Model lighting opinions wanted please

[Gunpowder]

Im about to build another FM Falcon and i can decide whether or not to light it. I have lit lots of models including a FM Falcon but i cant help thinking that it sometimes makes them look a little "toyish". There is of coarse the other point that they are only switched on to show people.

The flip side is that it adds another dimension to a model.

Im interested to see what peoples thoughts are on lit models generally?

Thanks

 

[Wesman]

Hi. Back in the days when I was in the industry, we never made a model that didn't have internal lighting of some sort, whether it was with grains of wheat, neon or led's. Yes, you are right in that it adds a huge element to a model. Our models all went out to sets and production companies, which meant that they would be used under well-designed exterior lighting. If you think about how most amateur model makers show models off, that would be the element that is lacking--a cool setting (dare I say diorama?) with good lighting in scale with the model. If you want to show a 360 model off, you have a lot to do to make it really slick, so you could consider lighting it for a specific viewing angle and limiting your looky-lou's to the view that you think is most impressive.

 

[Phelyx]

I think one of the things to consider is the brightness of the interior lights. I think what's making the model look "toyish" might be that the interior lighting is too bright.
Real vehicles usually have pretty low lighting inside relative to the outside light. If it's seen in the dark, the interior lighting would be dimmed so the folks inside can still see out. When you see a passenger jet flying at night, the lights inside look a bit dim. And like Wesman says, putting it all in a well-lit environment will really add realism. And scale. A lot of pro modelers used fiber-optics so they could get scaled "pin points" of light instead of big, oversized lightbulbs.