Creating Old-Style Model Street Lights with Martin Tärnrot
Martin TärnrotDescription
Modeler Martin Tärnrot will demonstrate his technique for making model street lights in the old style with wooden poles. The material required is 2.5 mm PVC tubing, 0.7 mm brass tubing, SMD type LED lights with copper wires, and the lamp housing.
To start, Martin gives the tubing some surface structure using a coarse sanding paper. He sands downwards along the tubing to create a wood-like surface structure. He then spray paints it brown with a light misting of matte black. Once dry, he cuts the pole to length, 105 mm each, and drills a 0.7 mm hole in the base of the pole for the brass tubing. The brass tubing is cut to 50 mm lengths and the lamp diffuser is cut from the PVC tubing in 1.5 mm lengths.
The first step in assembling the model street lights is feeding the copper wire through the lamp housing and painting the inside of the lamp housing with white acrylic paint. This doubles as an electrical insulator. Then he feeds the wires through the brass tubing. He glues the LED and the diffuser in place and feeds the wire through the PVC tubing.
For finishing touches, Martin paints the lamp housing and the rod with white, black, and a bit of brown paint for a warm grayish tone. He then cuts the mold lead off and files it down with a motor grinder. The metal cap on top of the wooden pole is made from dried dots of scenic glue painted with the same warm gray color. To install the model street lights, he drills a 2.5 mm hole in the layout, feeds the wires through, and sets the poles in place with fast-set glue.
For more on enhancing your scenes with model train lighting like creating nighttime model railroad lighting, visit the Model Railroad Academy archives.
Hello. Well, welcome to a Model Railroad Academy video. In this video we will model street lights, the old style with wooden pole. Here are the street lights we're going to model. This is a very common street light with a wooden pole. The material required for this is a 2.5 millimeter PVC tubing, 0.7 millimeter brass tubing, SMD type LED with the copper wires, and the lamp housing. This can either be scratch built, or like this, a costing from 187.SE. We're starting off by giving this PVC tubing some surface structure. For this, I'm using a coarse sanding paper. this engraving a wood like surface structure. Once done, we fit the tubing on to a barbecue stick. And now we're going to spray this first, cover it all with a brown spray paint, and then just mist on some matte black. So it gets kind of stained with the black. Once dry, I cut the pole to length. I cut them to 105 millimeters, which corresponds well to the actual height in age old scale. Now, let's drill a 0.7 millimeter hole for that brass tubing. The brass tubing is cut to 50 millimeter length. Use only light pressure to avoid flatten the tubing. The inner hole in the brass tubing and needs to get widened a bit. I use a pin to do that. With that done, I make the inner hole conical using a 0.7 millimeter drill. This way is the simplifies insertation of the copper wires later. The lamp diffuser is cut from the PVC tubing to 1.5 millimeter length. Again, do not put too much pressure on the razor blade. Instead roll it back, and forth, and let the razor blade do its job. Okay. Now we got all of the piece parts in place. We can now start the assembly. It starts by feeding the copper wires through the lamp housing, like this. I then paint the inside on the lamp housing using white acrylic paint. This layer of paint also act as a electrical insulator. I feed the wires through the brass tubing. I place a drop of fast set glue onto some surface. And from there, I take a quarter drop onto the surface where the LED Center it properly and check function. Glue the diffuser in place using fast set glue as well. Insert the brass tubing into the costing and fix that with some fast set glue. Excessive glue can be removed using a cotton swab. Now, feed the copper wire through the PVC tubing. Let's now paint the lamp housing and the rod in white, black, and a bit of brown to give a warm grayish tone. Now, I glue this in place onto the PVC tubing also using fast set glue. Cut the mold lead off, and trim using a motor grinder. Now, paint second layer of gray paint. The metal cap on top of the wooden pole is made from scenic glue. I drop glues out onto a plastic surface. Paint that when it's dry with the same gray color, and then I glue it in place on top of the pole using the same type scenic glue. Time to install the lights. Drill a 2.5 millimeter hole into your landscape. Feed through the wires, and then fix the pole using fast set glue into the landscape. I hope you liked this video about street lights. If you did, please consider to become a premium member, here on Model Railroad Academy, and gain access to the premium content. See you in there.
What, exactly, are the lamp housings? What are the dimensions for O scale? Where can they be purchased?
What, exactly, are the lamp housings? Where can they be purchased?