Heavy Mods & Scratchbuilds Shepp's Generations Metroplex MP3 Player Mod

[Shepp]

Although a bit on the lighter side, I'll lump this in with heavy mods because it involves some electronics work and a fairly expensive figure.

This thread will document my process, I'll update as I go.

Here's what you will need:

- Small Phillips-head screwdriver with a long shaft

- Utility knife

- Needle-nose pliers

- Small wire cutters

- Soldering pen with a really fine tip

- Really fine flux-core solder (to keep the figure RoHs compliant, go for lead free, it's healthier but a bit more difficult to deal with)

- 2x microswitches of the same type that comes with Metroplex

- Screenless MP3 player with internal battery. I'll be using the Hipstreet 4GB Mini Clip MP3 Player Red (HS-601-4GBR) because it's play/pause button doubles as the on/off button (VERY IMPORTANT), it is compact, and is cheap.

- Roughly 1 meter of 22 awg wire. Phone line wire is 24 AWG and should work fine, but I like to go larger for less resistance.

- USB cable to interface with MP3 player.

- Stereo headphones from the dollar store.

- Electrical tape.

more to come.

[down_shift]

This should be interesting.

[wervenom]

Indeed

[Shepp]

Still need to get the microswitches, the wire, the mp3 player, soldering pen, and solder. lol

and some fine grit sandpaper.

Once I have those, and move my old computer desk to the basement, I'll be ready to rock.


The reason I listed that MP3 player is because of it's feature that the play button doubles as the on/off button.

Because I only have room for two buttons in Metroplex, one will serve as the next button to move the playlist along (I can't figure out how to get an MP3 player to move to the next song without playing it immediately after playing a song).

I will be loading the WFC and FOC soundtracks, the TFTM1986 soundtrack, some other TF related music, as well as sound bytes from FOC Metroplex, FOC Optimus Prime, plus some weapon and transformation noises.

I'll also be replacing all of the stock wires and soldering for the electronics. They will still function with the batteries in, but the MP3 player must be turned off first. Otherwise both the play and next buttons will be pressed when triggering the light and sound feature.

I toyed around with installing a toggle switch to disable the electronics' speaker while triggering the lights whenever the play button was pressed, but that seems overambitious for my skill level.

Also toyed with using the electronics speaker for MP3 output, but I don't want to risk blowing it out. I know the sound will be a little on the lower side with just the headphones.

[Shepp]

Bah, Wal-mart's being a pain and I still haven't been able to get that mp3 player. Out of stock and none on order.

If I can't get that mp3 player for cheap, I'll have to scrap this particular mod.

[Hellboy]

Where are you going to source the Metroplex sound bites?

I'm looking for some clean voice tracks. Anything I find has FOC background noise.

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

Where are you going to source the Metroplex sound bites?

I'm looking for some clean voice tracks. Anything I find has FOC background noise.

Didn't get that far yet. I suppose someone out there may have extracted them from the game itself (during play, not from any of the movies), I mean, all games now are just packed files.

Or, someone may have uploaded (or will upload) some high quality recordings from the toy itself.

I'm trying to come up with a way to have the LEDs flashing while music plays (as long as the AA batteries are in), but that may be overly ambitious. I don't want to add another switch to disable the electronic's speakers.

But, I'm adding a little mod to carve out some plastic on Metroplex's left shoulder so that the other helipad will be accessible in city mode.