I desperately need your help! senior thesis project

Most likely LED's or wheat of grain bulbs will be your best bet, it would help if you could give us a bit more information on the actual project.

Lighting needs to be planned from the word go tough to add it in afterwards.

sorry,
i am making wooden boxes that are 1.5 ft long, 1 ft tall and 10 in wide that will function like a toy theater. There is a peephole on one end that is 4 cm wide that you look into. Inside I have a series of flat illustrated panels that come in from the sides. for example one box is a forest scene. each panel has a tree that sits on either side of the inside of the box, so that you see inbetween them all the way to the back of the box (where there is a final backdrop). sorry of this is confusing.

i am looking for a product that isn't a fire hazard, that requires little assembly, and that can illuminate the different areas inside the box.

here is a link for something that i found that seems pretty close to what i need:
http://www.nationalartcraft.com/subcategory.asp?gid=1&cid=2&scid=49

unfortunately you can only order in bulk and i am not sure that this is exactly what I want.

i agree that LEDs are probably ideal in that they are bright and emit no heat.
i haven't found a piece where it has a whole bunch of LEDS already wired up to one source where i can just place the lights where i need them.

this is also very close:
http://www.bpesolutions.com/lghtefx.html#anchor2102526

but i don't need the special effects

Those bulbs might not give out enough light for your purpose.

LED'S are good for Diorama as they generate a lot less heat than standard grain of wheat bulbs, their power consumption is also lower and they last nearly forever. Grain of Wheat bulbs and similar burn out quickly.

With the the LED's you will have to do your own wiring and make your own mountings for them, but they do come in a variety of shapes, sizes and
colours. No quick and easy assembly there but, IMHO, best suited for your needs.

i think that i would wire them myself if there was a simple
way to go about it but at this point i don't really have time
to figure all of that out. i went to radioshack and saw all that
was involved in getting the LEDs wired up and back to a power
source... and i left with a big headache.

i have called museums, dollhouse shops, and lighting companies
and no one seems to have a good solution.

as a side question, do you think it is possible to get anything like overcast daylight from LEDs?

QUOTE: Originally posted by jardepoin i think that i would wire them myself if there was a simple way to go about it but at this point i don't really have time to figure all of that out. i went to radioshack and saw all that was involved in getting the LEDs wired up and back to a power source... and i left with a big headache.

LED's aren't all that difficult to wire, you need the right resistor for your current and
LED type, the place where you buy them will give you the right stuff if you ask.
I normally do or buy them prepackaged, couldn't be faced with doing the calculations myself.

QUOTE: i have called museums, dollhouse shops, and lighting companies and no one seems to have a good solution.

It is a very specialised application and might need a variety of light sources to get it to work right.
Really depends if you want a single light source(aka the sun) or have distributed lights, at the same time they need to provide enough illumination to show details but not be too bright.

QUOTE: as a side question, do you think it is possible to get anything like overcast daylight from LEDs?

You would need to experiment with a mixture of different coloured LED's(white blue, etc) and their individual
brightness settings I would assume.

thank you for your help!

i think that if i can avoid having to figure out all of the wiring myself i will.

you made a good point about possibly having to combine light sources
to get it right.

i feel like i don't really have to time to sit down and fiddle with all of the
different lights. i feel like this kind of thing has to have been done before, either for miniature set designs or dioramas.

if anyone has any links for me to check out, it might help lead me to what i need.

thanks

You can go to a Truck stop or a chrome shop and buy by the foot a light rope.These are led lights stung up in a row.Low heat if any and comes in many colors also comes with insructions on how to wire up.You might also find them in wal-mart and any auto store they a cheap and easy to use.Digger

if truck rope is prohibitively expensive, drop me an email and i can help you with soldering LEDs. its really not that difficult, it just seems tough.

also try oprtic fibres.....they are not that expensive anymore.
you also need to have different light intensity and quality (hue) to reflect brightness.
it sounds more difficult that it actual is unles you want a real mckoy authenticity.

QUOTE: Originally posted by thyamis it sounds more difficult that it actual is unles you want a real mckoy authenticity.

Agree, to me it sounds like what he wants to create goes way beyond standard Diorama building
and more into specialised areas like SFX, etc.

Not an easy project to do and I reckon a lot of time will need to be spend in research, etc.

I once tried a similar project and temporarily shelved it.
Base idea was an Anime character crouching on a rock over a bog at midnight completely with ground-fog etc.
In the meantime I found a few items that would realise the project, alas the kit I wanted to use is no longer
available.

Reckon it would have been a competition winner too.