Need advice on a simple LED lite setup

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ultron
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Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2002 2:20 pm
Location: Bensalem, Pa.

Need advice on a simple LED lite setup

Post by ultron »

Hey Gang!

I recently picked up the Moebius models BSG TOS Colonial Viper Mk1 & plan on lighting the crap outta it! I have a bunch of other stuff for it already & one of those things is the LED engine lite setup. The assembly I'm using for that is one of those push on/off L.E.D. dome lites from the dollar store. $1 buck gives me the battery pack, 3 super bight LEDs, a circuit board, a nice switch & a resistor!

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... 8a3fc1.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... a78e66.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... 0466b9.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... 87b636.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... 8cdf53.jpg

So, what I'm looking to do is reconfigure the setup from having the LEDs mounted on the board to being positioned away from it on the outer points of a triangular mounting rig (tbd later) , like so (this is a side view sketch):

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm44 ... 9833ad.jpg

I'm looking to also replace the on-board LEDs with these:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/flickering-led.html

Plus, if possible, I'd like to replace the 3 AAA batts with something smaller in size but equal in necessary voltage ( less space = more room for other goodies! :D )

Is it possible to get this setup going the way I envisioned it? Do I need to get another type of resistor to go with the new LEDs & batt. setup?
Any help at all guys would be greatly appreciated, I'm not a newbie to very simple lighting but I don't wanna screw up a simple project either! Otherwise, that'd make me a "Simple-ton" ( see what I did there? hehe)
Never tell me the odds!
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Joseph Osborn
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Post by Joseph Osborn »

IMHO, the LED's are the only things of value in that little puck light. I suppose the battery holder is useful if you want to just use 3 AAA's. My basic lighting scheme is to put the batteries into a base and run power into the model through a stand.

The flickering LED you referenced is only 1.8mm, which is pretty small. A 5mm in each engine can will provide a lot more light. You can use the little flicker circuit boards from those cheap tea lights to drive super-bright LED's.

Here's a link to a Revell Viper I made a few years ago:
http://photobucket.com/albums/m72/fireb ... Forums/New TOS Viper Build
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Mr. Engineer
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Post by Mr. Engineer »

I agree with Joseph Osborn on this.

Do look at Starship Modeler's Store section on lighting and you'll see a few lighting solutions for your Viper. I have encountered a few who used something similar to those pucks and in the end, the result was not as convincing. The Moebius TOS Viper is a wonderful kit and it needs some cool LEDs.



Starship Modeler shop
http://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.c ... ghting.cfm
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BrianB
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Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 1:12 pm
Location: BC Canada

Maybe a better deal here?

Post by BrianB »

http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/748
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