ROBOT GARDENER
Scale 1:20 - Styrene
A vignette of the stoic Robot Gardener from Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) 1986 film.
GETTING THE LIGHTS TO BLINK
I used a simple circuit hidden in the vignette's base and a couple of optical fibers to reproduce the characteristic blinking red lights on the faceplate.
THE CIRCUIT
A circuit was added to allow for the lights on the head to blink. It consists of an astable electronic oscillator, hidden in the vignette’s base, that causes a couple of red LEDs to blink alternately.
The different resistors on either side of the circuit were selected to finetune the blinking sequence.
THE TOUCH SWITCH
Two brass nail heads at the base provide a touch switch, that causes the eyes to blink. It works with two 2N2222 transistors, soldered together to form a Darlington pair amplifier.
GETTING THE LIGHT TO THE HEAD
A couple of 0.5mm optical fibers lead from the faceplate, through channels dug out inside the robot’s body and the legs, into the base, where they are attached to the LEDs.
RESOURCES
THE ANIME
Laputa - Castle in the sky (天空の城ラピュタ) by Hayao Miyazaki (1986)
KIT
Fine Molds. Laputa - Caste in the Sky Robot (Gardener Version). 1:20