Apollo Launch Tower |
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After doing the Polar Lights 1/350 USS Enterprise Re-Fit model last year, and integrating the VoodooFX LED lighting effects kit for the model into it, I have been staring at the 1/96 LUT thinking of just how cool would it be to illuminate THAT. Unlike the 1/144 scale, the 1/96 is big enough that it should be easier - not easy, but easier. Then you start looking at the size of the LEDs, the current-limiting diodes, the wiring, and then start counting the levels... I then disregarded the idea as way too much work now that it was all built. Then, I happened to come across something in the Starship Modeler’s on-line store that kicked the idea back into drive. Seems a company named ParaGrafix makes “strips” of surface mounted, high-output white LEDs, with built-in current-limiting diodes (also SMD, on the strip) and a self-adhesive backing, which can be cut down into small segments of three LEDs with their own diode. Each section - 2 inches long! Now, we’re talking. I got a bunch of them, cut them down, and built up fifteen segments of three sets of strips, creating a U-shaped system, using a pair of long, thin copper connecting wires. These are for the majority of the levels. There are two larger versions for the two lower levels and one two-strip system for the upper-most level near the elevator equipment room. I then supported the LUT “face-down” and worked from the back. The plumbing set that runs along the backside of the LUT was gently removed and will be used to camouflage the buss wires after installation. The portion of the buss that goes all the way to the top, beyond the plumbing will get painted flat black. I put two small holes in the rear edge of each level’s floor, in line with this plumbing set, and ran the buss wires through. The connecting wires from each floor system were then wrapped over and soldered to the busses. Then the excess wire was trimmed. Even though my pictures of the LUT segment at KSC,s Apollo-Saturn V Center shows four sets of three lamps on the underside of each upper floor, I took the liberty of not putting lights on the rear of each floor. This was easier to install, less expense, and no one else will know otherwise. The work is well in process, so I’ll get some photos of the result and and them along. |
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