Bay lighting Mk2 - LED

The LED's arrived they work with the controller I bought for the EL wire #joy.

Sorry the picture is a bit Heath Robinson. Lack of connectors arriving (pet hate 'direct from china' sellers on eBay circumventing 'uk only' filter) meant I had to hold the wires with my fingers whilst operating the camera in low light.

The LED's weren't over bright in fact on the dim side for just one to light each side. I'll probably run 4 LEDs one each end that should give enough light the bays in the day light. I think I will also incorporate the cables as part fo the detailing (add brass bindings, draped from the roof and painted with the bay.)

Work getting the the dropship ready for casting is progressing. I've finished cleaning up 95% of the rough edges (I'm sure I'll find a few more as I continue). I'm on to the snag list of items, things that either need to be added or patched (missing window frames, re-enforcing bits that are too thin for casting, door jams etc)

Once that's done it'll give it a good clean, a coat of primer (to check for faults) and then a final seal coat. Then its on to making mould boxes, moulds and casting.

EL wire was a bust :/ back to LED's

I had high hopes for EL wire but it seems its a bust its orange wire but it glows white and emits only a dim light ho hum (as you can see from the photo) Bonus Atlas for mech bay scale a couple of mm to spare but with the door on he'll have to duck

I bought some orange LED's (I believe they will work with the EL wire controller) they were a few quid we'll see tomorrow how they turn out. If not them I'll have to pum for the more expensive kits from the model shops.

lost Jan some of Feb, But have a plan for lighting the Mechbay!

Blah blah poor me realworld hickups skip of you like 

tl:dr "got sick, did dick (all)";

So due to catching flu, then flu again turning into chest infection then a headcold basically had me in bed ridden with fever for the majority of the new year #joy. So zero progress made which really galls me because its this time of year the garage is empty (because I lone my car out to an events company) and turn the whole space into a workshop but it (should there be an Sh in front of that?) happens when you have young children.

Baring any more plague progress will continue from today.

Back to the model. I found a new way of doing something i was humming and erring about. I really like the idea of atmospheric lighting in the bay that you see in the MWO intro and alien movies the classic orange flashing lights when the bay doors open.

As a model painting purest I believe if you going to paint a model its cutting corners and say use plastic/glass say for a lens if kinda like painting portrait and then because eyes are hard cutting a pair out of a photo and stick them on. Some times it looks great but I look at the best model painters and they are so well accomplished they can fool you eyes into believe some is really when its just a clever application of paint and that's something I aspire too.

So its something I try to avoid. That said the leopard is and interesting case it has an internal space that's dark so it actually needs to be lit with light so you can see inside. Now to the point I was looking at using 2 orange LEDs (one for each side), single battery, and switch you can buy LEDs that flash

The plan was:

• to solder all these together 
• drill a deep compartment into the underneath bow of the ship to house the battery 
• Mount the switch to a plate 
• Use the plate to cover the hole with 2 small screws
• do something to diffuse the LED

But all this cost a bit i didn't know how often the battery would need to be changed and electrical soldering isn't something I've done a lot off and lasting LED's tend to emit focused spots of light but I wanted ambient glow.

Now the other day a friend liked a lego space ship and what was most interesting to me was the way the guy lit his hanger bay using Electroluminescent wire. This stuff seems it will deliver the same leap forward as LED did 10years ago for lighting

Most people seem to be using it for fashion and the tron look. For me its hopefully a great way to light my mech bay. EL wire comes as a far moreplug and play package;

• Prewired connectors
• Controller battery in one, and offered in different sizes and choice of lighting modes 
• best of all you can cut the EL wire down (this means i can adjust the light out)

I bought this x2 set up and I'm waiting for it arrive hopefully it lives up to the hype.

 The controller is tiny 4.3cm x 2.1cm x 0.9cm the wire is 10cm of EL + the cable bit.

 With this I plan to;

• Drill a cable hole to the mech bay from the underside of the bow to the top of the bay
• Since the controller is so mirco small I will just make a recess deep enough for it to nestle out of sight underside of the bow.
• Feed the cables up and into the bay
• Cut channel for the cables so they sit flush in the roof
• Seat the EL wire and cut to a length where the light emitted is just enough to light the bay softly not dazzle.

This should leave me with a controller that I can easily swap the battery on or replace if it breaks. A choice of off, constant or flashing. Diffused soft light that fills the bay but still lets you see all the details inside.

bah-a-la-la-la

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