I must apologise ....There might be a book printed on the use of 555 timers and lighting but I was mainly thinking of the litature packets that I have picked up at some classes at Wonderfest and some litature found on the net.
Here is a site that is almost too detailed but it does fully explain how the 555 works and how to use them.....its going into my favorites.
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/555/555.html
There is a easy, fast and usually cheaper way to add lighting effects to models and you do not have to worry about voltage or resistors! I some times visit the local dollar store near where I live and they usually have these led lighting effect 'STUFF' ....for example just the other day I stopped by and noticed this box with 12 led's in it, all in a row 4 red, 4 green and 4 blue...it has a clear cover and you can put etched glass art work on top of it .....anyways....the lights flow from one color to another in a very cool way.....well I picked it up to use it for the either the fusion chamber wall panel or break up the lights and use them in various panels in my 1/35 scale FLYING SUB. If you want to use different led's than what is already there you can turn it on and with one led removed measure the voltage delivered to the led. some times for a 'smaller' light on a panel I just use a VERY short piece of optic where the light goes and place the LED behind it. You can also go to used goods shops and find toys that have leds....all kinds of cool stuff out there you can rob parts from.
