Has anyone tried fiber optics for lighting things like buildings? I guess they wood work for streetlamps and such. Any input?
Thanks You
George P.
Fiber Optics work good for streetlights, wall lamps and stuff like that. But they don’t have then ablity for provide large pools of light, that actually light up a building.
Nick Brodar
Thank you, What about a reflector? like a piiece of Aluminum? Would this help or not.
George P.
Hello George,
A fiber optic bundle of ten pces with the inner building walls covered with alu foil will help. The light isn’t that bright but looks very natural. Most of the building kits we install on our layouts are overlighted.
Kind regards,
Andre Ingels
Brussels, Belgium (The beer country[:I])
“C&O the way to go”
Does anybody know of a good source for fibre optic strands suitable for model RR use?
Bob,
Two souces you might want to try are Fiber Optic Products:
http://fiberopticproducts.com
and Plastruct:
http://www.plastruct.com
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Thanks, I’ll check them out.
Got more than I bargained for when I checked out the Plastruct web site. Following a convoluted trail of web sites through their Canadian dealer and on, I found a hobby shop that used to be a few blocks from where I live (how handy can you get) and which closed down about a year ago. To my surprise I found that they have moved to a different part of the city, and they list a few Plastruct fibre optic products on their web site. Surprise, surprise. [:D][:D][:D] Guess where I’m going this week? Thanks again, jrbarney!
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Bob,
Two souces you might want to try are Fiber Optic Products:
http://fiberopticproducts.com
and Plastruct:
http://www.plastruct.com
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
[/quote]
Thanks, I think, Bob. I am working on an order for Plastruct. ow I will build my oil docks!!
I use fiber optics for my locomotive headlights and ditch lights…i use the 1.5 mm for the big headlights and the .75 mm for the ditch lights…I use 2 white LED’s inside the engine shell one facing the front headlights and one for the rear in which i tie the bundles of fiber optics together and hold them against the LED’s with heat shrink tubing
heres a picture of one of my locomotives with fiber optic headlights
Fiber optics probably aren’t the best choice for building lighting. As others have said, the problem is that they don’t provide a diffused, broad light. They are very focused, even if you “mushroom” the end.
But you can use this as a strength in certain situations, such as chase lights on a theater marquee, for example. Where you can’t get bulbs or LEDs in a small space, you could use fiber optics and it would look great.
Fiber optics are also an excellent choice for vehicle head lights and tail lights, especially in N scale. I use them for lighting the Athearn N scale fire trucks and also for flashing red lights in school buses.
Mike Tennent
Some methods to slightly difuse the light from a fiber optic are to heat the end and flare it. Or add a bead of clear epoxy or super glue to the end. Either way an important step is to then lightly sand the face and edges to further diffuse the light to the sides. You can place it behind a frosted plastic sheet used as a diffuser. Also consider a ceiling made from electro luminescant plastic panel. Just supply a voltage on it’s leads and the whole panel glows softly.
Where do you get these?
For Electroluminescent Strip and much more go to www.allelectronics.com They have 5"x1" strips for $3.50 ea.Or the whole EL kit look at their Electroluminescent Wire in red, green, blue.–Neon Lamp W/ resistor–5 for $1.00 . LEDs at 10 for $1.00 and much more. Loren Black.