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On my SW1500 kitbashes with lighted numberboards, I had to address light-leak issues as well. Granted, the plastic used in those was not as translucent but I was able to address it by painting the numberboard box and surrounding areas black first and by using a pretty high value (proper term?) resistor with those LED's to make them pretty dim as numerboards are dimly lit anyway. I think I even had to turn down the brightness level CV's (Zimo decoders) quite a bit on top of that before I could not see any more light leaks while observing it in total darkness.
If memory serves, I believe I used 63k resistors for the numberboards in these models but, like I mentioned, I even had to turn down the brightness CV's on top of that....and I think I turned the brightness CV's WAY down too.
... The spherical depression has a tapered hole out the back to the inside that should allow the ambient LED light inside pass through. I would fill that with clear substance letting it dome to act as a lens and into the hole to act as a light pipe. Clear epoxy? IDK.
Tamiya Clear. A little dab'll do ya'.
Mike is that thick enough?
But some areas of FUD are clear and some are white.
If it was me, I was envisioning utilizing making the opening for the LEDs on the bottom of the housing and simply using the Shapeways-printed resin as the number board "glass" It is translucent and yet it should diffuse the light from the individual LEDs. The LEDs would be installed from the bottom and then the entire cavity could be filled with clear resin mixed with talcum powder (to further diffuse the light). Then mask the numberboard "glass" area, paint the rest of the housing until it is light-tight, then decal the number board.In the current design the modeler has to carefully make the "glass" area to fit the opening in the housing (including rounding the corners). It can be done but it will have to be very precise.
I also suspect that not many modelers are adventurous enough to install two 0402 LEDs in there. I would make sure there is enough clearance for a single 0603 LED (yes, I know that will most likely result in a hot spot in the illumination. FXD and FUD (both are the same) resin is a slightly milky translucent resin. It appears white in the areas where it is deposited over a layer of wax while being printed. That makes the resin surface porous, scattering the reflected light making it look white. That surface is not good for decals and it needs to be smoothed out first. A coat of white paint should do the trick and will also act as a diffuser.
I hadn't noticed that...I would prefer to have something there, to attach decals to.
Changes look great! Any chance of getting those leg brackets set on a 45 degree angle to the housing as on the prototype?White or clear would be OK, as the numbers are easier to see with a white backing anyway and I'm sure light will illuminate the white just fine. I tend to agree that not having to add separate "glass" would make things easier.
Yes. The transparent colors are quite viscous.