Even lighting effects

Philly

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I'm in the process of building a Moebius Battlestar Galactica model and have been thinking about lighting it but looking at some models I didn't like the way it looked as if there was a flood light producing the light so after a quick think I made this, it's my attempt at a model sized florescent light using an LED :)

I laser cut a piece of acrylic 3mmx3mmx25mm for this test and taped an LED to the end. The first attempt was a complete fail as the acrylic did a fine job of internal reflection:

led1.jpg

So I broke out the 1200 grit wet and dry and evenly sanded all sides and tried again. This was taken with the same light source in the same location and the result is promising.

led2.jpg

Next I will be adding aluminium foil to 2 of the sides to reflect more light the way I want it(I've ran out).

It's not much of a post but I thought it may be useful to someone :) It's oing to be used for my flight pods.
 
Right, I pulled out the blow torch and gave it a 90degree bend and it still lights evenly. I'm going to cut a long one and make a circle.

My camera is charging now ready for pictures. :)
 
That looks pretty cool. What type of LED did you use? I wonder how far the light can go and stay bright.
 
It was a standard 5mm LED powered with a button cell. I will try with a longer piece shortly. :)
 
there is a acryl called endlighten which has some special elements in it the reflect light so you have glow and light transmission

endlighten2.jpg

sanded it looks even better for flat panles it works nice too
 
Bent piece:
led3.jpg

This will work better with acrylic rod but I have ran out.

This technique would be great with LEDs at both ends. This piece is around 11cm long.
 
I've managed to get a similar effect with fiber optics. I sanded about 1/2" of the tip of a test piece with 800 grit sandpaper and lit it up. Worked like a champ. I figure it's how I'll make the internal lighting in the Lab on the Bus I'm workin on.
 
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