I know that I will need latex to make the molds for the lenses and lamp heads. I don’t know what resin would be appropriate for casting the light lenses. I will be using LEDs so heat will not be a problem. Obviously the resin needs to be clear for the lenses. I am assuming that I could use the same stuff for making the lamp heads, and in fact it might be easiest to make the lenses and heads as one piece and simply drill a hole for the LED.
I suspect that I won’t be able to use a Walthers lamp as a model because if these lights are like any of the other supposedly HO scale size street and wall lights that Walthers has offered they will be way too big to be realistic. That brings up another question - what material should I use to make the master pieces which will be used to make the molds?
All right, I’ll take a stab though this may be deemed as “stupid”.
How about any of the “liquid water” products for the lens? It may not give off a “clear straight light path” to the ground. But then again, it might just do that.
Thusly molding it {any of the “liquid waters”} around the LED bulb may create both the clearness of a street light while creating a “lens” attached onto the bulb too.
Here is a crafter’s clear resin casting material from Michael’s Craft store:
A search on Aol for “clear casting resin” turned up a few dozen listings like these, some industrial strength require certain respirators, to the more common easy-to-use hobby clear resins.
{As to which one works best, I haven’t used such a product since Jr. High school.}
And , it may just be that the abilities of today’s tech {or yesterday’s} may not be able to produce an accurate to scale HO lamp as the wires, bulbs and wiring etc may just be to big to scale down properly, hence the overall “bigness” of the lights?. I see they are slated for “discontiue”
Be SURe to post pics of the creative way you built your street lamps.
I will take a trip to my local Michaels to see what they have in the way of resins. Maybe they will have latex for the molds too.
I noticed that the Walthers street lights were mostly discontinued, and I suspect that might be because they are way too big. I bought a few some years ago and haven’t quite figured out how to hide their enormity.
I suspect,that the reason,they are being discontinued, has a lot to do with the cost associated with them,not necessarily because they are slightly oversize. It would appear to me that,by the time you purchase, the light and socket,you are looking at around 25.00 per, so if you wanted 10,that will add up pretty fast, so a lot people will take a pass,on them and look for another way. I have been working on my own lights for a while now and one style, I have down pat,that works and you can replace the bulbs…I’m working on making a steel die,to make a shape similar to the one you show,with LED’s. It will require,better than average soldering skills though,for they are all Brass…Around the middle of this coming month,I plan on showing what I have done,for those who would like to try doing it. [:)]
I would go to Michaels or A.C. Moore and look around. They may have beads or other materials that can be adapted.
I have a few of those lamps, and will probably pick up a couple of spares at the closeout price. They do look nice, and they are graceful and slender. There’s one behind the center traffic light, and at the extreme lower right there is the base of another.
As a scratchbuilding example, the poles on either side of the street which support the hanging traffic light are plastic tubular coffee stirrers. For the base, I slipped a short piece of thicker coffee stirrer over the pole, and used a small flat washer as the very bottom. The poles are topped with the head of a decent-sized brad, cut off.
Bear: Interesting possibilities with those beads. I will have a look for something similar at Michaels. They would save a lot of work with the molding.
MisterBeasley: That is exactly the style of street light that I want to model. The ones I bought a few years ago are the ‘platform light’ style. I have one of the street lights like yours on order from Walthers to see how it looks in reality. I agree that the posts are reasonable in size but the lamp head looks to be about 3 scale feet wide. If I’m going to make my own I may as well shoot for something a bit smaller, and cheaper.
Frank: I will look forward to seeing your lamps. Cost is definitely an issue with the Walthers units. I will need about 40 street lights plus several larger yard lights.
