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First I agree that the frosted lens looks better. I don't know why you wouldn't use a surface mount led, they also make rectangle LEDs. I'm sure whatever your designed will work though.

Sheer ignorance is why I looked for right angle LEDs but did not know the proper nominclature to search for the item I needed, Thanks for providing that. On the other hand the surface mounted appear too bulky to fit into the searchlight housing on first examination but I'll research the product thoroughly.

Grumble, grumble! I knew someone had the right information and I doubly knew it wouldn't be forthcoming until after the fact. Such is the lot of the uninformed tyro.

Brightly though my initial concept was to use a 9 volt battery and still have the holder sleeve applicable to both the 3 volt and 9 volt battery holders. I can make the swap in less time than it took to type this........

SMD-LED!!! Oh man, I could have told you that... I had totally forgotten about them - don't worry about too bulky. You get them in the model railroad shop. What is small enough to be used as a free-standing steam lokomotion headlight in HO is surely not too bulky for heroic scale.

 Hruotland wrote:
SMD-LED!!! Oh man, I could have told you that... I had totally forgotten about them - don't worry about too bulky. You get them in the model railroad shop. What is small enough to be used as a free-standing steam lokomotion headlight in HO is surely not too bulky for heroic scale.

There's a special Hell for those that rely on their inventiveness and I welcome the accommodations because there is also something to be said for beating the system i.e. making something work that isn't designed to do that. It's the secret of the Blackadder's millions figuratively speaking of course but I'd rather have satisfaction than wealth..... but enough rationalization. You're a HO train buff? I'll have to dig out my scratch HO antebellum locomotive based on the original 'Mantua' Rogers 1855 "General."

"Choo Choo!!!"
That's train talk for killing the auto append

@blackadder: yes and no, I am kind of mechaniac and steam punk (craving for the real thing, not steampunk fiction), and model hobbyist. Alhough my interest are diverse and branching out, model railroad is something like the logical result of matching spheres. Sadly I cannot afford an own model railroad(considering money as well as space), but in the past years I have helped my brother tinkering with his HO R.R. My first attempts to painting miniatures, modding models and building terrain were happening there, giving his locos and cars patina, detailing some crew for open cabin engines, designing landscape etc. Also we had a hard time modifying a then-still GDR produced PICO Diesel to western Germany's Fleischmann coupling standard. I remember how hesitating we were before hacking into the virgin model...
- Certainly I'd very much like to see pics of your scratchbuilt loco! Shame I cannot return the favour, lacking some halfway decent camera as well as (at the moment) something presentable. But there are started projects as well as Christmas approaching... we will see.

Plan Ahead:

Well I thought I planned ahead but NOT!

It seems my ambition has exceeded my complacency so I had to cut into finished work to upgrade the overall interior appearance. I had been contented to just have un-embellished lights somewhere in the command deck overhead but now I want side mounted recessed lighting in the upper gallery that looks like it belongs.

With that it necessitates cutting into the floor of the Void Generator compartment which will serve also for me to install reflective panels in the command deck ceiling.

http://i.imgur.com/ArNpL2g.jpg


These three images of just about the same thing shows one LED (temporarily installed and the rough cut openings I made for access to the hidden compartments behind the room walls that will now be the battery/electrical compartments. The cuts will be dressed smooth and the ceiling panel will now be removable for access to the batteries and wiring The white styrene stripes are newly installed reinforcements for the walls.

Closeup of the LED with spacer collar and bezel trim:

http://i.imgur.com/vmyV6iz.jpg


Another view of the same..........

http://i.imgur.com/LntpyZf.jpg

Oh! So you actually have room inside the walls! Good on ya!

it's those small details that divide mastership from mere awsomeness. In the end it WILL make a difference.

Work'n Inna Coal Mine:

Not enough light my camera keeps telling me but apparently enough to take these images. Eight 3 volt LEDs powered by 4 AA batteries seem barely adequate to do the job I may try a higher voltage.

The right side array is poorly wired but the left side LEDs are mounted on a 2,0 MM X 6,3 MM styrene strip.

http://i.imgur.com/vFvuJ4Q.jpg


Now at least the Tech College and Ad Mech Icon can be seen whereas they were not visible before even when prime grey and ambient lighting.

http://i.imgur.com/OyyGbVI.jpg

I'm sure you already know this, but maybe it could be worked out without changing batteries yet.

Light yield will depend on the connection scheme of the LEDs as well as the power source´s and LEDs' voltages. The left side array LEDs seem to be wired in parallel, and I'll assume the right side one is so too, though it doesn't show.

If the complete arrays are parallel to each other as well the circuit should work fine with the 4AA - 6V battery, with no added resistor (extra added lamps in this way affect power consumption - and thus, battery life-span -, but should not cause a voltage drop). If light is coming out too low, you might have a serial connection somewhere splitting the power.

Hope: a) I made sense; b) didn't try to tell you something you were already aware of.

And since I'm at it, and in case you've not had enough of it yet, looks absolutely amazing.

Sorry I'm a bit under the influence of my weekly triple Martini at this time and need some clarification:

Right now I have 4 3.0 volt LEDs wired in parallel with a 200ohm resistor (no series circuit as yet) on the right side and I have 4 LEDs of indeterminate values (Harbor Freight Flashlight LEDs)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XFH6mBsNL._SX342_.jpg
( I desoldered and rewired the LEDs in parallel utilizing best guess resistance value for optimum proformance) and
wired in Parallel with another resistor of the same value 200Ω. I have no series connection of that I am sure.

Not being an electrical engineer and not knowing the required values it's pretty much hit or miss on how to increase the lumens without blowing the components or depleting the batteries too quickly, Since it appears you do know what you are talking about; any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Tell me what you need further to know.........i.e. resistance values applied etc.

BTW "Foot of the Andes," I love it east or west slope. I haven't been to the Andes in years. My last excursion was to Machu Picchu where I tied the lovely Ms Blackadder naked to the Intihuatana Stone as an offering to the Sun God. Can you still do that? Sorry that experience predated digital cameras no pictures available.

The effect is great! How about supplementing it with a more yellow-ish spotlight onto the shrine?

 Hruotland wrote:
The effect is great! How about supplementing it with a more yellow-ish spotlight onto the shrine?

That is coming, the wiring is there but I need some resistance values. I'm working with stone knives and bearskins in this project and my Electrical engineering is a tad rusty.

That lighting adds so much mood, looks boss!

I am happy to help with lighting. You can run between 10-50 leds off 3 AAA's for 4-26 hours. I am currently researching for my lighting projects.

The simple fix without reworking your entire system would be to change your resistance. Being as you went with the cheapest LED's you could find (Harbor Freight is great when quality doesn't matter), I would worry about an led burning out after the model is completed. But as long as you are okay with that possibility (actually, with random interior lights out, it would look more industrial and Gothic, I am going to to have to consider that for mine, maybe a flickering light like it's going to go out).

I just reread what you wrote, I didn't realize you hacked a flashlight, I thought you build from component-wise. I will have to think about your problem...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So, you don't have a dropping resistor at each LED, just one at the end?

I've found this article on TerraGenesis useful in the past...

How to light several LEDs

A wise man knows what battles to pick, and when to do so. After three Martinis, putting this one off for a while sounds like wisdom to me.

Disclaimer: I’m not an engineer either – nor a native English speaker –, so please bear with me. And if there is a real one around, I apologize in advance for what’s coming up next.

A minimal background (feel free to skip):
a) In an electric circuit, current (amperes or amps) equals potential difference (volts) over resistance (R, measured in Ohms).
b) In a parallel circuit, voltage is the same for all elements and current draw adds on (thus, two 3 volt, 20 mA LEDs in parallel will consume 40 mA, and require a 3 volt power source).
c) In a serial circuit, current is the same and potential adds on (same two LEDs require a 6V input, and consume 20 mA)

In this case, you have an effective 6V power (4AA batteries, serially connected), 4 3.0 volt LEDs wired in parallel with a 200ohm resistor in the right array and 4 indeterminate value LEDs wired in parallel with a 200ohm resistor (being white, 3/3.1V 20mA sounds like a safe assumption, so I’d consider it equivalent to the previous one)

The calculated resistance for each side branch would be 37,5 Ohms, so you should probably use a 39 Ohm (higher closest available) resistor, 5% tolerance (color coded: orange, white, black, gold).

Your 200 Ohm resistors are pulling the circuit too far down, hence the low light yield. No need to change/add more batteries, changing the whole circuit resistance should be enough.

In case (today being Sunday and all) that you had more batteries available but not an appropriate selection of resistors at hand, you could leave the LEDs and resistors as are, and build up the power source to 18V (2 9V batteries connected in series). More expensive but you’d probably never run out of batteries either (though thinking of it, that would require higher wattage resistors, and increase heat dissipation too, which might be an issue of its own in such close quarters).

And onto your other point: eastern slope, further south. I’m not sure about current Machu Picchu regulations either – myself having being there over three score and some year ago –, but I do know free backpacking the Inca trail is not longer allowed (Only organized tours with officially sanctioned guides nowadays), so my guess is you did your offering to Inti at the right time, things might have become a bit too standardized for that at the present…

Hope it helps, and feel free to delete if it doesn't.

I keep coming back to this project every so often, and each time I can only express slack-jawed amazement. I worry that I'm beginning to sound like a perpetually gobsmacked broken record.

Also this made me want to read the old Titan comics from Warhammer Monthly again.

Wait; Are you saying Warlord Titans can Talk? and are touchy-feely in touch with their inner self....Yeech there goes my breakfast.

I think I'll keep my Luteus Vexant mute.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Littletower wrote:
A wise man knows what battles to pick, and when to do so. After three Martinis, putting this one off for a while sounds like wisdom to me.

Disclaimer: I’m not an engineer either – nor a native English speaker –, so please bear with me. And if there is a real one around, I apologize in advance for what’s coming up next.

A minimal background (feel free to skip):
a) In an electric circuit, current (amperes or amps) equals potential difference (volts) over resistance (R, measured in Ohms).
b) In a parallel circuit, voltage is the same for all elements and current draw adds on (thus, two 3 volt, 20 mA LEDs in parallel will consume 40 mA, and require a 3 volt power source).
c) In a serial circuit, current is the same and potential adds on (same two LEDs require a 6V input, and consume 20 mA)

In this case, you have an effective 6V power (4AA batteries, serially connected), 4 3.0 volt LEDs wired in parallel with a 200ohm resistor in the right array and 4 indeterminate value LEDs wired in parallel with a 200ohm resistor (being white, 3/3.1V 20mA sounds like a safe assumption, so I’d consider it equivalent to the previous one)

The calculated resistance for each side branch would be 37,5 Ohms, so you should probably use a 39 Ohm (higher closest available) resistor, 5% tolerance (color coded: orange, white, black, gold).

Your 200 Ohm resistors are pulling the circuit too far down, hence the low light yield. No need to change/add more batteries, changing the whole circuit resistance should be enough.

In case (today being Sunday and all) that you had more batteries available but not an appropriate selection of resistors at hand, you could leave the LEDs and resistors as are, and build up the power source to 18V (2 9V batteries connected in series). More expensive but you’d probably never run out of batteries either (though thinking of it, that would require higher wattage resistors, and increase heat dissipation too, which might be an issue of its own in such close quarters).

And onto your other point: eastern slope, further south. I’m not sure about current Machu Picchu regulations either – myself having being there over three score and some year ago –, but I do know free backpacking the Inca trail is not longer allowed (Only organized tours with officially sanctioned guides nowadays), so my guess is you did your offering to Inti at the right time, things might have become a bit too standardized for that at the present…

Hope it helps, and feel free to delete if it doesn't.

I mis-spoke, er typed my spec's on the lighting; there are two separate sets of 3 volt parallel circuits and will be five LEDs each (I'm adding another LED for overhead lighting of the altar)

so its: ''battery(3.0 volts)'' to ''200Ω resistor in series'' to ''five LEDs'' wired in parallel and then back to the battery (I'll probably throw in a switch at some point but right now I just unplug the battery.

What you are saying is I should decrease the resistor value to < 40Ω instead of upping the voltage; correct? Thanks for the info.....

Shame about Machu Picchu Hiram Bingham would be appalled Ms BA and I were there in the height of the Indiana Jones craze and we were stranded for a few extra days when the rail line washed out. We virtually had the whole place to ourselves and got carried away, HA! She was a lot more playful then.

Nowadays she declines any memory of the incident

Incidentally they had an excellent hotel/restaurant there at the time where we stayed for seven nights while we explored the local Inca trails totally unsupervised but the world was a much better place in those days.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I gotta find the pictures of that trip (Note to self)

 The_Blackadder wrote:
Wait; Are you saying Warlord Titans can Talk? and are touchy-feely in touch with their inner self....Yeech there goes my breakfast.

I think I'll keep my Luteus Vexant mute.

Well, the Princeps says it can and I'm not about to argue with a guy with Turbolasers.

 The_Blackadder wrote:

two separate sets of 3 volt parallel circuits and will be five LEDs each (I'm adding another LED for overhead lighting of the altar)

so its: ''battery(3.0 volts)'' to ''200Ω resistor in series'' to ''five LEDs'' wired in parallel and then back to the battery (I'll probably throw in a switch at some point but right now I just unplug the battery.

What you are saying is I should decrease the resistor value to < 40Ω instead of upping the voltage; correct? Thanks for the info...../quote]

Even simpler with independent circuits: 3V battery, 4/5 parallel 3V 20mA LEDs (number only affects battery life in this disposition): Only a minimal resistor is needed (5 Ohm should be fine). It could even work without one at all, but there's a risk of blowing up/diminished lifetime for the LEDs that way.

...but the world was a much better place in those days.

I'll toast to that tonight. And to the memories of days of yore.

That's starting to look really atmospheric with the added lighting, and if I knew anything about LEDs I'd lend some help,
unfortunately my expertise ends with splicing wires and hooking up battery packs.

But you seem to be getting plenty of advice, so I think I'll jut step back and wait patiently for the results

New Kid On the Block:

Or mebbe not, I don't know but I found this site just today with what appears to be a full sized L.P. Warlord complete with weapons for around 460 bucks. It's a lot more robust than my version (DS's Version) but should satisfy that need to own a Giant Stomper urge.

http://www.tsipisgames.com/

Dunno whether it's still available, size, or material but the weapons look interesting. Anyone else know anymore about it?

Not so keen on that Warlord for sale, looks ok in the zoomed-out shots but the close-ups make it look very rough.

Together Again:

The leg/waist component is back together again with new lighting, new bolts and nut axles, new escape hatch and detail on the underside of the pelvis and a new covering of graphite hued skin which will have to be brightened with some beauty marks.

http://i.imgur.com/nQHirKF.jpg


But in fairness the room is quite dark and the flash somehow augments the darkness.

The electronics are moving ahead quite well and the interior lighting should be finished this coming weekend.

On the upper torso the new Engineering 'Blast Door' is completed and installed and the gunner platform behind the chest plate is ready but not as yet installed (It will be a removable piece consisting of two gunners and bolters firing down at enemy ground personnel.

http://i.imgur.com/ppBoM9j.jpg


Big surprise in this image the greave floodlights seem to be working, they are actually reflecting the flash.

I like the gunner platform idea, was that on the original or did you think that up? I should go look myself.

Such an epic shot.

Looking forward to the gunner platform.

Are you planning to have any crew peering out through the open hatches?

I have always had in mind that the one weakness these titans have in common is the inability to deal with individual ground forces. The Warhounds may be swift enough to outdistance ground troops but the clanking Reavers and Warlords should pose easy pickings for dedicated teams. It seems a squad of determined troops could destroy the slow moving feet with strategically place explosives especially in a coordinated attack from the rear. I therefore resolved to equip the waist and pelvis with small arms bolters personally manned and remote aimed swivel triple bolters mounted on the lower edge of each greave to achieve cross fire protection.

It is a matter of general knowledge that tanks unsupported by infantry are vulnerable to ground force attack and I see no reason why titans should not likewise be susceptible. To date I believe the concept in regards to titans is original with me at least I see no addressment of the issue to date.

Of course the whole of the above may be rendered moot if the unknown properties of the ethereal 'Void Shields' do in fact protect in the event of the above mentioned intrusions.

Sounds reasonable. Of course a solution to the problem would be fielding adequate support troops, like a carrier is always accompanied by a flotilla of destroyers etc, or tanks deployed together with mobile infantry. I imagine a titan of warlord or emperor size should also be accompanied by flanking warhounds, a squad of air support and a platoon or two of mobile infantry, land speeders, bikes etc. Still on board anti-infantry weapons would come handy, cause you never know.

gak, IRL a titan on the battlefield would become the focus of most attack I would figure. A well placed kamikaze seems like it would be an efficient means to take down a walker. Airplane right into the legs, battle over.

I would imagine that like a Naval battlegroup, a titan has an accompanying fleet of troops and vehicles surrounding it. As a mobile weapon platform, its only goal it to get close enough to fire (which is what the idea of close combat weapons on titans is absurd-although it didn't stop me from getting that giant power-fist for my Reaver).

Regardless, it makes sense that there would be automated turrets all over a titan