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This is the first part of how to light up your model. I have tried to keep things simple and these are the methods I use, which are tried and tested and as I always say, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”.
I’m sure there are many members do a similar thing in their own way, but these tutorials are meant for those who have been daunted by the mere thought of having a go at lighting a model kit.
I thought I would start by using fiber optic cables into a model kit. These are particularly great for lighting panels with small lights where LED’s alone will be too big. There are many sizes of fiber cables, the one I have used in this tutorial is a 0.75mm cable. This is quite big in comparison to others, but it allowed me to photograph it easier.
Most of the model kits I have done, including the Millennium falcon, have been 0.25mm.
It is important to note that these cables don’t like heat, particularly the smaller gauge and they have a low melting point. They also don’t like most glues we use in a kit, such as plastic cement, super glues, and even plastic putty that you fill gaps with. So carefully spend time and plan where you will be placing these into your model.
As you will see, I tend to source my lighting readymade. These come in all different sizes and colours. Most of what I have used have been the 3mm LED’s. They also come with multi coloured flashing LED’s as well as flickering ones. The latter ones are great for fires, candle lights on ships and pulsating engine exhausts.
I will go into other lighting methods next time. This will include lighting whole sections of a model, such as ships and sci-fi models and show you how to defuse the lighting to get a subtle even effect.
Until next time, happy modelling.
Markwarren attached the following image(s):
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A first class article Mark and is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to see on the forum. Hopefully some of the knowledgeable members on this subject will also help out with similar items to help others out... Very well done and thanks for taking the time to produce this.....  Regards Alan
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Rank: Administration  Groups: Administrator, Administrators, Forum Support Team, Global Forum Support, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 1,928 Points: 5,796 Location: UK
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Mark, thank you for your kick-off post! This is exactly what I was hoping to see as well!
Thank you!
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Rank: Administration        Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,278 Points: 23,922 Location: East midlands
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Hi Mark, A well put together article and something I have thought about for aircraft navigation lights. I do have one question though.  When you put the fibre optics in the heat shrink (opposite end to the led) do the fibres have to be touching the led lens or would very close be ok? Regards delboy271155 (Derek) COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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delboy271155 wrote:Hi Mark, A well put together article and something I have thought about for aircraft navigation lights. I do have one question though. When you put the fibre optics in the heat shrink (opposite end to the led) do the fibres have to be touching the led lens or would very close be ok? Regards delboy271155 (Derek) Thank you for looking in guys. Hi Derek. As long as you have the fiber optics in the sleeve you make from the heat shrink tube, you will be okay. A tip though, when applying the heat, make sure the optic cables are near the LED. If you have a too bigger gap, the heat shrink will close between the optics and LED blocking the light to the fiber optics. Mark
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Rank: Administration Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,278 Points: 23,922 Location: East midlands
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Markwarren wrote:delboy271155 wrote:Hi Mark, A well put together article and something I have thought about for aircraft navigation lights. I do have one question though. When you put the fibre optics in the heat shrink (opposite end to the led) do the fibres have to be touching the led lens or would very close be ok? Regards delboy271155 (Derek) Thank you for looking in guys. Hi Derek. As long as you have the fiber optics in the sleeve you make from the heat shrink tube, you will be okay. A tip though, when applying the heat, make sure the optic cables are near the LED. If you have a too bigger gap the heat shrink will close between the optics and LED and will not allow the light from the LED to the optics. Mark Thanks Mark, "Guessed" they had to be close  , but didn`t know if they had to touch to get the light source down the fibre. Now I know.  Regards delboy271155 (Derek0 COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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