Easiest Lighting Material

D.O.P.R · Post by **D.O.P.R** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 9:44 pm

I'm going to be lighting the Polar Lights Enterprise and I've seen lots of differant materials.

Since I'm new to the lighting thing, I was wondering what the best materials would be to use.

I've seen EL wire that I thought about wrapping around for the deck lights, with LEDs for the floods and cold cathode tubes for the engines.

But I don't know anything about how these things are set up or if I've got the right scheme.

Unjacketed fibers, jacketed fibers, fluorescent fibers, endglow cable, sideglow cable...I don't know one from the other or what kind of voltage/power supply etc. I would need to run it all.

Any suggestions? Anything I should avoid?

D.O.P.R

publiusr · Post by **publiusr** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 5:11 pm

Over at WalMart I found the small light that go on your tires valve stem which blink. There are some nice air freseners that look like outsized, particle filled nacelle globes with an Leggs look at the back ther--and some generic mini light-sabers in blister packs for nacelles.

en'til Zog · Post by **en'til Zog** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:32 pm

To Avoid? Starting too big a project and getting very very tired of the whole thing.

Lighting stuff is a subject were starting simple and working your way up is a REAL good idea. First, experiment with some LEDs. THEN make 'em blink. THEN play with a cold cathode battery powered camp light from Wally World. Then...

You get the idea. Trying to cram in a lot of lighting gadgets into a model as a first lighting project is pretty much guaranteed to drive you NUTS.

Look for a specific lighting kit for the PL Enterprise. Check here, on the site like the "Where to get stuff" section. Or scout arond in the TREK forum.

Beacher · Post by **Beacher** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:48 am

There's a Model Railroad Lighting book on the CulTVman site that has gotten good reviews. Its content is also applicable to starship models, apparently.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:53 am

here's a source of kits that will also help you develop soldering skills:
http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/index.p ... egory&id=9

They have cold cathode stuff too (nice to combine shipments):
http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/html/Category-22-0.html

I have not ordered from them yet but we are looking at a soldering demo/hands on class for our club, these kits are the right price to let everyone take a whack at soldering. Not much too loose if it ends up a blob of solder.

I have ordered from these two:
http://www.neontrim.com/

http://www.fiberopticproducts.com/
(I'm waiting on some cold cathode and EL wire drivers from these guys, ordered on the 22nd of August)

A note on side glow fiber cable, you need a supper bright halogen bulb to drive it. They state it on their website now and I think itâ€™s correct an ultra bright white LED didn't work on the piece I got in their sample pack.

That means a really hot bulb which will need to be replaced as it burns out.

An early pic where I looked at how much light a coil of el wire might throw out through a clear saucer (area 51 kit) and the acrylic bowl in the base:
http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_9_20_03_b.html

here's a spread of neon rope samples:
http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_2_13_04.html

D.O.P.R · Post by **D.O.P.R** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:30 pm

Hmm, so it looks like side glow might be something to avoid.

I'm already familiar with soldering and it would probubly be worth it to get a soldering kit for home.

That Neon Trim looks pretty interesting too. If I can wrap that around the inside for all the deck lights that would save me quite a bit of time and insanity.

With my monatary situation at the moment though it will be a while before I can rush out and buy anything. Hopefully by that time a PL-E lighting kit will be available.

D.O.P.R