Adding a LED light to a Venomcrawler (by making a huge base)

Unlike the Astra Militarum tanks, this model does not have a large and accessible interior to hide the inner workings. Time to get creative! I learnt a lot here, the process was unwieldy, I'll do something else for my following project.

Add the LED 

Solder the LED to wires.

I drilled out the side doodad which looks like a mouth, then stuck in the LED. I used Vallejo Heavy Gel instead of superglue to avoid fogging.

Cut a small opening in the abdomen right below the exhaust pipes, which should be practically invisible later on. Assemble the model.

(Badly. I had this already on sprue, and I mixed up the legs.)

The base

I thought long and hard about where to hide the rest of the circuit. I decided to thicken the base to provide some storage space. 

Start by cutting a roughly base-sized disk of plasticard. Rough up the edges (old scissors work well) - this will be a urban ruin after all.

I marked where the feet will go, and I drilled out a hole for the wires.

I glued on the model to the plasticard disk, using superglue.

And now for that extra storage space... cut up the base, fit in the switch and cut out a hole where the battery holder can be inserted and extracted. Then build up the sides using cork.

Seal the interior using home-made putty. After it dries, reinforce with UHU glue.

Solder the wires as usual, then glue everything onto the base. I did not take any pictures of the soldering as it was very finicky. There's obviously a battery holder in there. Advice: leave more wire length than you think you'll need.

Also: the plasticard warped, so I had to wrap the whole thing with rubber bands for a snug fit.

Cut the plasticard to size by snipping off most of the overhang where possible. 

Also don't forget to test the lights!

Fill out the base with putty.