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Old August 10th, 2006, 07:43 PM   #31
Viper 04
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Barry.....I have spoke with the guy at MMI and he hopes to have more cockpit sets out by the end of August or early Sept this year....he hopes.

The lighting idea sounds cool! I use to light everything I built ( it wuz kinda like a sickness ) but now I take these funny little pills.

This is my 1/35 scale Lunar Models SPINDRIFT with scratch built interior and custom lighting. One year on the bench for that one.

After my Viper is completed my next is going to be the 1/35 Flying Sub with all the same bells and whistles.





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Old August 10th, 2006, 09:47 PM   #32
z28barry
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Go here and go right to the bottom and click on the damaged Kongo (enterprise).
A small media clip will start and give you a good idea of what I am attempting.
The guy that created the module for Thomas models is doing a similar module for me.
Hopefully it’s not too expensive, but I won’t mind paying if it works the way I am hoping.
http://www.thomasmodels.com/kongosec.html

The spindrift looks awesome, I love the lighting effects.
I see fiber optics, I have yet to try that out.
All I use right now are LEDs.
I am still fumbling for a good connector, something small and easily hidden.

Later, Barry.
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Old August 11th, 2006, 07:38 AM   #33
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I've been looking for a fiber optic lighting kit as I want to light the cockpit:

http://www.colonialfleets.com/forums...light=lighting

My problem is I can't find any at my hobby shops, and I'd like to see it in person before purchasing it to make certain it can fit inside the fuselage. And the stuff from voodoo is a wee bit more than I wanted to spend.

I thought of just buying an LED and salvage some fiber optics from some cheesy fiber optic scultpure and gluing them together, but don't know what the circuit for the LED is., what battery it runs on.

Any suggestions?
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Old August 11th, 2006, 07:54 AM   #34
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Here is a CHART to calcualte LED 'resistors' to be used.

It is very important to use the correct resistance for each LED you use.....each LED has its own power values...If you don't you will either fry it right off or kill it slowly.......SONG TIME!!!! Killing it softly with his voltage killing softly with......ooops sorry got carried away

Try to by your LED's on line and from a source that shows what the POWER needs are.....then you can find all the risistors you need at your Radio Shack or where ever.

I have many older projects where only some IF ANY lights work at all because I used the right 'voltage' but not the right 'resistance'

http://www.bpesolutions.com/ledcalculator.html

If you are lucky you can use the same type of LED's on a whole project....same voltage....same resistors then its much easier!

There are a few LED shops online that charge squate for just a hanfull of LED's...with no min requirement....you can choose size, color, brightness, angle......alll that...its awesome!

I'm off to my parents place this weekend ( NO INTERNET ) so I will respond this sunday night....at least I think their PC is wack?

Seeya! and hope this helps?
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Old August 11th, 2006, 08:42 AM   #35
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Yeah it does a little bit.

So then all I have to do is superglue some fiber optics to the LED's right? I don't need to buy a special kit or anything.
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Old August 11th, 2006, 09:30 PM   #36
Viper 04
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KITS?....nah, No special kits are needed. Super glue or model glues do not work well with most fiber optics....infact they tend to melt them.

I like to 'harness' my optics in seperate sections acording to color ....I start by grabing my box of various aluminum tubing and scrap plastic tubes and I insert them inside a tube that is the right size for how big the bundle iz....the tube turns out to be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in length...depends on how much room you have to work in. Careful if using aluminum tubing....clean and sand the cut edges where the optics exit or they will get cut. Do not bend optics to far...they will loose their brightness....if you are very careful, you can use a hair dryer and put a bend into a bundle or a single optic....but the more bend the less light...in most cases.

The idea is to center the optics with the LED.

The best way to make optics to recieve and transmit light the brightess possible is to have a soldering iron or a wood cutting blade hot in its stand...then very slowly and carefully move the optic to the heat source till it just starts to mushroom a bit.....it glazes the ends and makes the ends of the optics larger. Size .010 optics can be treated this way they are too small. those are the comon type found in many Star trek and Star wars lighted kits. I use .020 and .030.

I use 'white/elmers' type glue to hold all that together....then I find a tube that fits snugly around the LED...then its a matter of up sizing or down sizing the fit from LED to optics.

Optics can be strung from a base or from inside the model.....the second is my favorite way.

Some well stocked hobby stores or Rail Road hobby shops have optics.

DON'T! pay too much for special lighting kits.....these guys on line spend a few pennies for some 555 timers, some resistors, capaciters etc and solder them on a generic board with some led's and sell them for 40.00 to 80.00 bucks!

There are books out there on how to make all kinds of lighting effects with 555 timers and leds! 555's and other timers like them are still available at Radio shack or other electronic shops.

All the above is a matter of experiements, trial and error but its not that difficult.
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Old August 11th, 2006, 10:34 PM   #37
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"There are books out there on how to make all kinds of lighting effects with 555 timers "

Interesting, I'd love to pick one or two up.
Exactly what kind of titles should I look for.
I wanted to look for a class but if there are books out there, I should grab one.

Thanks, Barry.
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Old August 12th, 2006, 12:17 AM   #38
Viper 04
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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.
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Old August 12th, 2006, 12:54 AM   #39
Lara
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Quote:
Originally Posted by z28barry
i
Here's my viper, still not finished but close.
Mine has a figure but no real cockpit.
Nice..I especially like the aging, very convincing!!

Look forward to seeing it finished..

Cheers,
Lara
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Old August 12th, 2006, 06:27 AM   #40
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Thanks 04Viper, the web page will be very helpful.
Looks like a bit of electronics learning on the horizon for me.

Thanks for the compliment Lara, as always, an ego booster.
I would like to see updates on 04Vipers model and how it looks now.
I’ve slowed down on building as I wait for ordered parts for the damaged viper buildup.
Still struggling with lighting the exhaust nozzles, what to use inside that would look convincing enough while lit.

I think I’ll do some panel scribing on the battle-damaged viper and build some kind of inner wing structure as I wait for the electronics.
I may also attempt to build my own cockpit to insert in both models.


Later, Barry.
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Old August 31st, 2006, 11:15 AM   #41
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Viper 04 how’s the progress coming along?
I'm still looking for something that lights up convincingly in the thrusters.
I have other electronic stuff I trying to do but it's not working.
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Old August 31st, 2006, 11:33 AM   #42
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Quote:
I'm still looking for something that lights up convincingly in the thrusters.
You'd think you'd want to use something that would be extrememly bright. So that the brightness and glare itself would conceal the glass and filament of the bulb. But then, you don't want something so hot it melts the plastic.
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Old August 31st, 2006, 04:42 PM   #43
Viper 04
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There are super bright LED's that are amazingly BRIGHT! and they now come in 'TRUE' white look now.....no more 'slight' bueish tint....you could put them in a cluster inside each engine outlet just behind a defuser of some sorts.

Mine is almost done.....Pics soon to come! Thanks for asking.
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Old August 31st, 2006, 07:18 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Viper 04
'TRUE' white look now.....no more 'slight' bueish tint

Mine is almost done.....Pics soon to come! Thanks for asking.
Where?
EvilBay?
I don't want to pay alot.

Thanks, Barry.
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Old August 31st, 2006, 09:20 PM   #45
Viper 04
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Rats!!! Its not in my Fav's anymore due to the great PC crash of 2005.

Look up LED's on google and see what you can find. DO NOT pay for more than .50 for EACH LED. online they are very cheap! Most shops take PayPal now too.
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