SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Basic Lighting Help Needed

641 views
3 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    November 2005
Basic Lighting Help Needed
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, July 28, 2006 4:22 AM
Ok i am a complete beginner and know nothing about electronics. I want to put some simple lights into a slave 1 kit. I just want it to glow red from the engine.

I looked around any body know of a good site that shows easy ways to light models. Or a quick way for me to learn with out learning all about electronics lol.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Friday, July 28, 2006 7:58 AM

Is the engine area clear? Are there portholes? An "exhaust" area?

If it's solid, there may be no way to do this easily. You can try vacu-forming the parts, but you'll loose detail. If it's just the exhaust, vacu-form the part in clear acetate, then spray dullcoat over it.

In the engine compartment you'll now place a red Light Emitting Diode (LED). Solder lead wires and attach them to a battery pack, runnng the wire down the stand. Repeat for any additional engines. To get fancy, you can add a flashing LED which will simulate a pulse.

Radio Shack will have all you need. LEDs are good to use because of their long liife and no heat build up.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Halfway back to where I started
Posted by ckfredrickson on Friday, July 28, 2006 10:45 PM
Like aj, I would recommend you going with one or more LEDs, and would look at using some roughed up clear plastic to diffuse the light.  You'll need to remember to put a resistor into the circuit so you don't fry the LED.

As to designing the circuit, Starship Modeler has a couple of tutorials... scroll down about 2/3 of the way through this page.  The second tutorial shows how to calculate the size of the resistor needed.  If the equations scare you, there are also several LED calculators available online; here's one, but I've never used it and can't vouch for it's accuracy.

Best of luck.

  • Member since
    December 2004
Posted by stan2004 on Sunday, August 6, 2006 11:28 AM
Check model railroad section at LHS for firebox flicker circuits that simulate glow in steam engines -  flicker circuits also popular for simulating flames in dioramas.  Type 'campfire flicker LED' into search engine -everything from DIY to ready-to-install.  Cheapest I've seen was at Dollartree for a battery powered candle-simulator using flickering LEDs - $1.  If only steady glow, look for give-away LED flashlight keychains.
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.