Need an Idea: Easy Scratchbuilt Headlamp

[PVT Kanaka]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am repowering / repainting / reworking another shattered LGB m2075 battery, Christmas Thomas:

I'll post some details of my travails to date later. 

 

One goal of the project is to add a headlamp.  To this end, I have 10mm white LED.  Clearly, this is a big LED.  I was thinking of using the LED itself as the structure of the headlamp, either wrapping or painting it. Thoughts?

I also have to work through how to mount the thing....

 

 

Hope all are well!

 

Eric

 

[Postwar Paul]

Hi Eric,

 that's a big LED, not sure what to recommend.

I've made 2 headlights:

I go through a lot of " mini mag lights", and I hold onto them when they give out.The reflector bowl is very useful. One headlight was a brass casting of an early kerosene headlight, I mounted the reflector inside.

The other homemade headlight, I used the reflector bowl, the lens, and cut down the flashlight's barrel to shorten it. Then just dropped in a bulb.

You may have to experiment, or get creative....

Paul

[PVT Kanaka]

I whipped up the following:

The 10 mm LED is the core.  I painted the back 2/3  flat black, then wrapped the front third with thin styrene so that the body of the "lamp" extended past the "lens," which is the business end of the LED.  I mounted it on scrap styrene, and wrapped it with strips of aluminum left over from my mill project to represent hold-town straps. Some black spray paint cleaned this up.  I'll drill two small holes forward of the stack, poke the LED leads throug them, and glue the lamp in place.

 

Ugly but free and it'll work!

 

Eric

[Postwar Paul]

Getting creative! That'll do it!

Paul

[PVT Kanaka]

I decided a while back to embrace the challenge of being on the far end of the supply chain. It is hard to justify shipping that costs more than the part, and forum member "Chocho Willy" (aka Bill) slowly opened my eyes to the "projects in being" all around us. The other part of the equation was the acceptance you don't go from rookie to master modeler in a week and that real considerations of space, time, budget, and, frankly, desire, play huge rules on the course and speed of that journey.

[vsmith]

I decided to try using a headlight similar to the one that used to come with the old MDC Hustler kit. It was simply a costume diamond inserted into a headlight cylinder. I bought several large cubic zirconia's like 1/4" dia and bigger and used clear acrylic caulk to fix them in place. They look nice and avoid having to try and hardwire a lightbulb into the motor drive.

[PVT Kanaka]

Now that's a cool trick!

[PVT Kanaka]

This is long overdue, but below please find the finished lamp mounted on Christmas Thomas, the kids' LGB m2075 (battery) suffering through a hamfisted repower and rework:

 

And from a bit further off:

Good enough for this project, anyway!

 

For those curious about the larger effort, I bought a nice motor block from a UK outfit, Smallbrook Studios.  Unfortunately, the wheelset did not ride through LGB switches.  A friend in Florida offered to fit the wheels seen that he had salvaged from a swap meet.  I had to work through some gear meshing issues and order a Magnetic Critter Controller from GScale Graphics, but I think I am back on track.  Once this fellow is underway on battery power, we'll mark him up as #15 of the M&K Sugar Co.

 

Eric

[Postwar Paul]

It's looking great, Eric! Bashing projects are fun. Nice to end up with something original and unique!

Paul

[York1]

Thanks for the photos.  Very interesting and fun project on the locomotive.

[PVT Kanaka]

Thanks to both of you! I am going to give the SMALLBROOK chassis one more go (long story I'll summarize later). If it fails, I'll go back to my original plan and marry the body to a new STAINZ chassis. A previous project based on one of these crummy battery powered toys has been successful using a used STAINZ chassis:

The used chassis has not been problem free, so, if I go this route again, I will invest in a new one.

 

Eric