Using SMD LEDs to light up X-Wing engines

[Raven Morpheus]

Hi there

I'm going to attempt to light up the engines of a Bandai 1/72 X-Wing that I have, however I'm not quite getting my head around how to do it.

I want to use 0402 SMD LED as they and their wires are nice and small so don't require much in the way of holes.

However, I've used the same type SMD LED on another project, and they were very bright, which was fine as I used them as a pair of eyes, but I'm not sure how to go about diffusing the light from such small SMD LED to get that glowing engine look without having a "hot spot" or it looking like there is a tiny LED in the engine bay!

Would anyone here have any experience/tips to share on doing this?

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

[korben44]

A thin piece of tissue paper should diffuse the light for you that will give you the effect you are looking for.

 

[COlson]

I use regular white printer paper to diffuse LED light. I used it in my X-Wing cockpit. I did not use any in my engines however. But I used neopixels LEDs so I could animate them. You can see it here.

Bandai X-Wing 1/48 scale Heavily modded

 

[xl97]

As far away form the surface as you can.
Some sort of diffuser material between led & surface as well

If you are NOT using some sort of microcontroller to control the led brightness/pattern..etc..etc.. you may try to increase the resistor value

 

[COlson]

Yes, to add to what xl97 said, you can change the brightness by increasing the resistor size. So you can try that as well. A 970 Ohm resistor will bring down brightness on about any LED. Just gotta kind of experiment with it. Or just diffuse.

 

[Richard Baker]

Why not add a variable resister and that way you can dial in what brightness you want with a twist of a knob- nice glow for display and brighter for photography...

 

[xl97]

Sure.. use a pot if you want... however..

That brings up the aspect/point of where do you mount/hide it.. while still maintaining access.. but not killing the overall look of the model?

 

[Richard Baker]

Twist R2's Head?

 

[xl97]

No clue about the model itself.. but I like that idea very much.

 

[COlson]

Why not add a variable resister and that way you can dial in what brightness you want with a twist of a knob- nice glow for display and brighter for photography...

That's a good idea as well.