Best Of Keystone Customs announces Angled numberboards for your SW Diesels

[peteski]

Rec'd my revised boards today and they look great (thanks, John)! The size difference is definitely noticeable.

Aren't you glad that you ended up listening to Ryan and me (and also kudos to Chris for measurements and excellent detail photos, and of course to John for redesigning the 3-D design). Those few thousands of an inch can make a difference in N scale.  Just ask me about the Rapido Meat reefers (but at least in this example correction could be and was made). 

What we have here is a perfect example of Railwire's "better modeling through peer pressure" 

[u18b]

What we have here is a perfect example of Railwire's "better modeling through peer pressure" 

I know it well.   

[Lemosteam]

Was just thinking that for those who don't wish to light these, it would be very easy to use filler to create the decal surface.

So here are my first attempt at lighting mine (I bought some just to test).

Magnet wire through the hole in the bottom, had to open it up, but having the 0.010" hole already there made that easy.
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LED glued in place:
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Lit up with a 9v on my nifty, @peteski directed, potentiometer LED rig, which allows me to test various resistors inline after the obligatory 1k ohm.
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[peteski]

Nice job John (especially knowing the size of your hands!   
Yes, the LED testing rig does come in very handy.

Using filler to fill the depression (instead of gluing in a "glass" sheet) is a good ideal  I would suggest epoxy resin with talcum powder mixed in. The powder will make the resin semi-opaque and it should nicely diffuse the light. There will still be a hot spot right over the LED, but that is pretty might unavoidable. Maybe putting a tiny dot of silver or black paint right over where the LED die is inside the SMD package would minimize the hot spot.

[tehachapifan]

Looks good! 

Looking at your install, I'm wondering if a 0603 might fit in there too or is the opening too shallow? I ask as I have some pre-wired 0603's on-hand and the larger size might be better, as far as a hot spot might go (Less pinpoint?).

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the center sprue post to mount mine now. This is going to be for increased strength and it will allow me to make some legs that are more or less aesthetic and don't have to attach to the shell as securely. I figure it will not detract too much from the overall appearance.

[Lemosteam]

An 0603 might fit length and width wise, but this 0402 us just shy of where the styrene would mount.

As far as a filer goes, I wonder if the LED were on one of the sides os the housing, FACING the middle and the epoxy would serve as the conduit of the light, like pseudo fiber optics. Might eliminate a bright spot...

[peteski]

Russ, the small white SMD LEDs use a blue LED die encapsulated in a resin which is translucent and also contains a phosphor which converts the blue LED light to several other colors. This results in a light that our eyes percive as white. But a portion of the blue light is also needed for the white light effect, so some of the blue light shines through at the center (where the LED die is and where the phosphor-filled resin is the thinnest. That is why there is a bright or "hot" spot right in the middle fo the white LEDs.  The size of the LED package (like 0402 or 0603) doesn't matter much as far as even distribution of the light is concerned, because the size of the blue LED die inside the package is very similar, regardless of the LED package size.  So the 0603 LED will still have a bright spot right at the center over the LED die.  What does make some difference is the thickness of the LED (since there is more phosphor-filled resin over the die. SO if the 0603 LED is thicker than 0402 then the bright spot will be slightly less pronounced (but still there).

I think John's idea (having the LED face the back of the enclosure) is worth trying.

There are also LEDs out there that have different thickness. You can buy for example 0603 LEDs which are thicker and thinner.  That is where doing some Digikey online catalog searches comes in handy.

[tehachapifan]

All good points, peteski! I also like the idea of turning the LED around to see how that looks. Of course, even more light-blocking would then have to be applied to the back of the housing.

[coosvalley]

I have not received mine yet, but I am ready!..Mine will not be lit, but watching you guys do it will hopefully be inspirational!...

I actually got the windows out of this one!..I did break one side window center post , but managed to extract it from the window glass and glue it back on. If it had been the engineers side, I would have been fine with no center post, as I will probably add an engineer figure to this, but, of course, I broke the firemans side .. Modeling a late model B&M SW1, which was the majority of them, requires a late model shell(PC, in this case), on a frame with handrails(I chose the B&M one, because it's already painted somewhat correct!), so basically it takes 2 SW1s to make one of these. The good news is the leftovers, minus the roller bearing trucks(anyone want to trade??), are useful to make older model SW1s for B&M and Pioneer Valley ..
 

[Lemosteam]

The dimension from the inside of the housing to the shoulder where the "board" would sit is 0.631mm.  remember though you have to account for the wires and solder on the back too.

As I mentioned my let is nearly flush with the shoulder.

More pics to follow.

[tehachapifan]

Here are the new, revised numberboards temporarily mounted on my SP SW1200 .....





The (non-stock) bell pictured will be replaced with one from Miniatures By Eric. Also, there is a 3014 SMD LED for the front gyralight mounted up in top of the scratchbuilt light board.

[Lemosteam]

I'm going to try some more LED arrangements, such as @peteski 's idea to turn the LED toward the back wall, but here's where it's at so far.

I have added a 0.010 thick piece of styrene over the opening after filling the cavity with clear glue.  It's hard to see, but a very short bulbed piece of 0.025" diameter fiber optic strand is in the class light hole.

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Here is the assembly lit.

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Now I've painted it in honor of @Ed Kapuscinski Conrail colors:

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And lit, the class light has a very low glow.

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Rush FUD cleaning and paint job, but it's just a trial. Your mileage may vary!

[peteski]

[sp org div]

That finish product looks pretty sweet illuminated!
My only concern (after ordering some) is looking at Russ's install, the leg on the outside appears to be hanging a bit high up...

Nice looking overall SW progress shot Russ.
...and that numberboard on 2873 looks awesome (save further on that for another time).
Jeff

[Lemosteam]

@sp org div ,

As I understand it @tehachapifan will be adding some brass strip down to the body.

The legs cannot be printed any longer without certain breakage during the printing and handling process at Shapeways or significant thickening.

As an alternative, if I were going to try this, I would grind off the brackets, drill a hole in some 0.010" x  0.040 wide brass strip stock, bend two legs down at 45 degrees to the long edge and snip them off long enough to penetrate the shell.

Next I would hold it in place over the shell and touch a soldering iron to the strip and gently but quickly push it into the shell on each end.  Not for the faint of heart, but I have done this with etched stirrups.  Then glue the housing to the bracket.

Just an alternative idea to others already here.