Ok lighting question sorry if it has been coverd before

lexesbenz · Post by **lexesbenz** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:19 pm

Next month I am getting the 1/350 polar lights refit A, lol I want to make it bling, blinking navigational light, warp engines lit, I heard something about lighting tubes for those, because LED's probably wouldn't look that good you would just have bright dots showing through the clear plastic, and lighting the rooms, can anyone point me to the equiptment I would need to do this right. Thanks Tony.

Morty Seinfeld · Post by **Morty Seinfeld** » Fri May 26, 2006 1:20 pm

try this link:

http://www.elwirecheap.com/coldcathodes.html

lexesbenz · Post by **lexesbenz** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:13 pm

Ahhhh thank you.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue May 30, 2006 12:55 am

Actually Cobywan was talking about the setup a guy in their local club made up and he used a row of leds in the nacells, this way the circuit can go from the parked lighitng pattern of purple to the warp of blue. I think that as it jumps to warp their is a slight sequencing effect.

Something to consider the life of cold cathode tubes are limited, brightness decresses over time. and their inverters can get warm as well as the tubes. The 'cold cathodes' I got certianly did:
http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_10_22_05_b.html

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:18 am

I was able to light up my entire NX-01 using just LEDs and skipped CCFLs for exactly the above reasons, limited life, heat, etc.

The trick with LEDs is they are directional so you just have to get a little smarter about how you place them. When I did the nacelles for NX-01, I used one red LED in the front, facing rearwards into a mirrored interior and two blues lighting the length, again with a mirrored interior. One blue at each end, facing each other.

Soon as I get a chance I'm gonna fool around with the new Ultra bright LEDs that are set to replace standard flouresent lamps within a few years. Those are REALLY bright, and some even require heatsinks, but fortunately its just for a few watts per LED. Neat stuff!

-John C.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:16 pm

Somone posted a link to the new omni directional LEDs, also the technical mag we get at work mentions them. They have ones now that are yellow white, they look exactly like grain of wheat bulbs but they're LEDs

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:35 am

Omnidirectional LEDs?

Neat! Some of the hight brightness ones are "side emitters" which is just an LED without a reflector cup in the package. I dug into this, all LEDs actually emit most of their light out the SIDE of the chip and that little shiny thing you see inside is a reflector cup so the light is focused out the front. Then I dug into the SHAPE of an LED.... thats carefully controlled optics. Ever notice that the front of an LED is different for some than others? Dig out Snell's Law in Optics and read about Internal Reflection. Seems that the light is actually focused by the shape of the dome and that is how they control the viewing angle.

O Yea.. what was that link again? Got distracted there...

-John C.

Disillusionist · Post by **Disillusionist** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:58 pm

I ordered a few of the new omnidirectionial LEDs from http://www.superbrightleds.com/. They have a yellowish phosphoescent coating that allows them to glow evenly in all directions. They should work quite nicely for illuminating internal spaces. They are also available in other colors as well as a "jumbo" 8mm white version. Here are a couple of pics I took.

http://users.adelphia.net/~edison711/unlit.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~edison711/lit1.jpg

http://users.adelphia.net/~edison711/lit2.jpg

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:44 am

Ok I looked and looked but can't find the link, mayeb I saved it at home. Someone posted a link to white clear white LEDs that are omindirectional. I'll looke through the EE mags here at work.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 1:56 pm

Wow.... SuperBrightLEDs has a helicopter nav light kit, ready to go. That could drop right into an aircraft model or even a starfighter model. Good stuff!

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:25 pm

http://www.electronicproducts.com/ShowP ... n2006.html

They even have drop in replacement bulbs, that are really SMT LEDs mounted in the bulb.