Resin Kit Adding Lights?

JGG1701 · Post by **JGG1701** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:36 am

Hey guys,

How would one add lights to a solid resin kit?
Thank you,
-Jim

JGG1701 · Post by **JGG1701** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:54 pm

No one eh???

-Jim

Ramsayman · Post by **Ramsayman** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:58 pm

Lots of drilling and careful carving out of the solid parts. Very careful carving....

Tankmodeler · Post by **Tankmodeler** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:29 pm

There really is no secret way to do this. Drill, carve, fill. If you can, and if the kit is multiple sdolid parts, do the carving before you put it together, but if it's one solid lump, you're scuppered. Drill, carve & fill. Carefully.

That's it.

Tony Agustin · Post by **Tony Agustin** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:51 pm

If you already have a lighting kit you gotta plan ahead as to where you want ot hide the wiring or put in LEDS or fiber optics. Ramsayman is correct, you are gonna have to do a lot of drilling and carving out with a Dremel. If you don't have one...get one.

modelnutz · Post by **modelnutz** » Fri May 20, 2011 2:38 pm

And be sure to wear a good dust mask...tight fitting !!!!
Resin dust will put you in an early grave !

G-man · Post by **G-man** » Fri May 20, 2011 3:27 pm

modelnutz wrote:And be sure to wear a good dust mask...tight fitting !!!!
Resin dust will put you in an early grave !

*thinks back to MNutz covered in resin dust at Iron Modeler with no mask*

LoL
Gman

modelnutz · Post by **modelnutz** » Fri May 20, 2011 5:47 pm

*Hack,Hack*

I was holding my breath !

Mr. Badwrench · Post by **Mr. Badwrench** » Sun May 22, 2011 2:51 am

What resin kit are you building?

MillenniumFalsehood · Post by **MillenniumFalsehood** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:08 pm

I'm building Alfred Wong's Cloakshape fighter kit and adding lights to it.

My strategy is to find the biggest area of the model and try to find a flat gluing surface which you can use to hollow it out from, preferably under the part you're going to light, like an engine exhaust or a headlight. When you're found the right spot, chuck a small bit into your rotary tool and make a small hole, From there, you can eat away a lot of the interior without having to have a big gaping hole in the side of the piece. Alternatively, if you're looking at a long section, a drill press might be the way to go (that's how I did the Cloak. I drilled all the way down the center of the fuselage). This gives you room to work and a place to put the circuit board(s).

After you've hollowed it out, make a reflector for the part you're attaching that needs to light up and attach it to the part, or else mount the reflector to the inside of the hollowed section behind the windows/bussards/etc. Back it with epoxy putty to secure it.

Then wire the LEDs to the circuit, seal it up, and you're done. The resin may need to be blacked out first, but the stuff Al's Cloak was cast in is pretty opaque; I can probably get away with a coat of silver and black.

If you find you can't access the windows from the hole or that you otherwise can't reach the areas you want to light, don't be afraid to saw the thing in half. You should be able to glue it back together without much trouble if you sawed it cleanly and use a slow-setting epoxy to reattach the halves. Just be sure to shim it with plastic that's the same width as the cut you made, so it'll be the same width as before you cut it.

And yes, for the love of all that's holy, PLEASE use a dust mask! Urethane resin is nasty stuff . . .

JGG1701 · Post by **JGG1701** » Tue May 10, 2016 1:06 am

This:
http://s377.photobucket.com/user/JGG170 ... h.jpg.html

You can follow my build here:
http://s377.photobucket.com/user/JGG170 ... t=2&page=1

-Jim G.G.