For my Coliseum Ballroom project I need to create a model of the sign. I am thinking that the best approach will be to print a good quality photo of it and stick it to some styrene stock. I also want to light it. In the photo below you can see that the sign was covered in light bulbs. Any LED or model bulb solution will be far too big, so I wondering if I could use fiber optics for this.
I have found an online source of cable it seems to me that if I were to flatten and polish the end of a 5mm white LED then I could glue the fiber to the end of the LED to provide the light source. This seems simple enough, but I am sure that there must be some issues that I will need to address. Does anyone want to offer some advice on this?
That looks and sounds like a great project. I can’t wait to see the end product. A thought though.
I know that LEDs supposedly “never” burnout. However, in reality they can but probably not for a while.
At any rate, since there will probably be quite a number of fibers to the lighted sign, what if you mounted the fiber optic fibers to a piece of flat glass first before mounting it to the flattened and polished LED lense. You could mount the glass/fiber optic assembly permanently inside your building and have a LED positioned next to the assembly.
If and when your LED burns out, the change would be fairly straightforward. You could also substitute different colored LEDs whenever you wanted. (That might make a nifty effect.)
I have heard of drilling a hole in the tip of an LED the size of a fiber optic strand and gluing them together, but not of grinding the tip off so more than one strand can be applied. Your idea has merit and is certainly worth trying. Just be careful that you dont grind off too much of the tip.
There’s also a new product on the market called an inverted cone LED that might work, too. These can be purchased from http://www.moreleds.com
Another possibility would be to use an electroluminescent strip. All Electronics sells a 5"x1" strip for $3.50, their catalog number EL-5. http://www.allelectronics.com
[#ditto] Definitely mount your bulb inside the building or below your layout for easy access. I “inherited” a fiberoptic Christmas tree with tons of fiberoptic lighting, my source of supply. Anyway, the mechanism inside rotates changing the colors. This might be impressive for your marquee. Check after Christmas sales for a similar bargain. About 10 or so years ago, there was an artcle in either MRR or RMC about the new fiber optics and how to shape the ends for different effects. They used heat and scraping and other methods etc. for a variety of uses. Hope this helps, Joe
I have not tried it (because I have no need of it in my era) but I have heard others who have. Most, however, probably use mini incandescent bulbs called grain of wheat bulbs for their ditch lights. With fiber optic, you run into the problem of only being able to bend the fibers a certain minimum radius.
Simon, your proposed method should work well. I did something similar on freestanding model of my local cinema. I created the artwork for the marquee in FreeHand, printed it on coated stock, and then stuck it onto a styrene box.
One thing I would recommend is to use white glue/PVA/Krystal Kleer or similar to attach the fibre optic strands to your marquee. For my first attempt I used cyano, and it reacted with the fibres, making them brittle and prone to breaking.
To make the fibre ends look more like lightbulbs, flare or mushroom the end of the fibre with heat from a soldering iron. If you then slightly countersink the holes in the marquee, it improves the appearance of the fibres, and secures them against being pulled all the way through.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement and the ideas. Mark, I particularly appreciate the advice on the adhesive as I would very likely have used CA myself. Time to get some fiber ordered I think. I managed to get a much better straight on view of the sign today so I am well on the way.
Here’s another solution for you depending on how badly you want to try it.
Print your sign onto a piece of decale paper, and transfer it to a piece of thin clear plexy glass. Wherever you want the light to show up, drilly a tiny hole (like as tiny as you possibly can) or twist an exacto knife to make a small round scratch.
Light it from the side and the scratches will illumatinate from the LED.
All the ideas presented all viable solutions. After clicking on a viewing the full size image I noticed that the words are not individual bulbs and actual a neon sign and that perimeter lights on top and bottom are bulbs. So, first question are the light bulbs on top and bottom chase lights? Do you want to have the effect? Or, do you just want to have the light up? What color are the neon words?
You can get the neon look by using electroluminessence. See the Miller Engineering website for some of their signs and the experimenters kit. They also sell a strip of chase lights that could be used on top and bottom. The trick there would be the power connection to the EL.
Another thing to consider when using fiber optics is how sharply you will need to bend the fiber. They more sharply you bend the fiber the more light transmission you will lose as some of the light is reflected out of the fiber. Sharp 90 deg bends are where you’ll experience this the greatest. Looking and the pic and considering the number of fibers you’ll need you may need more than 1 LED light source. Consider that you maybe able to use say 4 LEDS and run a fiber in sequence to the properly sequenced LED. Them by have the LEDs light sequentially you could get a basic chase light effect.
Check the archive for a nice tutorial on Fiber Optics from a month or two ago.
Wow, this one came back from the depths! Thanks for the aditional advice and input. David’s fiber optic tutorial came out about 6 months after I completed the model. Here are a couple of shots to prove I completed it.
This thread had me confused … first I see you asking for help how to do it, next thing I see it’s already done !!! I wondered why you were asking how after the fact.
Then I checked the dates and see a newbie dragged it back to the front !!! Why do people do that ??? It’s so confusing for those of us who aren’t paying attention !!! [:I]
Nice results there. I remember you posting these pics before, I guess I should have remembered. I didn’t even notice the dates on the other posts or see how old the thread was. Guess I shouldn’t get on to respond on these forums after a long night at work. [V]
Again, nice building you ended up with there. [tup]
