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So I am putting lights on my valkyrie and dont know where to put a switch, I was thinking of cutting a hole in the bottom of the cockpit and having the switch stick out, do you guys think that is a bad idea since it will have a metal switch sticking out? Where do you guys think?

Maybe you could disguise it as some sort of antenna array

perhaps put it inside the transport bit, just have the doors open and close so you can flick the switch on and off. Maybe.

Have you glued the triangular top bit on yet? You could maybe conceal it under that. Use some magnets to keep it in place normally so it doesn't just fall off. Or maybe the rear hatch. I j6st think it will look too much like an obvious switch if its in view.

It cant go in the back cabin, since I plan to display that section. I'll see if it will fit on the top trianglular part, thats a good idea

I tend to use the top of the "hump" between the engine nacelles. I put a simple sliding switch into the space so that I could turn the lights on and off in the engines, cockpit and main compartment (blue in the engines, red in the compartment and green in the cockpit).

No pics, I didn't think to take wip shots at the time and sold it earlier this year when I dumped my IG.

For vehicles, I usually use a microswitch like this one:

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/microswitch.html

Much easier to conceal on the bottom or insides of the vehicle (or on bases of buildings under stuff like barrels or crates).

I have also used normally closed reed switches when I need it to be completely hidden. A small magnet keeps the lights off when I don't want them on. When I want to turn on the lights, I simply need to remove the magnet and it turns the lights on (Digi Key carries a large selection of them).

In some cases, I have embedded the magnet into something like a missile or other part of the vehicle. That way I can use normally open or normally closed switches depending on the actual effect that I want.

It can take a bit of playing around to get the proper strength magnet to activate the switch through the model - but with rare earth magnets - you can generally find one that is small enough to hide but strong enough to trigger the reed switch.

If you could mount it higher in the cockpit than you have shown, you could have just the last 1/8" of the switch lever protruding. Would need to make a slot the length of the switch throw to make it work, but the switch lever would basically be invisible.

T