Todays short post is a great wee idea that I found on one of the British forum sites. I've always thought that we have more in common (as a country) with British modelers, as they tend to survive largely on a mix of kit and scratchbuilding, vs a US focus on modifying RTR stuff.
Anyway, todays clever idea was posted by a chap who goes by the handle 'Bertiedog'. Its a way to connect LED's up to fibre optic cable for lights. Its new to me, and possibly to the rest (or at least a few) of you as well. You just need some fibre optics, an LED and some heat shrink tubing. after that the picture says it all really.
You could add a number of cables in, and as the light can only leak out of one place, it should be easy to seal it up. If I had come across this 6 months ago, I might have tried harder to put lights into my 88 seat railcar.
8 comments:
hmmm good idea for making the lights on my DX and Dc/Da's then I wouldn't need to find a very small LED's
A wee tip that might be useful - I always flare the end of the optic fibre by holding over a heat source until the plastic melts slightly. It will shrink back into a trumpet shape which, if not too extreme, improves its light-gathering capability. Same deal at other end spreads the light out, makes it look more like a light rather than just a wee pinpoint
so where does one buy fibre optic cable from.
Dick Smiths used to stock it, however I notice it doesn't appear on their website (and it's diameter was a little on the large side for NZ120). Walthers.com (therefore your local hobby shop)stock various diameters. If you want a big supply fairly cheaply, look for the fibre optic christmas tree to butcher and Dick Smiths does have those listed.
would that be one of those small fibre optic xmas trees which sit on the desk
That's the ones, they range in size from desktop to a meter plus. I guess it depends on how big a supply you want. Just make sure the fibre optic filament is of a suitable diameter.
not as good as optic fiber, Im trying fishing line for my Fiat railcar. This comes in clear and lots of sizes as well.
I like this idea, what diameter fibre would be best for dx/dc loco and the like?
I may be able to source a qty of it free, of course I'll gladly share it around.
I'm not sure what sizes I can get at this stage however.
All I need to know is what is the best diameter?
Rgds Andrew
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