Two N Scale Turbo Trains, 50 Years Apart

[Dwight in Toronto]

John - thanks for commenting; I will try to tone down the ‘light bleed’.

But dang, these little LED’s are SO efficient.  There’s an 8K resistor on every one of them, and I managed to reduce the intensity of the white LED in the front/top position by way of supplementary dimming using LokProgrammer software.  But, interestingly, when I tried to do the same thing on the lower/left mars lamp, the blink/fade effect was adversely affected, so I had to abandon that option.

[peteski]

Looking good Dwigth!
Yes LEDs are tricky to dim, especially if additional PWM dimming is used for lighting effects. You might consider getting some higher resistor values, so you don't have to connect bunch in series.  There are resistor kits available on eBay and  amazon with entire ranges of values (in either conventional resistors with leads, or SMD) and in various power ratings.  Those kits are not very expensive.

As for the light bleed, I just use a coating of silver or black paint. Sometimes multiple layers. Sometimes I use both, black and silver paint.  That can totally block even very strong light through translucent plastic. I have also used thin aluminum (not the crappy cloth) duct tape to block the light, but since it is conductive, one has to be careful how and where to use.

[Dwight in Toronto]

I eliminated the light bleed from the red end-of-train marker, mostly by withdrawing the LED deeper into its retaining tube, thereby moving it farther away from the clear lense on the nose cone.  That, and some additional sticky-tac to further restrict light transmission. 

Anyway, I think this is pretty much it for this build.  As always, a lot of fun, some valuable new learning, and a satisfying outcome.

Here’s a short, 2.5 minute “proof of life” video, and nod of appreciation to all who helped out and followed along:

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[NorthWestGN]

Nice stuff Dwight! Was following along earlier, lost track and now pleased to see the final product!

Brent