THe latest addition to the M.E.S.S.

[Fergmiester]

I finished installing the LED's and it looks better in the dark, honest!

Fergie

 

[GatorDave]

It looks pretty good in the light Fergie. Dave

 

[lginc]

Fergie, i think that is just too COOL! GREAT JOB! downside is, now i want to do that, but my want to list is already so darn looong. thanks!, -Dean

 

[master_train]

looks GOOD! can you show us some dark photos??

 

[enjineerbill]

Hats off to Fergie!!! Did you follow the RMC article that ran recently or was this a 'do-it-yourself' thingy?

Johnny

 

[IronBeltKen]

I finished installing the LED's and it looks better in the dark, honest! http://www.railimages.com/albums/fergusfrancey/agt.sized.jpg

That's a major work of art Fergie, hat's off to ya!

(BTW, ALL of my stuff looks better in the dark. )

 

[RexHea]

Good job Fergie. Looks very good in the light. I too, am curious if you used the RMC article for your installation. I'm not sure that I would want to use a battery as they did although there are pro's and con's to this.

 

[Steve B]

Nice work Fergie, some night shots please,,,

 

[Fergmiester]

As requested

Rex: the Caboose is DCC, no batteries required

Fergie

 

[jbaakko]

Now thats AWSOME, I wonder if I can pull that off?

 

[GatorDave]

Okay Fergie,
Since we are pressuring Johnny for a clinic on his roads, how about
a clinic on the lighted caboose. A simple step by step and a list of
materials would be great... think about it? Good luck, Dave

 

[Fergmiester]

The four red LED's are 1.5 mm Miniatronics model # 12-001-12 ordered through Walther's. What I did with these was to bend the leads 90 degrees to the side, paint the square back black, drill two small holes in the caboose for each LED and feed the leads through the holes and solder them to brass rod. The interior light was a 3mm, super white LED picked up at Maritime Hobby and Crafts. The super white LED was dipped in a yellow clear lacquer, then a red clear lacquer and then dipped in the yellow lacquer. This took away the "Blue" hue. All LED’s are wired in parallel partly to protect the little LED’s from the big LED as they draw slightly different voltages.

The wheels are all metal by Reboxx.

 

[grande man]

Fergie, the caboose looks great! It's amazing how much lighting detail adds to a model's realism. I hope this isn't a redundant question, but what did you use for track power pickups? You list Reboxx. Is that a complete powering kit?

I'm thinking of doing something similar with fiber optic rod and a red LED. Interestingly, a small decoder would make this type lighting controllable from a DCC throttle. Things that make you go hummmm...

 

[RexHea]

Very good installation, Fergie. Glad you used track power and not have to worry about tearing into it to change a battery. Ditto Eric on, "Did you make the pickups or use a kit?" Who made the kit?

 

[Fergmiester]

No kit, just copper strips with a hole drilled in it and bent to contact the wheels.
Bolt and nuts to keep the Boggie on (Accurail Bettendorfs) Nothing that NASA would design!

Fergie

 

[Steve B]

That look's great, with the size of LED's getting smaller things realy are looking brighter every day now. it goes to show you don't have to spend a fortune to get a top quallity result

 

[L&N Castle]

Hey Fergie. The caboose looks cool dude. I only wish I had the room to do that in my transfer cabooses. I like those lights,they really make the caboose even cooler. William.