I am in the planning stages for a massive diorama and I have been thinking of trying my hands with some working street lights and a few random lights. Does anyone have any ideas for lights. I will be working in 1/35 scale.
I donât know of any working lights off hand but Miniart makes some plastic streetlights, you can wire it up yourself with micro leds.
1 Like
Yes, sorry to clarify my plan to add leds lights or fiber optics lighting to my models and scratch built lights. I am not looking for anything turnkey right out of a box
One of the best exponents of dio lighting has been Stickframe (Nick Haskell), check out his awesome âNot Bladerunnerâ highlights (oops sorry) in this threadâŚ
A one time frequent customer...dio builder - #5 by Stickframe
He seems to have gone quiet again recently but you might want to try PMing him to pick his brains 
1 Like
His dioramas are fantastic. I will have to hit him up. I think what I am trying to figure out what it takes before I get building the base so I can pre-run wires before I get to fair.
Miniart 502, 523, 547, 560 are sets that would probably work best as they have plastic shafts to hide the wires
There is a few other resin styles but harder to hide the wire.
HTH
Search and you can find light packs that are all in one , you can splice and add length to the light run and it will all run on two double aaâs . I found these at Walmart in the boat/automotive dept. for interior lighting in a car/truck or in your boat , ⌠whatever .
4 Likes
Those look great. Do you know what size the leds are?
Theyâre not grain of wheat size . Theyâre not a bulb but have a glass [ ? ] cover which looks like a light fixture . If you model it flush or with just the glass portion showing youâll be ok . You can counter sink it for just the light etc. , you just have to experiment .
1 Like
The trick is hiding the wiring . I have scrapped down the bulb and nixed the red/black wiring and soldered my own wiring to put in MiniArt street lamps etc. Like I said you have the materials you just have to do your own Red Neck engineering âŚ
1 Like
I took old plastic Xmas lights and sawed off the tips which created a beehive looking light fixture cover . The actual light is semi flush to the ceiling .
2 Likes
If you want pre-made lighting, there are tons of stuff available in model rail road and doll house supplies. If you just want to add lights to your own fixtures, like the Miniart stuff, you can get LEDs in various sizes, prewired, and even with resistors installed, on eBay. T0603WM 20pcs Pre-soldered micro litz wired leads Warm White SMD Led 0603 NEW | eBay
Ken
Anyone worked with fiber optics lights? I was thinking I might try my hand with them.
Hereâs some wireless lights! Yes they are wireless!
Check them out
1 Like
Plenty of options out there for light sources but the best 2 are places that sell Dollhouse materials and also ModelRailroad stuff. Huge source of products.
HTH
Thanks, your diorama looks great. I am pretty sold on lighting taking your dioramas up a line or two by using them.
Check out the Model Rail Road blog sites, Iâve seen several fine articles on how to install LED lighting.
Find a local electrical supply store. The type that sell leds etc. Here in Australia I would go to Jaycar. Leds and fibre optics are the way to go. Leds come in all shapes and sizes. Just be aware of their size and power ratings. You can get an Led that is multi coloured. Power supply can come from a simple battery holder. AAA and AA would work fine. You can find them with built in switches.
For wiring you only need the thinnest wire. Single strand will work ok. Donât over think it!
Now if you want to get real fancy you can buy a DCC system designed for the model railroaders. These system send digital information along a single pair of wires. 1000âs of codes. Not only for running the trains but for turning on and off lights. Various sounds. You can record your own sounds.
bruce
The dcc system might be a cool way to go I need to check them out. Thanks for the information
Youâre not looking to control trains but the accessories. So donât get bogged down with how many trains you can run. But rather look at the âotherâ features. In a nutshell every action has an address and a code. That is what turns things on and off. Up or down etc etc etc.