Hi Trent...

top notch modeling . 

Myself am also looking into using fiber optics, motive power retrofit with fiber optics to be more exact. (Athearn swithers and Athearn in general). So if I may, could you explain a bit more on how you proceed. The more ideas, the better.

I agree

Lighting is one of those things that I think add so much to a scene and fibre optics offers an array of possibilities.  Any further "how-tos" would be great.

How to....

Thanks for asking, I take a trailer and drill out any marker light that will be seen. If the truck will only bee seen from the front and sides I drill the nose and both sides of the trailer with a 1.00mm drill bit. Then I run 1.00mmm fiberoptics thru the holes and cut them so that I have a little extra length to work with (if needed). Now add a dab of glue to hold the fiberoptics so they cant slide out of the holes. I gather the fiberoptics that I want to shine amber, bundle them up and use a 1/4" length heat shrink tube to hold them. a dab of thick CA glue holds the heat shrink tube to the fiberoptics. Now I grab the rest of the fiberoptics that I want to shine red and do the same with them. after I have all bundled up I cut the extra lenght off of the fibers close to the heat shrink tube. I now grab a amber and red LED and wire them up in seriers. Bend them so that they face the correct way, install a slightly larger heat shrink over the LED and then slide the LED with larger heat shrink tube over the smaller bundle. Another dab of CA will hold theLED in place and trap the light right in front of the fiber ends.  After the LEDs are in I solder a resistor to one lead. Now run 2 Feeder wires from each of these leeds that will exit thru the trailer floor and to your DC or DCC power source. If you want to get trick you can also run 2 wires off of the LED leads (before the resistor) and use them to light the tractor LED also. Simply drill a hole in the nose of the trailer so that these wires look like air hoses. Run the wires to the tractor frame where the other LED is used for the trucks lights. 

The tractor is the hard part as there is less room. I use a single white LED and run 1.00mm fibers from the head light to the underside of the frame. and if I want roof lights I run .25mm fiberoptics thru the cab and to the roof. same process with heat shrink tubes and glue where all the fibers meet under the frame. If I want the roof marker lights to shine amber I simple paint the tips of them yellow/amber. I now have headlights and cab markers off of one white LED on the tractror and Amber and Red in the trailer. Attached is a dump truck where you can see how the leds and fipers all come into play. the red and black air line are ran to the LED that is under the truck and painted Black to help reduce any light from leaking out of the tubes.

   quit simple once you get "in the groove"

Regards

Trent Blasco

 Edit: Enlarged pictures .

Well done

This is great modelling and ingenious. Well done.

Roy

Great topic

Great work and topic. Is it possible, do you know, to paint the LEDs with an opaque paint instead? 

Great source for your LED's

Guys,

We have the SMD402 LED's in stock which are the smallest you can currently get.  They are offered in packs of two or ten and you can purchase pre-wired versions with leads attached.

They have a warm color and are not a harsh blue tone which makes them perfect for your headlights or other applications without modifying the lens color.

Here's a link,

http://railflyermodelprototypes.myshopify.com/products/smd-402-led-10-pack

Take care,

Christopher Howard

Railflyer Model Prototypes Inc.

http://www.railflyermodelprototypes.com

Great Idea

Trent..........nicely done! Another project to put on my things to try. I've always thought that we spend the time lightin up our buidings and locomotives, but all the vehicles have been driving in the dark! Thanks for posting.

Light Pipe Material

What's your best or recommended source for the small diameter fibre?

Following

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TIM