Anyone know of UK based lighting kit supplier?

sillyface · Post by **sillyface** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:22 am

Hi all,

I've found plenty of sites based in the US that make and supply lighting kits for Star Trek models. But this means it'll cost me a lot more for shipping and buying an appropriate voltage adapter.

Anyone know of anyone in the UK that produce a similar product/service?

phantom_phantic309 · Post by **phantom_phantic309** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:44 pm

Having the same problems! UK SF modellers seem to get the sort end of the stick. I'm not sure if I want to risk buying a kit or built circuit from the states only to find it doesn't work.
On the plus side Maplins sell a few goodlittle kits that run on 9v. The strobe kit can be very useful.

cwam · Post by **cwam** » Thu May 26, 2011 5:33 am

Hi,
I am in the UK and have used kits from Trek modeller and Don's Light and Magic. You do have to pay extra postage and import tax as well (I can't remember how much now, I got my kits in 2009 and the Post Office may well charge you £8.50 just because they can!!!) but I had no problem with voltage differences. I run mine off an old Nokia mobile charger when I want to use the mains or else I use a 4x1.5V battery holder.

The Trek Modeller kit has been modified since I bought it but I imagine it can still be powered the same way.

Basically, the kits need 6V (or thereabouts) power supplies so I suppose it doesn't really matter whether you are starting with 240V (UK) or whatever the mains supply is in the US, the adapter you buy will need to reduce it to 6V.

The DLM kits are especially good because they include two Potentiometers that you can use to adjust the speed of both the Nav and the strobe lights.

BTW, I am no electronics expert, the DLM Warp Engine board was the very first board I ever built, so don't be put off if you are not an electronics guru!

I guess if you knew more about the theory behind the boards you could build your own from parts at Maplins or wherever but that is beyond me (for now!!)

Colin Martin

Thanks for readin'

khitomer · Post by **khitomer** » Fri May 27, 2011 8:44 am

Been looking into this for a while. The parts to build these units are quite cheap, in the order of 4 or 5 pounds sterling. However getting designs and help to design a circuit is where I am having difficulty. I'd love to build this myself but I'm no good at circuit design. Most of the kits are based on 555 timers and 4060BE chips. A new supplier is starting up in the USA who is much cheaper than Trekmodeller.

http://www.starling-tech.com/index1.php?id=electronics has various kits available with reasonable charges for delivery to the UK. Need to sit down and decide what to do?!

sillyface · Post by **sillyface** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:47 am

Thanks for the feed back.

I got in contact with TrekModeler, and they're developing a lighting kit for the Enterprise D (which is my project).

Seeing the amazing lighting kits they've developed for the Enterprise A models. I'm going to bite my wallet and fork out for the extra expense of getting it from the USA. Like you Khitomer, my cicuit knowledge is limited at best. And they produce the kit ready built with a CD to show you how to install the sucker.

A bit annoying that no-one in Europe seems to be making similar comprehensive trek kits. Oh well, guess that will happen after I've made my D.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:16 pm

Now I have a question:

Since all you UK guys want to light models but not import them yourselves, who do you think might be a good UK distributor? Would this company also be able to distribute to the rest of Europe?

I'm trying to expand my biz and am thinking of finding a UK distributor.

Thanks,

-John

Ant · Post by **Ant** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:04 am

I'm in the UK and am currently working on a generic microcontroller driven lighting board - more details here

http://www.antsnest.net/LEDDriver.php

The hardware is good to go, I'm just looking for good applications at the moment.

Ant