Train Headlight Color

[KisNap]

Hi,

I'm working on painting the headlights on my NJ Transit cab car and am not sure what color would be good.  I'm thinking a silver, white, or yellow color, but would like opinions.  They are non-working lights and I plan on using the train in push-pull operation so I'm looking for something sort of neutral where it could look like they're on or it could look like they're off.  Below is a photo of the prototype.  Thank you for your input!

[dstarr]

Dunno about a paint that will look like the clear glass lamps.  You might try drilling the lamp housings out and inserting bits of clear plastic rod to simulate the glass lamps.  Sand and buff the cut ends of the rod til it shines.  

   Of course by the time you have done all that, you could install small lamp bulbs or LEDs and have working lights.

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

If you are intent on installing faux lamps you might try rhinestones or plastic diamonds.

These are available in craft stores across the country in various materials and sizes.

A 60-ton box cab locomotive I purchased had plastic diamonds installed as headlights. I have since upgraded this locomotive to DCC with LED headlights.

You can paint the pavillion; the conical shaped end, to provide any reflective color you wish.

Hope this helps.

[rrinker]

MV Products has lenses in all sizes (and colors - they'll have red ones for the markers, too). Most of them (maybe all) come with a reflective backer, which has to be removed if you actually put lights behind them, but when mounted in the headlight housing look like nice lights.

                          --Randy

[dinwitty]

The old school headlight trick has been jewels, for me it just doesnt make sense to have a headlight that really doesnt light up especially today we have many choices and ways to make headlights work. If paint you may want some highly reflective gloss silver paint.

[G Paine]

I agree with Randy that MV products lenses would be the way to go. The lenses have a silver backing so the look is an unlit sled beam light.

I assume from the footer in your post, you are in N scale; some of these lenses will be in stock this month
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=N&manu=516&item=&keywords=clear&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=300&Submit=Search

A small HO scale lens would also work if you know the diameter on your lens
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=H&manu=516&item=&keywords=clear&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=300&Submit=Search

[doctorwayne]

Personally, I'm not a fan of working lights:  I don't run night operations and my prototype didn't use daytime headlights in the era which I'm modelling, either. 

Here are a few examples of the MV lenses of which Randy spoke:

MVProducts lenses come in a very wide variety of sizes and in several colours, too.  Walthers does carry their product line, but I've had better luck finding what I need here:

spruebrothers.com

They may be able to match the correct sizes based on your particular model (many MV lenses are designed for specific models, but the same lense may fit anything which requires that same diameter lense).  If there are no lenses made for your particular model, you need to determine, as closely as possible, the diameter needed, in thousandths of an inch, both for the headlight and markers.
To use them on your model, use a drill bit of that diameter to make a dimple in the proper place, then cement the lense into it using white glue, canopy cement or a similar slow drying product which will turn clear as it dries.

Wayne

[farrellaa]

doctorwayne

Personally, I'm not a fan of working lights: I don't run night operations and my prototype didn't use daytime headlights in the era which I'm modelling, either.

Wayne,

Didn't realize you don't run powered lights, but your models are supurb as always, and some sure look like they are lit.

   -Bob

[KisNap]

I like the idea of the jewels.  Would I just remove the molded in headlights and place the jewels on top of where they used to be or do you go slighly deeper so they're somewhat inset?  Am I correct in assuming this would be the last step in the process after airbrushing with a flat topcoat?

I plan on using fiber optics for the locomotives to route light so that when the train is in reverse the red marker lights are on.  Would I be able to place a red jewel over the fiber optic cable or would that not look right with the light behind it?

[doctorwayne]

The jewels are usually glass, and may be pointed on their rear face, so it's not very easy to drill into their backs.  Even if you could, it would likely remove much of the reflective material, which is what makes them sparkle.  While you can find the jewels in a lot of sizes, it will be hit-or-miss that any will fit your model exactly.
On the other hand, the MV lenses are a polymer casting with only a shallow curve on their rear face.  With the large selection of exact sizes available, you should be able to find the sizes needed to give the best appearance - after all, the fact that they'll be lit will call attention to them.
To illuminate them, using either a bulb, LED, or fibre optics, all that is required is to use a sharp instrument (a draughting compass tip works well) to *** (insert a commonly-used and inoffensive-when-used-in-this-context word which conveys the idea of creating a precise indentation to be used as the starting point for a drill bit) at the centre of the back face, then use a suitably-sized drill bit in a pin vise to drill a shallow hole - the lenses aren't very thick - into which the LED, etc, can be inserted and secured with ca.  When the light is not on, the lense will have the appearance of a bulb in a reflector (just like the real ones), and when the light is on, it will illuminate in a manner similar to the prototype.

farrellaa

Didn't realize you don't run powered lights, but your models are supurb as always, and some sure look like they are lit.

   -Bob

 

Thanks for your kind words, Bob. 
I used to do a lot of re-motoring, re-gearing and painting for a former LHS, and through that, met several modellers who have become good friends.  One of them, for whom I did dozens of brass steam locomotives, always insisted that all locomotives had to run well, be equipped with working front couplers, and have working headlights (if the tender had a back-up light, then the lights had to be directional).  While the variety of locomotives kept the work from becoming boring, and none of it was particularly difficult, the wiring required certainly got in the way of any other work.
That was one of the factors in my decision to not have working lights.
The other was the tendency of working lights to flicker when the locomotive hits a bit of dirt or a slightly rough turnout - not enough that you would even notice a pause in the motion of a smooth-running locomotive, but the flicker of the light drew attention to each otherwise unnoticeable incident. 
For DCC operators, the use of keep-alive devices has pretty-well eliminated that problem.  However, I'm a DC operator and not interested in converting because the things that DCC offers, in which I'd otherwise be interested, are already available to me in DC:  good speed control and the ability to run double (or triple) headers and pusher locomotives.  That I don't need to clean track for finicky locomotives is a bonus.  Without the excess wiring for lights, maintenance and repairs are simplified and there's more room within both locomotives and tenders for additional weight.

Wayne

 

[KisNap]

Unfortunately I looked into the MV products and they don't make the lenses small enough from what I can see. I need lenses that would be .04" and the smallest I saw from them is .052". Is there another manufacturer that makes lenses in the size I need?

[Mark R.]

The smallest MV lenses are 0.046 and come in clear, red, green and amber. They are the 700 series.

Mark.

[doctorwayne]

Six thou' shouldn't make them unuseable for that particular situation, but if you need really small ones and intend to illuminate them, use fibre optics.  If you have, fr'instance, a .010" diameter strand of the fibre, heating its end will produce a lense of sorts (the material softens and then expands somewhat at the heated end).  there are dyes available specifically for tinting such lenses.
While I don't use working lights, this photo shows class lights thus formed (within the narrow green stripe above the number boards):

Wayne

[dinwitty]

you might be able to walk into Michaels or Hobby Lobby or some crafts store and find jewels of a variety of sizes. I've done marker lights, fiber optics with a red LED...drill a little hole into the LED to fit the fibre in. If runnng DC, needs a resistor in parallel with the LED. The LED is already polarized so will not light up in the wrong direction making sure you wire correctly or it will be opposite. If DCC you could hook it to the standard Headlight outputs reversed so forward is yellow wire, backward is white wire. If nothing else for the headlights, leave the original plastic optics in place, drill indent them, use a silver paint on the indent, then maybe you can use an MV lense over it, since it seems they don't make a quite small enough headlight.