Bandit Runner
Senior Member
So I’ve been wanting to do something different with my projector retrofit. When I did the retrofit back in 2011, I just kept it real simple. Now it looks kind of bland and not unique. One thing that has always bugged me about it, was that I left the mini gatling gun shrouds chrome. I wish I would have painted them instead, since I have no other chrome on my truck. So now I want to paint them green to match the rest of my green accent color scheme.
Another design consideration is to try and incorporate some 45 degree angles in the shroud design. I have kind of a 45 degree theme going on with my truck. Many of the angles on the bumpers, roof rack, grille, and other components are 45 degrees.
I also want to add some green LED’s to go with the green LED’s in my hood scoop. I’m not sure if I want that to be halos, demon eyes, or some other type of accent light, or a combination thereof.
What my retrofit currently looks like:
Green LED lights in my hood scoop:
Example of demon eyes:
So I started modeling up some rough ideas. In the following pics, the dark green is what would be painted, and the light, brighter green is meant to represent the LED’s lit up. Everything else would be black. All the green LED’s would be together on a separate switch. So I could turn them on/off independently of the headlights. I could choose to have them on as running lights or not, at any time.
The first idea was to simply add a flat piece of metal to the current mini gatling gun shroud. The metal would be 1/16” thick aluminum, and cut out to an “X” shaped piece (which provides the 45 degree angles). I would paint the current shroud and the metal plate green. I also thought about adding some small green flush mount LED light bolts to the ends of the plate. It is also shown with the demon eyes, but I could remove those if I don’t like them.
Flush mount LED bolts:
The second idea was to create a 3D “X” shaped piece that would slide over the end of the current shroud. Again this would be painted green. The new 3D piece covers up the multiple angled surfaces of the front of of the mini gatling gun shrouds, and cleans up the look in my opinion. I would also add a green LED light tube in each leg of the “X” that would be seen through a slot shaped cutout. The LED light would be completely contained so light wouldn’t spill out into the rest of the headlight housing.
LED light tube:
The third idea was to again create a 3D “X” shaped piece that would slide over the end of the current shroud, but this one would include a green LED halo instead of having the “X” legs lit up. The halo would be seen through 4 slot shaped cutouts in the shroud. The halo light would be completely contained so light wouldn’t spill out into the rest of the headlight housing.
Halo:
The fourth idea is sort of a combination of the previous two ideas. A new 3D piece that would slide over the current shroud with both the “X” lit up and with a separated halo ring.
The fifth idea is to somewhat replicate a gatling gun. I never thought the mini gatling gun shrouds actually looked like a gatling gun, so why not change that? This idea involves creating a completely new 3D shroud from scratch. For the gun barrels, I would use polished 1/2” diameter aluminum tubes with 1/16” wall thickness. I would also put a small green LED light in the back of each barrel, so a green light beam would “shoot” out of them.
LED Bulb style:
Or LED Chip style:
Those are my current thoughts, but I have a few other ideas also. I’ll probably model something up for those also. I was just wondering what everyone thought, or if anyone has any other ideas.
Another design consideration is to try and incorporate some 45 degree angles in the shroud design. I have kind of a 45 degree theme going on with my truck. Many of the angles on the bumpers, roof rack, grille, and other components are 45 degrees.
I also want to add some green LED’s to go with the green LED’s in my hood scoop. I’m not sure if I want that to be halos, demon eyes, or some other type of accent light, or a combination thereof.
What my retrofit currently looks like:
Green LED lights in my hood scoop:
Example of demon eyes:
So I started modeling up some rough ideas. In the following pics, the dark green is what would be painted, and the light, brighter green is meant to represent the LED’s lit up. Everything else would be black. All the green LED’s would be together on a separate switch. So I could turn them on/off independently of the headlights. I could choose to have them on as running lights or not, at any time.
The first idea was to simply add a flat piece of metal to the current mini gatling gun shroud. The metal would be 1/16” thick aluminum, and cut out to an “X” shaped piece (which provides the 45 degree angles). I would paint the current shroud and the metal plate green. I also thought about adding some small green flush mount LED light bolts to the ends of the plate. It is also shown with the demon eyes, but I could remove those if I don’t like them.
Flush mount LED bolts:
The second idea was to create a 3D “X” shaped piece that would slide over the end of the current shroud. Again this would be painted green. The new 3D piece covers up the multiple angled surfaces of the front of of the mini gatling gun shrouds, and cleans up the look in my opinion. I would also add a green LED light tube in each leg of the “X” that would be seen through a slot shaped cutout. The LED light would be completely contained so light wouldn’t spill out into the rest of the headlight housing.
LED light tube:
The third idea was to again create a 3D “X” shaped piece that would slide over the end of the current shroud, but this one would include a green LED halo instead of having the “X” legs lit up. The halo would be seen through 4 slot shaped cutouts in the shroud. The halo light would be completely contained so light wouldn’t spill out into the rest of the headlight housing.
Halo:
The fourth idea is sort of a combination of the previous two ideas. A new 3D piece that would slide over the current shroud with both the “X” lit up and with a separated halo ring.
The fifth idea is to somewhat replicate a gatling gun. I never thought the mini gatling gun shrouds actually looked like a gatling gun, so why not change that? This idea involves creating a completely new 3D shroud from scratch. For the gun barrels, I would use polished 1/2” diameter aluminum tubes with 1/16” wall thickness. I would also put a small green LED light in the back of each barrel, so a green light beam would “shoot” out of them.
LED Bulb style:
Or LED Chip style:
Those are my current thoughts, but I have a few other ideas also. I’ll probably model something up for those also. I was just wondering what everyone thought, or if anyone has any other ideas.
Last edited:
opcorn:
