Now onto probably the main reason that I put this Blog together, to show people how I did some lighting.
Ive wanted to add lights to my models for ages, and recently I got my arse in gear and worked out how to do it, and actually done it (I’m a great Procrastinator)
I decided to look it up on the internet and in loads of 40k forums there are people who have done this. There is some ace inspiration out there, and some great stuff has already been done in the field of Model Lighting. Heck just google “Warhammer 40,000 lighting” and you’ll find a plethora of sites.
Now making models have lights is an easy enough project but it needed to be worked out a bit. I had to make some decisions:
- How many and how bright would I want the lights to be?
- Coloured Lights?
- What I was going to use as a battery, and where to put it?
- What was I going to do about switching mechanisms?
- How was I going to hide the parts?
- Where would I get the parts from?
Since Im in the UK www.maplin.co.uk was my first port of call for lots of this stuff. I bought a lot of their starter sets, as they are usually cheaper if you have nothing!
List of what you’ll need:
Tools
- Soldering Iron – about 10w should do it. If you get a 40w one like I did initially, you’ll end up nearly melting plastic of the models, as a lot of soldering is done in-place.
- Wire Cutter and a knife to help strip the wire. Or an actual wire stripper.
- A heat proof mat to solder stuff on.
- Drill with various Bit sizes (A Dremel is SO useful! Maplin sell them and cheaper versions as well)
- A 3mm drill bit is essential, and the GW hand Drill will hold it if you can’t afford the Dremel.
Consumables
- Masking tape – To hold stuff in place while soldering (note no plastic tape which melts. NB masking tape will burn though be careful!)
- Electricians Tape – To cover up bare wires once done.
- Solder – Goes without saying but its surprisingly expensive.
- Wire
- Resistors
- LEDs
- Switches
- Batteries
- Battery Holders
- Patience and Practice
Details on how I chose the Consumables:
Wire – for this I found that there are two types of wire, Single Core and Multicore. Single Core is great if you want the bend the wire to shape and have it keep its shape, multi core is great if you want a little bit of flex to it so those moving parts can stay moving.
Resistors – They are appropriate to the task at hand / how many LEDs and what you use as a power source. More later on that.
LEDs – I chose colour, size and brightness depending upon what I wanted to light up. Maplin sell flashing LEDs for beacons, ultra bright ones for headlights, and practically every colour under the sun! Most of the LEDs I chose were 3mm which were small enough to embed into the models, but big enough to be bright.
Switches – This is very much personal preference, I went for a Single Pole Sub-miniature switch just because its small and easily hidden on Tanks and the like.
Batteries – Well this depends upon how many lights you want to light up.
The 3V Lithium Coin Batteries are perfect for miniatures / Objective Markers but only really light up one LED for any length of time.
The 12v 23A N size battery (used in Car remote controls) are perfect for tanks as they are smaller than a AA size but with 4 times the power.
9V PP3 work well too. They are also cheap and readily available and fit into the back of a Rhino / Chimera easily.
Battery Holders – Depend upon which Battery you go for.
Patience and Practice – Kinda goes without saying!
Instructions in Next Post
gingerwerewolf 