The past few months, I've had no time for modeling due to a lot of "real life" obligations. I'm finally starting to get a little bit of time, and have used it for a couple of upgrade projects on my 1/24th scale In-ko-pah Railroad...
One of these upgrade projects was replacing the lights in my structures with LEDs. Originally I used grain-of-rice bulbs, which are cheap, easy to use, and fit into even very small, scale fixtures. Unfortunately they keep dying on me, rather mysteriously and inconsistently. Some have lasted for years, others need almost constant replacing.
I'm getting LEDs in several sizes from this source:
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html
If you want to see how I installed some of them, go here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting.html
So far I've only converted the lights in two structures, the rock shop and the bakery. I coated the LEDs in the rock shop with a bit of glossy white paint. This dimmed them slightly and gave them a somewhat warmer, soft glow. The lights in the bakery are a bit harsh, in part because there are so many. I may paint the LEDs in the bakery, or remove a couple of them, or both.
Here are some night photos so you can see how they look:
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3391/IMG_3391.jpg)
The rock shop is on the left, the bakery on the right:
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3390/IMG_3390.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3367/IMG_3367.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3397/IMG_3397.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3379/IMG_3379.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3393/IMG_3393.jpg)
One of these upgrade projects was replacing the lights in my structures with LEDs. Originally I used grain-of-rice bulbs, which are cheap, easy to use, and fit into even very small, scale fixtures. Unfortunately they keep dying on me, rather mysteriously and inconsistently. Some have lasted for years, others need almost constant replacing.
I'm getting LEDs in several sizes from this source:
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html
If you want to see how I installed some of them, go here:
http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting.html
So far I've only converted the lights in two structures, the rock shop and the bakery. I coated the LEDs in the rock shop with a bit of glossy white paint. This dimmed them slightly and gave them a somewhat warmer, soft glow. The lights in the bakery are a bit harsh, in part because there are so many. I may paint the LEDs in the bakery, or remove a couple of them, or both.
Here are some night photos so you can see how they look:
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3391/IMG_3391.jpg)
The rock shop is on the left, the bakery on the right:
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3390/IMG_3390.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3367/IMG_3367.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3397/IMG_3397.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3379/IMG_3379.jpg)
![](http://www.raydunakin.com/Site/IRR_Lighting_files/Media/IMG_3393/IMG_3393.jpg)