How do you put lights in your HO scale Thomas models lamps? Help would be appreciated.
Yours,
ToonyThomas
I don't know. ???
this is not a project for the faint of heart. it will probably be easier to do if you convert thomas to dcc first.
the light on thomas's coal bunker would be pretty easy. you'd drill out the light housing to accept a micro sized white or yellow led, and wired it up to the decoder's yellow and blue leads according to the decoder manufacturer;s instruction sheet. you may need to add a resistor in seried with the led as well.
the front light, on the buffer beam, will be much more difficult. for this one, i'd wire the led to the white and blue lead same as for the rear and mount it in the cab where there's room. i'd use a length of fiber optic tube as a light pipe through thomas's body, and drill out the light housing for this tube. you will probably end up with the tube exposed along the front of thomas's chassis as far back as the tank on the side of the boiler, but with a little care and black paint you can make this look like an electrical cable.
good luck.
I bought a DCC Thomas equipped with lights from trainbuddy.com a while back (I do NOT recommend this site, by the way) and what they did was wired the light to the decoder and ran the wire through the body and under the footplate, and then ran the light up into a hole drilled under the lamp. It wasn't noticeable unless the model was turned over.
for installations like this i do not recommand the use of small light bulbs for two reasons.
1, bulbs emit heat. in the confined space of the thomas light housings they can melt the plastic. led's and fibre optics do not emit heat.
2. bulbs eventually burn out, and you have to replace them. led's, properly installed, don't. do you really want to do the installation over again every time a bulb burns out?
NO WAY! That would be like repeating a day again and again and again, using all the time to change all the lights. Thanks for the help guys.
Sorry for double posting but, I would like the front light yellow and the back light red.
Quote from: ThomasFan247 on August 26, 2011, 01:19:43 PM
I bought a DCC Thomas equipped with lights from trainbuddy.com a while back (I do NOT recommend this site, by the way) and what they did was wired the light to the decoder and ran the wire through the body and under the footplate, and then ran the light up into a hole drilled under the lamp. It wasn't noticeable unless the model was turned over.
Is the plastic inside the light housing clear so It can emit light that comes from underneath the footplate?
-Art
Uhhhhhhhh, I didn't understand that but I'm gonna say yes.
Quote from: TrainsofSodor on November 22, 2011, 11:19:59 PM
Uhhhhhhhh, I didn't understand that but I'm gonna say yes.
If you don't understand a question then why would you say yes? ::)
Uhhhh, since there's room under the Footplate? :P
He means is the place where the light is supposed to come out transparent so that the light doesn't have to be right in the lamp and the answer is NO. It is a solid paint color. (Both front and back) :P
Quote from: Edward the Great on November 23, 2011, 08:04:01 AM
He means is the place where the light is supposed to come out transparent so that the light doesn't have to be right in the lamp and the answer is NO. It is a solid paint color. (Both front and back) :P
Thanks for the reply, someone on another forum did it with a surface mounted LED. I sent him a PM to see exactly how it was done. Maybe he will post a closeup pic for me as well.
-Art