Animated Cylon Wall Hanging
Click the image above for a brief YouTube video of the animated Cylon.
Finished Cylon wall hanging.
Many years ago I bought "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series", a DVD box set. This is the original TV show from 1978, not that crappy soap opera of a remake. The initial release of the box set included a box lid with a vacuum-formed 3D Cylon head decoration. I thought it would make a neat wall hanging.
DVD box.
In 2023 I bought a Larson Scanner kit from Evil Mad Scientist. The width of the circuit board looked to be just right the fit the Cylon head.
Larson Scanner kit from Evil Mad Sciensist.
I used a piece of 3⁄16" plywood for a support frame. There's a big slot at the top to easily hang from a screw in the wall. I have to take it off the wall to access the battery switch, which shouldn't (I hope) be too annoying. I only turn it on when I have guests.
Support frame and electronics.
I sprayed the support frame black. I also masked off the head and sprayed black around the rectangular perimeter before screwing the head to the support frame.
I pried away the eye piece and used a Dremel to cut a slot in the head for the LEDs to shine though. I was hoping to reuse the original stick-on eye piece. But it turned out to be opaque. It did, however, make a good pattern. First, I tried red translucent acrylic, but didn't like the look. So I went with black translucent acrylic, which is what is shown in the pictures and video at the top of the page.
Original eye piece with the unused red acrylic piece.
As shown in the pictures and video above, the LEDs are controlled to have an elongated fade effect, which actually isn't very accurate if you go back and look at clips from the original TV show. Nevertheless, it's a neat, eye-catching wall decoration.