JediDefender.com Forums

Collecting => Customs => Star Wars Dioramas and Displays => Topic started by: Vanquished_Foe on September 4, 2006, 11:00 PM

Title: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: Vanquished_Foe on September 4, 2006, 11:00 PM

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight into how exactly you put lights in you dioramas.  ???

I know that most use Christmas tree lights (which is what I want to do) but do you alter them or just snake them through the diorama as is?

I need to add lights to mine and any help/tips would be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Title: Re: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: Joe on September 4, 2006, 11:58 PM

If anything , I'd use LED lights , not X-Mas tree lights.  Do a google search on em'.

Title: Re: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: darthmac on September 5, 2006, 12:10 AM

I built a large rotating display with LED lighting, there are shots of it here (http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=13605.0).  I also wrote up information about using LED's on my website (http://starwars.creativedigitalnw.com/Tips.php).

They are really easy once you get the hang of sodering, and give you tremendous flexability.

Title: Re: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: Kit Fisto on September 5, 2006, 04:11 AM

A guy at our fanclub made a Venator Class docking bay and he used LEDs.

Unfortunatly, the only pic I can provide is this one:

(http://propaholics.wolfchasers.com/uploader/users/public/m1195201f224.jpg)

Title: Re: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: BrentS on September 5, 2006, 05:20 PM

I used both LED and standard lights in a diorama experiment.  The biggest problem I have with the LEDs is getting all the wiring to work out.  I burned through several bulbs before I got the power/amps/resistance figured out.

Here is an example from one my diorama projects that I used LED lights on:

Before:
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/cerius31/Gardulla-Palace/WIP8f.jpg)

After:
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/cerius31/Gardulla-Palace/WIP8e.jpg)


Recently, I've found some cheapy wheat grain lights at Michael's that I've used.  It eliminated some of the wiring necessary.  As I complete this project, I've settled on a combination of both LED and wheat grain style lights.

Title: Re: Adding Lights to a Diorama?
Post by: Vanquished_Foe on September 7, 2006, 08:44 PM

 Hello Brent. I saw some of your work on Rebelscum as well. That looks great! You will have to tell me what you used to make those torches!

As far as pricing, for the amount of lights I need, LED is a little too deep for my pockets. But I did figure out a way to make Christmas lights work without altering them. I have plenty of space to hide the excess lights and wiring.

Maybe  I’ll try LEDs in the future....

Thanks everyone!