with the way this one turned out (I've only done one side so far)



I like the effect, but the tape doesn't bend well so that won't work for the curved corridors. I've ordered some EL panel material and when that comes in I'll try cutting some custom shapes for the curved corridors -- will post those when I have them.

I've just started on the light sconces, only having one done as a prototype at this point. I've actually combined the base of the sconce from the Paragraphix set with the center portion from Shapeways.

Here's the unattached panel and assembled sconce after drilling the pad



Here it is laid in place with a piece of EL tape behind -- nothing glued up at this point, just checking the effect, which I liked. I decided to go with the green even though white would be more correct for ESB ... must admit that was mostly influenced by early shots from Ep VII.



Better angle showing some of the light sconce detail



So I think that came out well and will be assembling the rest of the sconces using the same process, while waiting on the EL panel to arrive so I can continue with the floor lighting.

I have different EL tape, but the intensity is nothing compared to the EL tape you have. Would you mind sharing your source for that bright of EL tape? The green is perfect for the corridor button lights.

This update is all about the corridors -- I used a green EL tape to backlight the light sconces (which were assembled from Paragraphix bases and Shapeways centers), and white EL panels to light the grilles along the sides of the floor pieces.

Here's a template I made to cut the EL panel for the larger curved corridor. This was a very tight fit, I had to angle the template oddly to be able to cover all the lighting locations. It worked out well that the power feed comes in right at the location of the side corridor for access to the gun wells.



Once I'd figured out the orientation, I drew a cutting outline a little larger than needed -- can always trim down a bit after the test fitting



Here's after a rough cut and install. I originally thought I might have this EL panel light the grille at the 'step down' on the cockpit corridor, but later decided that was better done by the panel on that section, so the extension on that side was later cut off.



Here's where I filed down an area to allow the EL panel's power feed to come in under the side tunnel





Moving on to the straight corridor, here's the EL panel cut and drilled. It was a bit short, so the end closest to the cockpit isn't fully lit -- but I don't think that will be visible when installed in the model



Here it is installed, the front edge was bent down at a 90 degree angle to light the back of the step-down grille.



And here again, showing the power lead, and that the panel doesn't quite reach to the very last few grilles at the cockpit end.



Moving over to the small port-side corridor, I did a little additional work to taper down the edges of the plastic floor. The EL looks best when it's as close as possible to the grille -- it always looks good from above, but from a shallow angle it can disappear if it's too far away. This should help a bit.



Here's the template I made for cutting the EL panel


Here's a test fit



Here I've drilled out the threshold to the hold so that the grille can be backlit.



Here's the lighted grille. In hindsight, the panel is too far back -- while it looks OK from this low angle, if looking down into the hold from above you can't really see the lighting at all. (This is after the upper sconces had been done as well, I'll come back to those in a minute)>



Here are the tiny displays for the tilted hallway section coming from the cockpit (shown from the back, where the transparent paint is applied)



Here's one panel installed. A single LED was sufficient to light both panels on this side; I didn't light the panel on the opposite side since it faces away from anyone viewing the model. (Actually this isn't a very good photo, it was before the decal was installed. I have photos coming up that show the finished panel with decal but none that are very close-up)



Moving on to the upper light sconces -- here I've created some drilling templates to help, attached them temporarily using rubber cement, and then drilled out the holes (first in just the pads, then attached the pads and used them as a guide to drill through the corridor walls)













Here are photos of everything assembled

Fantastic work!! The EL tap is quite effective

Very excellent work on the extra lighting detail. You might need your own nuclear power station to run them

They look like JST-XH Connectors to me - Connector Plugs Male & Female

I don't have any on hand to compare yet , there are 3, 4, 5 and 6 pin connectors too

I second that

If anyone can please confirm this positively it would be appreciated, thx.

You're right -- that seems to be a 3-pin connector. I looked around the site and didn't see an obvious 2-pin equivalent, so I may have to keep looking.

They also have connectors that go from 1 male plug to multiple (from 3 up to 6) female so if the voltages all worked out you could run a lot of lighting off just one connector on the board ... but that's not really my area of expertise so hoping to watch someone else go first and learn that way :-).

Paragraphix gun turret interiors ...

Interiors for both turrets come in the set, here they are straight out of the package.



Here with a bit of primer



Masked to paint the rear wall a contrasting color (used Insignia White for the rear wall and German Gray for the side walls)



After painting all the walls



With plant-on pieces added, and transparent paint, but before applying decals



After adding decals



Folding it up



The transparent paint didn't "pop" as much as I wanted so I applied it a bit thicker, here are a few shots after that





Finished part



Showing the photoetch compared to the kit part -- I'll be adding ShapeWays seats into the photoetch parts.