WWII airfield lighting simulation

I've had a dream for decades of building a WWII airfield with Drem lighting. Suspected fibre-optics was the way to go but did nothing about it. Now it's available.

It will have a complete Class 'A' airfield Drem Mk.II control panel with dimming and lamp failure indicators.

Contact lighting too.

All we need is a building to install the project - Aix Archive HQ needed urgently.

www.bakatronics.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=117

www.bakatronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=705

Heck, with the pulsing fire modules you can build a QF Decoy site too!

Not keen on the super brightness though, needs toning down for scale.

To be honest, looking at those kits their awfully over engineered for what they do I shall talk to a friend of mine at work who's a microelectronics whizz. He could probably program an arduino board to control the entire runway lighting scheme from one chip.

Yes, but selling in modular form gives modellers flexibility to meet their requirements and makes more money!

Well I was thinking more for a specific AIX project rather than mass marketing

Carnaby;80542 wrote:

I've had a dream for decades of building a WWII airfield with Drem lighting. Suspected fibre-optics was the way to go but did nothing about it. Now it's available.

It will have a complete Class 'A' airfield Drem Mk.II control panel with dimming and lamp failure indicators.

Contact lighting too.

A replica of this would be good to see:







PB

Hi

I've been an electronics engineer for 35 years now and what you probably want to do is relatively 'simple' these days, well, provided you have delved enough into electronics and programming. As usual there are two main issues:

1. What do you want to do? Surprisingly this is much harder to write down on paper than it is to imagine. Many projects go awry because people can't understand why their 'fantasy' didn't emerge in reality. Knowing what you want to do will determine the method and technology required (and ultimately control the cost). It's quite possible that what you 'want' could be achieved by simple switches and LEDs (My dad's model railway points were controlled by a Lancaster Bomb Selection panel, I realise now, didn't believe him at the time... where did he put it?......).

2. To an experienced person things are always 'simple', that's the talent their experience gives them. You can get 'microprocessor development' boards but that isn't all of the story by a long chalk. Don't underestimate the task, if you have written a clear specification you can get several different opinions on how you can achieve it, then pick the best one.

(Incidentally, you might want to check on the viewing angle that a fibre-optic light gives you before you buy....)

James

Nice to see such a system is available, perhaps a possibility to add some peri-track lights along my dio ... ???

Hi, Im an ex film special effects technician and model maker, if i can assist in information please ask.
If you use Nylon fishing line you can get the light to flow through that as a cheap substitue for fibre optics, if you heat up the end with a naked flame, it will polish it. If you dome the end it will give a wider veiwing angle.
If you need a lrger light tube use polycarbonate rods, and heat polish the ends on that as well.

A PICAXE module will be easier to program than an Arduino if you need it, its programmed in basic and the forum has some really helpful guys on it.

You could even go for miniature leds, surface mount ones are smaller than grain of wheat bulbs now and they come in a varieaty of colours.

hope this helps , like i said dont be a fraid to ask, if i can help i will.