My first lighting project, looking for some tips

Ask and answer questions, share tips and resources for installing lighting and other electronics in your models.

Moderators: Sparky, Moderators

Post Reply
red5angel
Posts: 235
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:58 am

My first lighting project, looking for some tips

Post by red5angel »

I'm currently reading through the threads in this forum and some other sources for what I can but I don't know a whole lot about electricity or lighting LED's and I'm finally ready to try it for the first time. This is a gaming related project, I want to build a small diorama display type base for some gaming models.

Here's the model:

http://www.rackham.fr/images/stories/AT ... 03__01.jpg

I'd like to light the sensor cluster on the upper left shoulder (your left) as well as the four section spotlight on the other shoulder. Below the Sensor cluster are two green protrubances I believe I want to light as well. Finally I'm considering lighing the gun barrels as well but I need to take them apart to see if it's possible.

The model comes preassembled and painted, and I'd like to keep the original paint scheme so I'll be disassembling as little as possible and as cleanly as possible. It stands about 3" tall The torso is about 2.5 inches wide and mostly hollow, there's a cockpit inside, I coudl cut out the cockpit and make enough room.

I figure I have a couple of options. The spotlight is easy, 1 white LED should do it. On the sensor cluster, I need to figure out if it's easier to use a white led and just use colored styrene to color the lenses of each sensor eye. Finally each of the green sensor tube thingies will get an LED. So total I need a minimum of 4 led's. If I go with different colored LED's in the sensor pod that adds 2 more.

My questions are this:

1 - what sort of power source do I need for 4-6 LED's? Figure they'd be turned on for 1-2 hours at a time on a regular basis.

2 - LED's are fairly cold correct? If I get covered wiring is there any concern for melting or catching fire?

3 - I was looking at madmans' kit, kis there anythig similar that might be more useful for me?
Post Reply