Wolfman63

I have received many requests on how I am doing the fiber optic lighting on my 1/350 USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. This is a step by step on installing the fiber optic lines. This can be done on any model. The first step is to drill a hole where you want the light to be. I am using 0.5 mm optic lines. The holes are drilled with a 0.5mm drill bit and are at a 45* angle so the lines will be flush to the surface on the bottom side. The next step is to bend the fiber optic line at a 45* angle with a pair of round tip needle nose pliers. You will need to bend the lines first. If you install the line without pre-bending they will not sit flat to the surface. You want the line to stick up around .2" above the surface on the light side. This is done so that the surface can be painted and weathered first. Once the surface is painted/weathered the fiber(s) can be trimmed flush. To install the line, first make sure the line slides into the hole easily. The lines are glued in using acrylic gel medium. Do not use Cryo/superglue. The superglue is too stiff and causes the fiber optic line to become extremely brittle and crack easily. The acrylic gel dries clear and has some flex to it. This allows you to route/move the lines to the LED source without applying stress to the lines. I dip the entire end of the fiber into the gel and insert it into the hole. I then use a toothpick to make a nice fillet around the hole for strain relief. Finally a piece of tape to hold the line down into position until the gel cures. Here is the acrylic gel medium I use. It is available and many local arts/crafts stores. Here is a picture of the lines after the acrylic gel has cured: The lines are then placed in a bundle taped and trimmed flush. A piece of 7mm shrink sleeving is cut and a 5mm LED is inserted into the sleeving. The fiber optic bundle is inserted into the other side flush to the top of the LED. The sleeving is then shrunk. NOTE: be very careful and apply heat quickly to shrink the sleeving. If you hold the heat gun too long you risk melting the fiber optic lines. Finally apply power to the LED and admire your results. Here is a picture of the flight deck runway and foul line. This is over 250 feet of fiber optic lines and 4 LED's (1 blue and 3 white) In the picture I have not trimmed the lines flush since the deck still needs to be painted and weathered. Also due to the camera and light levels, the optic lights appear much brighter then actual. To show an example on using fiber optics and a micro LED, Here is the frensel lights for the carrier I made: I bought all my LED's from: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html All fiber optic lines were from: http://thefiberopticstore.com/ They have many sizes from 0.25mm up to 3.0mm I hope this information will help you if you want to illuminate your model. I am still learning tips and tricks for lighting, I will answer any questions that I can.

CVN-70 Project - All the fiber optic lines have been run and the LED's have been installed as the source. The pictures are the result. Note that I have not trimmed the fibers down yet since I need to paint and weather the deck before I can trim them flush. They do look very bright in the photo's due to the way the camera sees the light. Once trimmed the brightness will not be as bright. Coming in for a landing view:

So the runway and foul line optics have been laid and glued. Looks like I can light them with just 5 LED's. Runway in white and foul line in blue. Tonight I will run the bow lights then I need to route all the fiber optic lines so they are flat and aligned evenly. Hoping to have pictures of the deck lit up with LED's by weekend.

CVN-70 Project - All the fiber optic lines have been laid out. Starting to glue them down so I can route them. It's slow going. Have to do it in sections.

I have 2mm of clearance and if I lay them all flat, the thickest fiber is .75mm. The plan is to lay them flat like overhead pipes and cables. I also have 7 LED'S per bay to install. It's going to be tight but I believe I can fit them without too many problems.

CVN-70 Project - I finished the runway optic lines and halfway done with the foul line. Have about 28 more lines to run. I have quite the bundle. It's going to be a while to get them lines up and laying flat. Here is a preview of the lights (just used a table lamp to see how the pattern looks)

CVN-70 Project - After I cut off all the catwalks (have PE version) I put flight deck together and made sure it fit the hull. I then started the long process of drilling and routing the fiber optic deck lights. I have the rear approach line done and am working on the foul line. The approach line will use a white LED and the foul line will use a blue LED. I drilled the holes at an angle so the optic lines will lay flat. I also mount them sticking up. Once the deck is painted and detailed I will trim the optic lines flush. They will be nearly invisible until the lights are on. Once all the lines are installed I will make them look like overhead pipes then prime and paint. The hangar bay LED's will be mounted after painting. I will need to do the island before I install deck to hull so I can run the wires for the island lights.

Almost all of them are 1/48 scale. The F-4N and the KC-97 are 1/72 scale (done for friends) On my Pintrest link it has the scale and the kit manufacturer. If you have any one you are interested it, I can give you specifics. Thanks.

CVN-70 Project - After 5 attempts I finally figured out how to do the landing light "meatball" It's difficult to get a good picture due to the brightness but it does look cool. d

Here is a link to the many aircraft I have built over the last 10 years. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3661064452689.2128710.1457024256&type=1&l=178c523475 You do not need to be a Facebook member to view them. These include build pictures. There are 562 pictures showing details and completed builds. Enjoy.

Greetings, I have been doing plastic models for many, many years. Typically I build 1/48 scale aircraft and occasionally ships. I am in the process of building a 1:350 scale model of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier as it was during the 1983 World Cruise (as I was aboard the ship for the cruise). You can see many of my complete 1/48 scale aircraft at the links in my signature. Looking to share ideas and skills. Recently I have started to learn fiber optic lighting and the many ways to illuminate a model. Thanks.

Hangar Bay Details. Port walls Doorway details Forward tunnel and GSE area lighted Aft hangar bay walls Port hangar walls Looking aft from hangar bay 1 View from hangar bay 2 doorway Hangar deck completed (weathered and painted deck)

Fantail Details Here is the fantail with LED's and fiber optic lighting.

I am starting a 1/350 scale of the USS Carl Vinson as it was during the 1983 World Cruise. I will be detailing the hanger bay, all 86 aircraft, modifying the island and hull to match the timeline and ship. It will also include illuminating many areas like flight deck, Island, hanger, and catwalks. It will be using 14 LED's and over 400 feet of fiber optics. Goal is to have it completed by December. The first challenge is to add the "as-built" sponsons. She only had the original sponsons for a short time. While there is limited photos (online and personal) for these I have been able to replicate them. I have the port forward and starboard aft sponsons mounted and am working on the port aft double-decker sponson. Here are the aft sponsons roughed in Front port sponson Front starboard sponson