"Working Streetlights for wargames" Topic

I'm aware that in 20mm scale, model railways are an excellent source of scenic items for wargamers.

I'm also aware that many diorama builders use LEDs for interior lighting, streetlights, strip-lighting etc.

What I'd really like to do is have modern, working streetlights, operated from a battery and a switch cunningly hidden in a nearby piece of scenery, all on a small "base" that I can pick up and move and re-position anywhere like the rest of my scenery every time i play a different wargame. So the light, the wiring, the battery, and the scenic battery "compartment" are all modelled onto one (say) 50mm square base that just looks like part of a modern street layout. I can therefore put half a dozen down anywhere I want on my wargames table to give atmosphere in skirmish games and switch them on or off individually.

Has anyone ever heard of this, or seen it done? Or is this just desperate wishful thinking?

I have not seen one but it's a neat idea. If you had a streetlight next to a mailbox or Garbage bin to hide the battery and switch…

I have seen this done.

If you do a whole building with sidewalks and the lamps on the sidewalks, you can wire it so that the switch and battery is in the building. Depending on the LEDs and the Lightpost you get, you may be able to use a lithium flat battery the size of a penny.

You would not neccessarily have to hide any wires. Back when I was a small lad (30 years ago… Yikes) one of the German Model RR companies did a liquid metal paint that worked like wires, except you could simply paint it over to make it invisible. Not sure if that is still around (quick search on the Internet did not bring anything up), but maybe your local Model RR store knows if that kind of "paint" is still around!

Cheers,

Burkhard

Ditto has a valid point: it is quite a bit of work to achieve, and it can be done, but will you like it/use it for gaming? Will it be worth your time, effort, and money? If the answer is, "Yes," then press onwards. Try setting up a game table, small area only, and use a low-power LED flashlight to see if you like the effect; then try several low-power LED flashlights, to get a better idea of how much (little) light you will have to play by, to see if it works, before you invest so much effort.

When I was in High School, I painted a section of my parents' basement gray (floor, walls, ceiling), hung sheets, to block out the rest of the room, and I used oil lamps for lighting, all to simulate what it would be like in a dungeon. It did not last long, as it was too dark to play our paper & pencil games. Your experience might be different. Good luck. Cheers!

I have experimented with some of the paint on conductive wires. I've used this stuff.

bareconductive.com

It's thick and needs to be painted on thick for it to work. I've also gotten some samples of the high end silver stuff. The price is crazy and it requires a heat gun to cure it. I had dreams of working out a system to paint wires onto the base coat of a figure and cover them with acrylic for an insulator. However, it would either be extremely expensive or too bulky.

you could just use copper tape and run that under the table like runs on a PCB. Then tap into it at specific points for all the various lights. With the right setup, you could run a few hundred LEDS on parallel from one power source that was stashed in a building or off table.

There was a kickstarter a while back that was selling modules for adding a bunch of leds to vehicles and terrain. It was obviously marketed at the 40k crowd and looked rather bulky to me.

Try Model Rail magazine if in the UK for ideas, hints and tips otherwise try these

kernowmodelrailcentre.com/category/562/Working_Street_Lights

modern ones are at the bottom.

newmodellersshop.co.uk/electronic-lights.htm

for ideas are hiding etc

LEDs are way too bright for street lights unless them make extremely low voltage ones that I am unaware of. A buddy of mine used early generation Tetra lights from GE. He stung them along side his 16 foot flat bed trailer and hooked up a 9V batter. He said it was so bright that he couldn't look at the lights at all!

LEDs should be great for interiors though.

Anybody know of low output LEDs?

LED's are current driven (this is the simple approach, not the best): hook up a rheostat/potentiometer, between them and their battery, in series, and you can dim them, as needed. Try it with a single LED, then try it with several, to make sure it works for you; the LED's should be wired in parallel to each other, but in series with the rheostat/potentiometer, to control all identically, avoiding voltage drops that will require a higher voltage power supply. Cheers!

A fine idea, however, the survivability of street lights, bulbs, gas mantles, gas mains, underground cables in the face of shelling and bombing is very suspect. Doesn't anyone recall the 'blackout'?, it was there for a reason, lights attract incoming.