Hey all,

After a disastrous near trade with my special force I decided to continue making some mods to the game. Like the previous Special force mod thread I wanted to ensure that all changes I made were able to be reverted. The mods I am looking to make are

- upgrade jungle
- Add Tanks
- Thatch hut roofs
- Add Helicopter
- Additional lighting around tanks
- Make helicopter blades spin in conjunction with helicopter shot

I started by fully LED'ing out the machine which came out really well, then this weekend I cut all new plastics and added moss and foliage using leftover trees and moss from my HO scale train layout. I was also able to find some matchbox tanks to add above the tank shots that I got up and going as well. The top pic is the before and the bottom are the afters.

I'm still searching for a helicopter to use that is a legitimate scale, and working on the bumpers one roof is sitting on my kitchen table for inspiration, still looking for a good mounting scheme for the thatched roof.

IMG_20150417_080245.jpg

IMG_20150504_202524.jpg

IMG_20150504_201141.jpg

I'll get some with the glass off when I get the helicopter all mounted up. I have a Syma S109G remote controlled Apache that the remote is lost for that I'm going to adapt and get installed. I'm thinking I need an arduino to run it since there are the 2 switches I'll have to monitor for starting and stopping. That also opens up some opportunity for operating LED's on the guns if the space and wiring allows.

This weekend I was able to get a bit more done on special force. I managed to thatch the roofs of the huts. I did this with small pieces of field grass which I trimmed at the peaks. I had to leave the screw terminals uncovered, and I wanted to keep it thin so that the light would still show through.
IMG_20150517_205115.jpg
The trick on this one was keeping it revertable to stock, in the end I wound up using hot melt glue to attach the straw which bound it all together more than it bound everything to the bumper caps themselves. I did a test on the back of one of the caps to ensure that it would be able to be removed with no trace of wear.

I also made some good progress on the helicopter this weekend. I decided to sacrifice my Syma S109G RC helicopter because it was the perfect scale and the apache looks really cool. I had to remove the upper blades and gyro, as well as the tail rotor but with a simple SCR circuit I was able to wire it up to turn on with one switch and turn off with a diffrent switch. My current plan is to add another set of contacts to the helicopter gate (the turn off) and the switch at the top of the ramp(to turn on). I haven't begun the installation process but have it working on a bench. I'll have a more comprehensive set of pics once the chopper is added.

That's definitely a concern but at this point the moss has stopped shedding. I did hit everything with a solid layer of aquanet which was recommended by a few model railroading enthusiasts and it really has cleaned up the bits of moss that were being shed. The bumpers were a much thicker straw to attempt to avoid it, the bumpers are also held together with a bead of hot glue holding everything together at the bottom. The only downside to aquanet is when you open the glass it smells like a 60 year old lady.

Winter - your thread sort of inspired me to take this on. I was actually on the verge of trading my machine only to have it fall through because the 1 amp fuse under the playfield was loose. When I got it home I said let's do this thing. The toughest plastic I had to mod was the weapon ramp since it needed the slanted plastic.