I was wondering if it would be cheaper to hand build the long arm street lights, or pay the high price for manufactured ones.
Perhaps a picture or a link to what you'd like to build would help, along with some idea of how skilled you are with soldering and maybe fabrication with brass tubing.
I guess this would qualify as a "long arm" street light.
It's a Walthers Cornerstone model, and I think they're out of production. It's a nice model but kind of pricey. The tubing is very thin.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I have bought lights from E-Bay. They are dirt cheap and the shipping from China is cheaper than any state side outfit.
Hi Doug!
Welcome to the forums!
Not sure what your era is, but I built my own 1950s street lamps for about $2.00 each. Walthers current price is $19.98 each and they are not LEDs so they will burn out eventually. I can't see a way to replace the Walthers bulbs:
I designed a plug system so that they can be removed if needed. Its still in development:
Here is a comparison shot of the Walthers on the right and my version. I think my lamp head is much closer to scale size than the Walthers. Its not a great photograph:
The lower part of the post has to be cut off. I haven't done that yet because I haven't made a final decision on how to mount them:
They use a 3 mm warm white LED with a 6 mm plastic bead drilled to fit the LED as the globe. The post acts as one conductor for power so only a single wire is required. The wire also forms the top brace for the arm. The brace isn't exactly prototypical but I doubt anyone will notice. You could route the wire so that it enters the post just above the arm, and you could use magnet wire to make it less visible. The socket system parts were picked up on eBay as were the beads. The base is a recessed washer.
If you have questions don't hesitate to ask.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
LION maked this object d'art from a coffee stirrer, some 1/16th" welding rod, an LED and a resistor.
I painted it with a brush, and the silver paint was way too thick. When I build more of them, I'll spray paint them. I bought some silver spray paint, but have gone on, as I do, to other projects.
This last one is of a different style. Again the coffee stirrer (the kind with two channels) forms the upright, the LED sits on top, and the reflector is a thumb tack sans-a-point. Post and reflector are painted in advance of course. Spray paint this time.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
For da plug, if that is what ewe want, a simple 1/8th" RCA jack will do it. Instead of a wire, just stick your lamp post into the jack.
Burry the female end into the earth.
Hi Mel:
Actually when I look at how you made your plugs and sockets I think yours might be simpler. I had to turn down the base of the male plugs to get them to fit into the brass tube. Getting them to the exact size was a bit tricky. Also, finding the right size plugs and sockets was difficult. Your method would be cheaper too although the jacks were not expensive.
hon30critter Hi Mel: Actually when I look at how you made your plugs and sockets I think yours might be simpler. I had to turn down the base of the male plugs to get them to fit into the brass tube. Getting them to the exact size was a bit tricky. Also, finding the right size plugs and sockets was difficult. Your method would be cheaper too although the jacks were not expensive. Dave
Hi Lion:
I am doing virtually the same thing as what you suggest but my intent with the base of the lamp post going below the surface was to make the street lights as sturdy as possible. In other words, I want the lights to stand up perfectly straight, or as close as I can get to that. I felt that the male portion of the jack would not properly support the street lights just by itself. I could be wrong but I have the smaller jacks already so I'm going to go with them and not take the chance on having wobbly street lights.
I still have to design some sort of device which will hold the female socket in place below the layout but I have some ideas in mind.
Thanks for your suggestion.
Mel:
Thanks for the explanation.
Your female socket is certainly easier to mount than mine will be. I could easily change my design to match yours.
hon30critter Mel: Thanks for the explanation. Your female socket is certainly easier to mount than mine will be. I could easily change my design to match yours. Dave
Hey Mel!
Thanks for the links and the tutorial. I will order some of the strips as soon as the vendor is back to work (Feb. 14)
I have used micro connectors in the past but I was making mine from IC sockets. I got a bunch of the sockets for peanuts a long time ago but my supply is running low. It never occurred to me to try sticking them in the bottom of the street lights.
Thanks again!
Although not as stylish as Dave and Mel's, here's my version using styrene tubing and Miniatronics 1.7mm incandescent lamps and shades:
The how-to for it is on my website, which includes both a downloadable diagram and instruction sheet in .pdf format and a parts list. Cost is ~$1.50 for a single-light; <$3.00 for a double.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Tom:
I think your yard lights look really good, so much so that I have followed your instructions and built a bunch for myself!
I'm still figuring out how to mount them. I want mine to be removable.
Glad you like 'em, Dave. My layout top was extruded foam so I just hand-drilled an undersized hole and pushed the light pole into it. It was a firm enough fit that they stayed upright but could be removed, if needed. Mayble I'll think more on a mounting idea for harder surfaces like plywood.
Hi doug57:
Sorry, I kind of hijacked your thread with the wrong lights.
I take it you are modeling a more recent era than the 1950s which my lights were designed for. If that is the case, eBay has some that might suit you, although I couldn't find any with really long arms. I didn't go down the whole list.
Here is one example (can't beat the price!), but they aren't really tall and the LEDs are bright (bluish) white:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-Model-Railway-Train-Lamp-Post-Street-Lights-HO-OO-Scale-LEDs-NEW-/281756299404?hash=item4199fbf08c:g:GJMAAOSwAYtWF4A-
A couple of words of caution if you are buying streetlights on eBay. Make sure you are getting LEDs, not bulbs. The ones with bulbs often come with warnings that you can only operate them for short periods or they will melt the heads. Also, make sure you are getting HO scale, not 1/100 which many of them are.
OK, that gives us a much better idea of what you want to do. Here is a link to the Walthers site for those who want to see the picture:
https://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/949-4315
Doug, I think you could make those lights fairly easily by using the eBay ones I referenced as a source for the lamp heads. The heads are very similar to the Walthers units. You could also consider using the bases just for convenience even though they aren't the same. The hard part would be matching the posts, specifically the taper. One option for that would be 3D printing. That would still be cheaper than the Walthers lights. Personally I wouldn't worry about the taper because I don't think most people would notice that that detail was missing. If you used brass for the pole it could also act as one conductor.
The arm appears to be made of two pieces. Using styrene would make the taper fairly easy to duplicate. You might consider putting a piece of brass strip in between the two sides of the arm to reinforce it as well as conduct electricity. You could make the arms out of brass but it would require a lot more elbow grease to file them down to get the taper.
You could also change the LEDs to ones that are a bit softer white.
Slightly off topic: Does anyone else have problems accessing Walthers links? For the past couple of years I keep getting a "Problem loading page" error that says "Secure Connection Failed...Try again". It's the same error - whether I click a link here on the forum, or directly from a Google page. And the "Try again" button changes nothing.
Maybe I'll click the "Report this error" link and see what that does...
I have never had a problem with Walthers. I've been visiting the site for 12+ years.
It could be your browser. I'm using Google Chrome right now but I have used Firefox and IE before without problems. There is also a compatibility icon somewhere that looks like a torn page which might solve the problem. Right now I can't remember where that icon is. Senior's moment. Maybe somebody else can explain better.
Hi Doug.
Sorry I didn't respond sooner.
Styrene will work fine for the arms. I wouldn't go too thin at the tapered ends. They will be a bit delicate. I would definitely make the lights removable so that they won't get damaged when you are working around them.
If you want to make the arms stronger you could glue 1/32" x 1/64" brass stock to the insides of the arms.
Tapering the poles as you suggest would certainly add to the appearance. Bit of a tedious job though. One question: will you use solid round stock or tube? If you use solid stock where will you run the wires? If you use tube I wonder how much you will be able to taper it without sanding right through to the center hole.
Hi again Doug:
The only question I would have about cutting the curved part off is will the poles still be tall enough? If not, maybe you could do something at the bottom of the poles to increase their height. I'd have to have one of the eBay lights in hand to figure that out.
Anyhow, I think you are on the right track. Pardon the pun.
P.S.
I've only been working on my layout for about 12 years, and I haven't started construction yet! I'll give you a hint as to why - it has to do with my wonderful son still living at home (thanks to local real estate prices) and using a major portion of my layout space in the garage for his weight lifting equipment. Kids!
Doug:
The lights actually look pretty good IMHO. They are a huge improvement over what the Chinese were offering just a couple of years ago. Besides, think of all the modelling time you just opened up for yourself.