I am working on my second Athearn 200 Ton crane build and saw that many of the real ones had a large rear light centered below the rear roof area. I didn’t see any small HO scale parts that would serve as a light frame, but did find that there are 3mm and 5 mm LED bezels- plastic surrounds for these size of LEDs which would easily fit into a properly sized hole and serve as a light frame (using the 3 ft rule). Probably would work well for control panel LED indicators as well. Anyone have any comment on this- or alternate suggestions, before I lay my money down? Cedarwoodron
CEDARWOODRON,
If you have a Radio Shack near you that you could visit,check out, subminiature LED Assembly,they come with Red and Green LED’s,they may have clear,I don’t know…#276-068 and 069,the reason, I bring it up is because,it looks to be HO-Scale workable,they are actually perfect for control panel lites,a lot of people here probably use them,I know I do…They are metal…
Cheers,
Frank
I have built several headlight and rear light housing using styrene tubing and some strips for exterior details. The back can be closed or built into the body of the loco/equipment shell. Just paint the tube and the outside of the LED black to keep the light from bleeding through. LED’s don’t get hot so the plastic tube works just fine.
-Bob
Check your local hobby shop for brass tubing with the correct inside diameter for the led bulb. Careful cutting the tubing for the correct length, and careful filing for the hood you can epoxy the led inside and attach it to the model. Hope this helps.
A 3mm LED in HO works out to about 10" in diameter or so (somebody else can do the exact math) which is fine if you are using the three foot rule as you said, but is likely about twice the size of the prototype.
If you want to model something a bit smaller then you can use 0603 LEDs (.060" x .040") mounted in a styrene or brass tube close to the prototypical size of the light bezel. It is easy to make a lense using five minute epoxy.
Here are some pictures of 0603 LEDs mounted as headlights:
As you can see by the 15 ton Mack switcher they can provide lots of light. The railtruck lights have been over tinted to reduce the blue hue of the bright white LEDs (I used too much Tamiya clear yellow). You can get warm white 0603 LEDs now.
I use magnet wire for the leads.
Don’t forget the resistor!
Dave
Dave;
WOW, Nice RUNNING Mack!!!
I like the Brass & Aluminum tubing as well, as it is a ‘bleed proof’ method of putting the light where you want it.