Wall-lights
Light in the Boulroie tunnels ...
This was published in Modelspoormagazine 48, may 2006.
Like real railroads, we encounter situations where the railroad is crossed by a large bridge or platforms continue in a tunnel. Our litlle travellers need light. This is a description of a wall-light in HO, as they were used in the fifties.
It isn't that hard to make these tiny lights. We need a white LED, some brass sheet and basic tools. Follow the description:
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White LEDs were recycled from a Christmas ornament. A 36-pin edge connector
was found at the electronics store. They were soldered at a 70° angle.
The lamp hood is made from very thin sheet brass. I used an office perforator
to produce 6mm wide circles, and punched holes in them using a 3mm tool. After
punching, the caps where shaped using a pair of tweezers.
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The shield is made from etched brass sheet, a piece of 4x9mm is cut out using scissors, bent in shape. An M3 nut and bolt are needed to support the cap and shield when soldering.
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After soldering, the hood won't fit just right. Some filing later, it should
slide gently over a LED. The tips shoukld be bent into complete the protective
hood.
The LEDs are spray-painted to make them lok older, and to filter out the blue
light. The cap is airbrushed black. After assembling these, the light should
be blocked on top using layers of thick black paint. The paint is used as glue
to hold the hood in place on the LED.
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A mounting plate is made from a strip of styrene. 0,7mm holes are drilled, and imitation bolts are punched using a metal sheet marker. The plate is then cut to shape and placed behind the lamp. It gets a grimy grey color.
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To mount the lights on the walls, a piece of PCB-board is used as a drill mould. The light itself is glued to the wall. Some feeder cables where imitated using very thin assembly wires.
| ©2006 Gerolf Peeters - updated 09.03.2007 | See: semaphores - tubelights - lanterns |