Greetings everyone, I am new here and figure this is a great place to get information. I am beginning a ho scale layout and want to light my fire vehicles fully. Question is how do I do it, sure I know there are kits out there however I would like to take and do it myself. So what do I need, how do I it, and many more questions lol. So I ask, is there a tutorial that I can view and read, or article or anything that shows how to do it? I need alternating patterns for the lightbars as well as the body lighting. Thanks ahead of time for the responses as I eagerly look forward to getting the information.
Awesome info sir, Thank You as you have inspired me. If I use the same bulbs I can take the guts from a toy fire truck which gives me all my circuits and heck even sirens if I want and all I have to do is hook the wiring to the proper leads. Now if I may, where is a good supplier to get those bulbs from?
Hi Merritt L.
Welcome to the forums!!!
I have installed lighting in lots of HO scale vehicles but most of them have been a lot simpler than a modern firetruck. I have done one truck with multiple lights:
In the case of this truck, there were no clear lenses installed by the manufacturer. I had to drill holes through each of the molded on light castings. If you can get models that have clear lenses than you are way ahead of the game.
For most of the lights I used fiberoptic cable, either with a remote light source or with the LED mounted right behind the lens. For my 1950s vehicles all of the headlights and most of the other lights were round or close to it so making the lenses was easy. Fiberoptic cable can be formed into HO sized lenses simply by heating the end of the cable. I use a hot soldering iron. The end of the cable will flare out when the heat is applied. Note that you don't want to touch the cable to the iron. Just hold it close.
For the headlights and front and side marker lights I mounted 0603 or 0402 SMD LEDs right behind the lenses. To make the lenses I first flared the end of the cable until it was the right diameter and then I cut the cable so that there was about 3/8" still attached to the lens. After feeding the cable through the hole I then flared the other end (on the inside of the body shell) so that the lens was held in place reasonably tightly. The next step is to glue the LED to the back of the lens. I use 90 second epoxy (which takes way longer than 90 seconds to set by the way), and I light up the LED so I can see how well the light is coming through the lens. The placement of the LED is critical so you have to move it around slightly to get the brightest illumination possible. Then you have to hold the LED in place until the epoxy is hard. If you let go too soon the LED will shift and you will lose the light. It is not a quick process. You can cheat a bit by letting the epoxy sit for about 1 minute before putting the LED in place.
For the five roof lights I ran the fiberoptic cable out the bottom of the truck and attached a remote light there. For the tail lights I simply glued LEDs to the molded lights and used Tamiya Clear Red paint to colour them. You could use red LEDs instead obviously.
I also installed a flasher circuit for the signal lights on one side of the vehicle. Dedicated flasher circuits are available but I strongly recommend that you explore using Arduino mini computers to run the lights. Although there is a bit of a learning curve Arduinos are way cheaper and much more flexible. In fact, I predict that once you get on to using Arduinos you will have them all over your layout to animate your lighting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
The number of lights resulted in a large number of wires and cables coming out of the bottom of the truck. This was my first attempt at a complex installation and the results are rather crude. I'm sure with a little practise things cold be cleaned up a lot. One change for next time for sure will be to use an Arduino circuit to drive the LEDs so the resistors can be located on the Arduino board. That will eliminate all the resistors that you can see in the wiring, and it will also allow a lot of the wires to be joined together inside the vehicle. Ideally, you would only have a few leads coming out of the bottom of the vehicle. Take a look at RR Mel's post above to see the very effective way he powers his vehicle lights. He simply has two or three brass rods coming out of the bottom of the vehicles which plug into sockets in his layout roads.
I would like to make a few other suggestions:
First, if your truck has a plastic body, paint the inside black so light doesn't bleed through the fenders etc. Two or three coats will be needed. Also, after the LEDs are installed, paint the epoxy black on the inside of the shell so you won't have light shining out from the bottom of the vehicle.
I used to solder my own leads to the tiny LEDs but now I by the LEDs pre-wired. It costs more but it saves a lot of tedious work.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/10-pcs-Pre-Wired-Warm-White-0402-SMD-LEDs-Lighting-Kits-Pre-soldered-Micro-LEDs-/262170290082?hash=item3d0a9127a2:g:LDQAAOSwJcZWcrtg
I suggest getting yourself several different colours of paint markers so you can colour code the wires. Otherwise it will be impossible to tell which lead goes to which LED once they are all installed.
If you want to see some extremely well done vehicle lighting spend some time looking at the Miniatur Wonderland in Hamburg, Germany. I haven't looked at the site for a while but they might have some videos of how they light their vehicles.
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/visit/guidance/about-behind-scenes/
Here are a couple of other examples of my vehicle lighting installations. One thing to note is that some of the lights are too bright. Eventually I will change the resistors to reduce the brightness of things like the tail lights:
I hope this has given you some ideas.
Regards,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Merritt L,
To The Forums.
Should You not want to go looking for the right size Led's, wire and stuff...here is a link to a site that has everything that You would need in a kit form...You just supply the vehicle and power suppy...they will work on batts. Take a look at the whole site.....all kinds of animated lighting. Some people may think that they may be a little pricey, but after You go searching for everything You will need, to try to save money, You'll find that they aren't that pricey after all. Also the kits come with modules for alternating the lights, in the way You choose. It's a lot simplar than trying to get all the parts to make Your own.
http://lights4models.com/index.php/fire-truck-led-s.html
I have quite a few I am slowly working on My self...animated structure signs and vehicles. I just have a lot going on at one time.
Have Fun! Should You need more help...just ask!
Take Care!
Frank
Merritt L, Having only scratched the surface of model lighting I'm finding your thread very interesting. Thanks Mel, Dave and Frank for sharing your illuminating, inspiring and delicate work!
Regards, Peter
Merritt L. Now if I may, where is a good supplier to get those bulbs from?
Now if I may, where is a good supplier to get those bulbs from?
Frank:
I didn't know about that supplier of lighting circuits. Thanks for the link!
By the way, you are right about the pricing not being excessive. I paid nearly that much for the flasher module only when I did the truck a couple of years ago.
EDIT: I did note one error in their product description for the Goose Neck Lamps. They state words to the effect that "the higher the value of the resistor the brighter the light will be, and the lower the value the dimmer the light....". After doing tons of LEDs I'm pretty sure they have that backwards. Higher value resistor = lower light. I sent them an e-mail just to confirm.
Second EDIT: John at Lights4Models got back to me very quickly. He said that their description was correct. If so, there is something different going on with their lamps. I have ordered a gooseneck lamp to see for myself. Stay tuned.
Hi Merritt !
Just throwing another hat in the ring here...
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/diecast-police-leds.html
Evan Designs may have some worthwhile items to check into. Back when SMD LEDs were not quite as easily (and cheaply) available as they are today, Evan was a pretty good source. You might see some ideas on their site.
Like Mel, above, I have done quite a bit of buying from Wehonest and their items are pretty reliable and cost-effictive.
Have Fun! Ed
Dave,
You must have missed the link or did not read the thread I had posted the link on before. I have been dealing with them for a couple yrs. now and John is a good Guy!
Remember My pic' of Miss Bettie's Diner with the JaBear truck? Well there will be new owners soon! The real estate is being set-up, where an old gas station used to be and I hear it will be called the ''Dog House'' now! LOL:
http://lights4models.com/index.php/signs-billboards/lighting-products/small-model-dog-house-animated-lighted-billboard.html?___SID=U
I'm going nuts with those signs lately......
Hi Frank:
I probably did miss your post with the link to Lights4Models. I don't think I would have forgotten those goose neck industrial lamps, especially with the odd recommendations for resistor values. I have one goose neck lamp on order to see what they are like.
I like the new restaurant sign! I have acquired a few Miller Engineering signs and I'm looking forward to working with them, that is when they make their way up the project list.
This is a bit trivial but I just wanted to update the situation regarding the incorrect instructions for the resistors for the goose neck lamps on the Lights 4 Models website. You may recall that I mentioned that their website suggested that if you wanted a brighter LED you should use a higher value resistor.
I sent them an e-mail suggesting that the website was wrong, and I got a reply from John stating that he had checked with the manufacturer and they had confirmed that the instructions were correct. Being a bit skeptical, I ordered one of the lamps to see for myself.
The lamp arrived today and I gave it a test. Of course it was no different than any other LED. Higher value resistor = dimmer light. In fact, the directions in the package said the same thing - higher resistor = lower light.
So, I sent John another e-mail suggesting that he have another look, and he got back to me very quickly admitting that the website needed to be corrected and he would do it in the morning.
There! My good deed is done for the day!
As far as the lamp itself is concerned, they are really quite well done and they scale out correctly. You have to glue the shade in place which is no big deal (although they don't recommend CA because it might mess with the LED - epoxy is preferred), and they are unpainted. However, the natural aluminum finish looks pretty good by itself.
I have the Streamlined Backshop goose neck lamp kits which look like they would come out similar to the Lights 4 Models product, but I haven't built one yet. I will give them a try to see how much of a hassle they are to assemble and whether or not the pre-made lamps are worth the price.