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1/144 Korean Air 747-8 Intercontinental LED lights


phil1

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1/144 Korean Air 747-8 Intercontinental LED lights

 

For a while now I have planned a civilian airliner build with the hope of using LED lights.  I am aware there isn't many LED builds out there and none which I can follow step by step so it's going to be a huge learning curve. Although I feel a confident modeller I have no experience with electronics, therefore I had to go out a buy a LED kit with battery, circuit board and several nano LED's courtesy of magic scale modelling.  They have a section on civilian airliners and supply LED sets for any Airbus, the Boeing 747 (no variant stated) and Concorde.  The cost of a set is quite expensive and depending on which way you would like to position your aircraft the cost goes up if you want to add landing or taxi lights. 

 

The set arrived a week or so after ordering from Belgium

 

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My aircraft is going to be in an in flight position, so I didn't click the option for taxi or take off/landing, however this is what i received:-

 

* Cabin Lights (upper and lower deck) 

* Cockpit Light

* 2 x Fuselage rotating beacons

* 3 x flashing strobes for wing edge and tail

* 2 x Taxi Lights 

* 4 x Landing lights

 

What was apparent straight away that all the lights received were plain white including the rotating fuselage beacons and I was also expecting green and red navigation lights.  I think its possible to paint the LED bulbs to get the desired colour effect but I don't know how good/bad it will look. It's also possible to use the taxi lights as the missing navigation lights or logo lights however this was not what I was expecting for the money I paid.  

There is a website called 'small scale lights' which does nano LED's in different colours that look like they may be compatible. 

 

The kit is the Zvezda 747-8I. I'd always put Zvezda ahead of Revell as I think they are far superior in quality. Revell kits always seem to come with excess plastic. especially on the more fragile parts of the kit like the fan blades. Whats also apparently obvious about the kit is the sheer size of the aircraft even when compared to large twin engined kits like the a350 and 787.  The 747-8I is also quite a stretch on the classic jumbo.

 

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However, what doesn't come with the Zvezda kit is the flightdeck. This one I've salvaged from a a350 and because of the taper in the 747s upper fuselage the cockpit is a lot more narrow. Below is 2 a350 cockpits with the one on the left the altered one. 

 

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The flight deck goes further back on the 747 but with a very limited view it may not be worth it. As my aircraft is going to be in flight i might use the cockpit light underneath the control display to try and show some illumination from the LCDs. 

I've also ordered some 1/144 scale generic seated pilots from 'Ozmods', I'm expecting them to be miniscule

 

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On first set up I have to admit the cabin lights look great (fuselage is just taped together at this point). A slight problem is that It is possible to see the individual lights inside the fuselage from certain angles, somehow i have to find a way of masking the light source from the human eye but still allowing a high degree of illumination (similar to a real airliner with the lights guarded by the overhead bins)

 

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I would recommend changing the white LEDs with red/green as needed. Painting them with clear red or green might work, but the LEDs are probably so bright that a thin coat of paint will have very little effect. If you end up using different LEDs, be sure you connect them with the correct polarity, otherwise they won’t light up.

 

David

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17 hours ago, phil1 said:

A slight problem is that It is possible to see the individual lights inside the fuselage from certain angles, somehow i have to find a way of masking the light source from the human eye but still allowing a high degree of illumination (similar to a real airliner with the lights guarded by the overhead bins)

Would a sheet of translucent paper help - something like tracing paper or baking paper? It might give the diffusion you need?

Edited by Back in the Saddle
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12 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Would a sheet of translucent paper help - something like tracing paper or baking paper? It might give the diffusion you need?

hello mate, that sounds like a very good idea but today I've actually found a solution. I've purchased some thin strips of plastic to cover the lights but still allows enough light to emit out, its quite a nice effect I'll get some pics on the next couple of days

 

phil

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Does anybody know if Revells 747-100 50th anniversary contains the cockpit like its 747-8I release??? I plan to do the classic at some stage but I thought I could use this part for this project?

 

Phil

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20 minutes ago, phil1 said:

Does anybody know if Revells 747-100 50th anniversary contains the cockpit like its 747-8I release??? I plan to do the classic at some stage but I thought I could use this part for this project?

 

Phil

It is the original 1974 tooling, so no Phil.

 

Instruction sheet here

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This is smart, I presume you’re going to run cabling through the stand? Do they give you a rough guide on how to run the cables through the air frame with the light kit or is it a complete DIY thing, like “here’s the lights have fun!”?

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On 12/31/2019 at 9:39 AM, Timski1 said:

This is smart, I presume you’re going to run cabling through the stand? Do they give you a rough guide on how to run the cables through the air frame with the light kit or is it a complete DIY thing, like “here’s the lights have fun!”?

that's the idea mate but there's certainly no guide, its pretty much plan 5 stages ahead before i do anything

 

I'm going to remove the inside wingbox area just to give me some access into the fuselage. hopefully then have all the wires come out through a smaller gap where Zvezda allow you to insert a stand, then as you say have the wires run down the back of the stand - piece of cake! 

 

phil

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On 12/30/2019 at 10:35 PM, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

It is the original 1974 tooling, so no Phil.

 

Instruction sheet here

typical! although it seems Ian is going to come to the rescue with a spare 747-8 flight deck

 

i would have got away with the one I've got but I need to guarantee the best possible fit when putting the fuselage together

 

I think I'll still get the 747-100 for a future project

 

phil

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Even once the fuselage finally goes together I think I will still need plenty of space to work in so I've removed the area around the wing box (another good reason to go with a zvezda kit). At some point I will have to make a decision to permanently attach the base with the wings or leave it in case I need any future access, for this I will have to pray for a snug fit, 

 

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the 747-8i cockpit (revell) arrived today courtesy of Ian. I'm glad as you can see with the amended a350 one its completely the wrong shape! the 747 one has the extra chair, the higher control display and the door is obviously in the right place. 

 

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I'm thinking of putting the LED cockpit light underneath the control display rather in the room itself as the aircraft is meant to be inflight, if it works the light source should look like its emanating from the LCDs on the controls. The plastic is thin so it should work as long as i mask off the rest of the area.

 

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the fuselage lights 

 

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covering the lights with a sheet of thin plastic should blur out the floodlight effect

 

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This is the arrangement I've went for. I'm going to get some thick black masking tape to cover some areas as i don't want light emanate from the floor.

 

I'm now thinking painting the inside of the plane black was a mistake, but I'll see what the result looks like

 

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Forgive the KLM blue, wasn't quite the 'light blue' tamiya I was after

 

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The areas to be masked off are the dead space where you find the crew bunks sometimes where the upper deck ends (see Executive Decision) at the rear and at the front bottom section (avionics bay)

 

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