Made another little booboo here... it was late and I flipped the red and the black wires... black being 5V and red being ground instead of the other way around... can only burn the candle on both ends for so long.
First animation test with the lights hooked up to the micro controller
This is the part the holds the diffuser for the front barrel LEDs in place. This is another place where having a dual color setup would have saved me a ton of time.