18.1.10

3265's headlight - Mk 3

As a follow on to previous posts re this little challenge here is the 3rd version (attempt) at getting some forward illumination happening for the P.
I had purchased some of these tiny LED's quite some time ago from Gwydir Valley Models and at the time thought they would make great marker lights for future projects, never realising how much light they emitted until Ray Pilgrims' article in AMRM and his blog (Bylong) post on yard lighting.
They will really be a useful item for many different lighting applications. They come pre wired, which is a major plus for something this size, with about 150mm of two very fine insulated twisted wire attached. The insulation is the paint on kind so be careful when pulling the wires through metal sheet etc or it could easily be worn through and short out. A 1 or 2 watt 1K ohm resistor, spliced into the positive wire, will also required to tone down the output of the LED as well.
When I finished removing the 3mm LED from the headlight housing of the 32 I filled the surplus holes I had drilled with solder and drilled a 1.5 mm hole in between and towards the rear of the two headlight supports. This will take the wiring out of the headlight and into the smoke box via a countersunk 2 mm hole drilled into it directly below where the headlight will sit. I countersank the smoke box hole to make it easier to thread the wires through the two holes at the same time.
Next the headlight housing was soldered to the top of the smoke box. After the obligatory cleaning ritual, the the air brush was pressed into service and the body of 3265 had it's first coat of paint!
After test fitting the LED into the headlight housing I had found it difficult to get the LED to sit square in the housing. After some brain wracking I cut out a disc of 1 mm or so styrene and filed it up almost fit in the housing. I drilled a 1mm hole in the centre, counter sunk it to take the wire connections from the LED, threaded the wire through the hole and superglued the LED in place. After the glue went off I again test fitted the now styrene mounted LED into the housing and carefully employed the file until it was as perfect a fit as possible. I then treaded the LED wires into and through the headlight and down into the smoke box. The LED was a nice snug fit and after squaring up and testing to make sure it still worked, the styrene was fixed into place with a drop of superglue. The finished assembly looks like a rather perfect fried egg ! Will experiment now with a lens to try and diffuse the light and make it appear more 'yellow'.










The 'fried egg' and headlight housing before assembly.










Headlight and 'fried egg' fitted and painted.










3265 loco in black 'Mirotone' and the tender in black and maroon. I don't know about your monitor (or my photography!) but the tender almost looks indian red! I can assure it's not - Bakers Maroon - and it looks a lot more 'maroonier' (new word!) in the flesh. I looked at the Trainorama maroon 32 photo from the website and it looks pretty 'tuscany- indian reddy' to me there as well.

3 comments:

  1. Gary, it would be great to know a bit more of the process of how you paint your locos. I am a complete beginner and any help would be appreciated. Do you spray the chassis separate of the wheels and associated pushrods? Do you spray the body separately? You get the idea. OOOR maybe I should post my locos to you to paint when I'm done with the building!

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  2. Will be happy to share info Geoff. Send me an email to remind me and we will kick it off rather than here. Cheers.

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  3. It may sound stupid but what is a LED?

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