Eldar Falcon LED Kits / Tutorials?

[Swan-of-War]

Looking to light up some elder grav tanks - any kits / tutorials that you'd recommend.  I've seen the PoweredPlay ones and they look easy to do for a novice like me. 

 

Question though, how would I frost the canopy?  Purity seal?  I have some gloss coat for Testors but does the Dull Coat make for a better translucent glass.

 

 

Thanks!

[Sammy]

There are a ton of modeling kits for lighting, especially in the HO train and spaceship modeler's community so I would recommend shopping around. Basically with a kit, you're going to pay a premium for convenience.

 

This is a basic lighting kit supplier, geared more towards adding light effects to Lego bricks.

 

http://lifelites.com/products/grid/1

 

If you want to DIY the entire thing, you can source your wire, LEDS, battery/holders, and switches from online sources like Digikey or Amazon. I do not like soldering, like welding which I did *once* in college it takes practice to get good connections. You can usually get tack welds though that will be fine for most modeling, just beware that the connection may come loose some day if the model falls on the ground (although if the model falls on the ground you probably have other problems too). You will need to calculate the necessary resistance needed to prevent the LEDs from frying based on the LED type and power source. Here's a reference for finding those calculations: 

 

http://ledcalc.com/

 

Note that I'm pretty bad at the actual wiring part of it, I can barely figure out parallel and series circuits. I Frankensteined together a circuit that had a slow pulsing LED effect once using a capacity and an internet tutorial, but I'm not sure on the longevity of that setup (I keep expecting the capacitor to blow up or melt through the model or something). If your'e looking for special effects like that I'd recommend a controller like arduino or a pre-programmed kit.

 

As for frosting the clear panes, I'm not actually familiar with the model you're working with. If you have access to the inside of the surface I would think you could just rough it up with some fine grit sandpaper to diffuse the light, or you could point the LEDs in reverse and reflect it back through the clear panes with tin foil (depending on how much space you had to work with).

 

Please share the updates on your project when you get started!

[Swan-of-War]

Wow Sammy, thanks for the great reply. I'll check out the links as soon as I can. Thanks again