"Light Your Tripod!" Topic

From the first moment I saw the All Quiet on the Martian Front Tripods I thought they just cried out to have some lights in them. Well, I figured out a way to do it!

How? Well, first, let me tell you that I know as much about electricity as your average 4-year old, so my method had to be very simple! Step one was to find a self-contained power and light kit that would fit inside the head of a tripod. No way was I going to try and have a remote power supply or lights and then try to send wires or fiber optics through the narrow legs of a tripod! A very little searching on-line found exactly what I was looking for:

This beautiful little set includes a battery, battery-holder, switch and LED light for about 5 dollars. The provided light was a bit too small so I got a bigger one for another couple of bucks. It's all available from here: link

Now, how to mount it? Well, the light itself is simple. Just drill a hole of the proper size through the nose of the tripod.

A little drilling, a little clean-up and it's ready.

I toyed with the idea of making another hole and poking the button of the switch through the body of the tripod, but I decided I would just leave the top of the head loose and access the button and the battery that way. The pegs in the top of the head fit very tightly into the holes in the lower part of the head. I wanted to loosen that up, but not too much. A little careful drilling did the trick.

After that, it was just a matter of hooking the wires of the LED up to the wires of the switch/battery and stuffing the whole thing into the head of the tripod with the light poking through the hole. Oh, I strongly recommend finishing all your painting before mounting the light!

And voila!

I have no idea how long the batteries will last, but they are easily replaceable and cheap and I keep them turned off when not in use. Sadly the apparatus is too large to fit in the head of a scout tripod, but I've got a lead on a smaller one.

And no "Rudolph" jokes, please!

Sweet!

Great Idea, did you select regular, nano, pico? I bought that set of batteries for 10 for about $17. USD LED's consume so little energy, the model might wear out first.

I knew someone would do this. ;)

That is really great stuff, and thanks for the how-to shots, and link. Much appreciated!

Come on Baby, light my tripod.

You could add magnets in order to secure the tops as well. Less worry and fiddley-ness.

Pure wizardry! Well done.

How cool is that! Nicely done, Scott!

Very nice! Now I wish I hadn't already built and painted mine…maybe I should buy some more Assault Tripods…

really cool and clever. Wish I had thought of it.
Now….what else can I add it to? IR…..

Most excellent

You might also check out model railroad lighting kits for smaller sized lights for the scout tripod.

Jim

That's very clever, and the result looks great!

Doug

I, for one, welcome our illuminated Martian overlords!

Well done!

Perhaps we could borrow sound technology from the Model RRers as well.

Just an update on the battery life. I left one of them turned on at my table for the entire 4 days of Historicon with no noticeable dimming of the light. So for standard game usage, they ought to last a long time.

I responded to a call for 'lights' on LAF on the 15th of last month.

These are indeed KEWL. However, my reply was to a thread of a fellow who'd painted the 'window' black.

As I said then, shiny black has a nicely menacing shark-eye quality to it.

Doug

Scott:
Sorry to ask a dumb question, how did you make the light red?
Also, what size did you finally get for the light?

Thanks,
Jorge

Does the light flash rapidly (strobe-like) when the tripod is firing?

If I were to do something like that, I would probably use a small dual-function laser pointer with strobe capability.

Dan

Jorge,

I got 3mm LEDs and they come in a variety of colors, so I just got the red ones.

Dan, The light does not flash, although for my wrecked tripods I got ones that flicker.

TMP link

That's unbelievable work! Definitely inspiring.

Dan

Thanks!!!