Small Scale lighting - Please help a beginner ^^

[Sahatiel]

Hi all, I'm new here, but you seem to know what you're talking about and I could really use some help (even though it's not a Starship model...).

I'm a complete beginner when it comes to electronics, but I'd like to add some lighting effects to un upcoming project of mine (I'd like to practice and source materials before I do the real thing).

The project is a Warhammer 40,000 army (Necrons if you're curious), and I'd like to light up some of the models using LEDs/fibre optics/other simple lights. Since the models are pretty small, the circuits and power supply need to be small and simple.

Here is the size of one of the models:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... ron-wa.jpg

I'd like to light up the green tube in his gun, and his eyes if I could manage it.

Also, I'd like to light up these guys (among other things):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/a ... _swarm.gif

But that's most of what I'd be planning to do.

Can anyone help with how I'd do this?[/url]

[Sparky]

You will need some very small LEDs. Surface Mount Technology, SMTs. Small wires (I'm talking gauge of the wire not length). And a good Soldering iron, fine tip, moderate heat, static and transient voltage protection.

That should give you some keywords to help when looking for tools on electronic sites.

Also a steady hand, but I'm betting you have that already for painting minis.

You can order direct SMT LEDs from kingsbright in California. I got a few samples of LEDs from them (i.e. 5 each of several white SMT LEDs).

Here's some examples on a bash based on GI Joe Dragon Hawk.
http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_tm_euro.html

[Sparky]

Also the forum still needs images to be posted as links. for folks on dialup. Yep we got a few, like zog, who helps out with electronics a lot. I fixed the links to the images.

[Mr. Engineer]

Wow! A 4cm model! More than a decade ago, I used to have some W40K plastic marines and I know how shallow their round plastic base are.

Anyway, for a metal model, it is not easy to put lights on this. I mean, since it has a fluorescent green tube, you could shine it with UV but the bad thing would be that eventually, everyone would go blind.

Seriously, you can do this but it would require a lot of work. So, we concentrate on the the Necron's gun. You will need a SMT LED, not the 1210 but the smallest like those that you find in the mobile phones, which is, very very tiny, almost to 2mm length ? Then you would need to solder it with those wire-wrapping wires which are very thin and becomes fragile if you're not careful in using a blade to remove its protective sheath (Me? I just use the soldering iron to melt it off).

Since its only a LED, you do not (usually) require a current limiting resistor and you can just connect it to a battery. It is not an efficient way as the battery will die after a few hours but because the base has limited height, its the best you can do. Putting a switch there might not help so you will need to make a DIY switch which completes the circuit when you put the Necron on to a surface. The switch must need minimal downward force since the model is very light.

How do I know? Because I tried this halfway in '96 before I realised there are no SMT LEDs readily available where I lived.

But these are only theories for you to mull over a cup of coffee.

[kitty]

I think i would remove the tube, drill a hole from the end where it was closese to the body through to the back , where you could make some room for the smallest led you can find, drill 2 tiny holes from the eyes through the back of the head and mill tiny trenches to the room you created for the led, pull 1 strand of fibreoptics through from each eye and , a short piece of 3mm sidelight fibre from the room through the body, through the hand into the gun, so it replaces that fluorescent tube.
make 1 small trench from the room you created for the led, over the back of each leg though the baseplate, to pull isolated wires through (or transformer wire) connect the led, resistor and wires, cover the trenches with epoxy, green transparent paint over the tube and drop of another transparent color on the eyes.
Then you have 2 wires sticking out of the baseplate.
The rest you have to figure out yourself.
If i can light a less than 1 inch long runabout within a 2x2x4mm room for 1 SMD led+ resistor , you should be able to do that to your warhammer figure.
Quite doable when it is plastic.
Problem would arrise when it is white metal, then you need to be very carefull so the wires don't get into contact with the metal to prevent the shortcircuit problem you will undoubtetly have then.
If it is a metal figure you could use the figure itself as 1 wire and only have to pull 1 insulated wire from the led through the baseplate.

If i'm correct the baseplates of warhammer figures are 15/16"diameter and about 3/16" high.
At least if they are the same size as the baseplates of the Games workshop LOTR figures.
That would make the individual scarabs too small to light individualy.
You could replace the pins they stand on with 1 or 2 strands of fibre optics that go through the baseplate and put the led below the base.

[Richard Baker]

First of all- Welcome to the forums!

If you have problems fitting electrical lighting you might consider using UV paint and an ultraviolet light. The paints come in different colors and the result looks pretty good.
BTW the same technique can work for cockpits and a UV-LED (like they used in the Dr. Who Sonic Screwdriver replica) can light up the whole thing well.

.