I have the same thing

I started the project over a year ago and didn't complete it, but my plan was to cut the light pipe where the headlights go out (hopefully keeping the two lenses together) and then drill a recess into it and insert the LED.  I also plan to light up the numberboards, so having them separate pieces was my aim, but doing it the same way - drilling a slight recess into the light pipe and inserting the LED.  I may just try gluing/taping the LED to the light pipe and testing it out, too.  I've got two locos as well, so the first one will be my experimenter and then if I really screw it up, will be the trailing unit in a two unit lashup.  

On my Kato RS1, I trimmed the

On my Kato RS1, I trimmed the light pipes. I then cut shrink tube to fit the light pipe and the LED. I then heated the shrink tude for a tight fit on the light pipe and a loose fit on the LED. This allows for easy removal of the body by removeing the LED's from the shrink tube. I used short wires on the LED's connected the the decoderr. I have used this method on most of my engines.

A quick thought for both of you.

I’ve cut the end square and attached the LED with both Formula 500 Canopy glue and CA to a light pipe many times.  Both glues work well.  I don’t know why painting the outside would change the transmissivity of the light pipe.  I paint the outside of the headlights and separate number boards with black acrylic straight from the bottle to block the light after the LED is attached and the “light pipe” is in place in the locomotive.  If you’re good at wiring this could give you a chance to put an LED on each headlight and wire them in series along with an LED on each number board and wire those two in series.  Then each pair to a different function on the decoder and have number boards “off” in the daytime while the headlights are operating.  I happen to do ditchlights too.  Three functions and three pairs of lights look great and allows me to turn them on like I did in the 1:1 locomotive!

I’ve also made lenses out of fiber optic strands.  I got lazy and just use Canopy Glue now.

Hope this helps.

Nick

light pipes

LED's

On my RS-1.....I ripped out the light pipes, used surface mount LED's and for lenses I used a drop or three of Micro Scale "Kristal-Klear"......

0603 warm white LED's

I no longer use any of the light pipes.  I usually will mount a 0603 size LED in each of the headlight holes and make a lens by heating the end of an optic fiber salvaged from an old cheap Christmas tree.  Not for the faint of heart if you're not up to soldering really small wire to really small LED's!

Space issues

Having gotten a little farther into this project, it looks like I can save some much-needed space by shortening the light pipes considerably. My current thought is to bore a 3 mm hole into the clear plastic piece that remains, and experiment from there. Thanks for all of the ideas and comments.

I forgot

I cut off a good chunk of the light pipes on both sides, too.  Frees up some space for a speaker, but I found I needed to trim the plastic "cones" that hang down from the inside of the shell, too.

I used clear styrene rod...

I used an off the shelf piece of 1.66mm (1/16" approx) Clear Styrene for my lenses.

I then drill out the existing Athearn lenses using a 1.65mm thumb drill and the cut down lenses fit snuggly into the opening.  I secure them with a little CA Glue to hold them in place.

I then secure the 3mm (1/8") LED to the lenses using hot glue.

When I do the cab I leave a small amount of the LED uncovered from the heat shrink so that it lights up the cab interior.

And the final result...

A pretty easy and quick upgrade that gives great results & realiability.

Jas.