Model Railroading > Color of Surface Mounted LEDS

I want to have working lights on crossing gates In HO. These are the three small lights on a gate with the one on the end of the gate just lighted and the other two flashing when activated. (These are not the crossing buck flashers.) 

I can get very tiny surface mounted LEDs that light up red and wire them like the prototype. But as you may know, though they light up red when activated, when unlighted they are a tan color. How can I hide the tan color when the gates are not activated?

Can I paint them red with Tamyia clear red paint?  I assume the prototype is a lamp with a bulb on the inside. Perhaps I can utilize a SM LED that lights clear with a clear red around it?

Another question: Can I file surface mounted LEDs like I can with regular LEDs?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erswhilepublications.com



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/21 13:31 by wabash2800.

Victor, A few years back we were having issues on the rear of our busses due to the hot wet conditions and light bulbs. Litterally one light a week would fail on both MCi's. So we experimentd with LEDs thinking sealed units would last longer, which they did 100 fold. But what we learned is if you put a white LED behind a red lens, the brightness of the LED would wash out the red and show white. Same with amber, So we ended up using red on red, amber on amber and so forth. SO yes, I believe you can use Tamalya red on red LEDS without issue.

Thanks Tom; I'll stick with the red LEDs.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/21 16:14 by wabash2800.

Victor,

The pic shows a gate I added arm lights to with surface mount LEDs painted with Tamyia Clear Red.  Works great!

Barry Draper

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That's great Barry. Do you have any photos of the surface mounted LEDs on the crossing arms when they are not lit?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Anyone have a bead on a good SML to recommend for HO scale? I have a pair of the Tomar flashers and gates still sealed in a box - may make for a nice, late winter project to get them done up.

I have found no problems with Tamiya clear red paint over red LEDs, and they look much better unlit or lit on my crossing gates-it also helps reduce the glaring brightness a bit too. Evan Designs has been a great supplier of prewired surface-mount LEDs for me, and they have many different sizes. Also, for the kind of grade crossing light sequences you mention on the gate LEDs, I can recommend Azatrax for a great grade crossing system with fantastic customer support too.
Good luck with your project, and looking forward to photos!

Thanks Ntrainfan. I found these on eBay. They are 1 mm x .5 mm and red with flexible magnet wire. I suppose I should test them before attaching them to my crossing gates!  I plan on painting them with clear red Tamiya paint. My signal maintainer friend is going to go ahead and build the circuit for me. I'm using NJ International's HO 1161 crossing gate assembly (A frame gates painted B&W). I am little disappointed that they aren't lighted on both sides and don't include signs, but I plan on adding those (though this particular model in the 1950s didn't have them). I suppose the Tomar models would be a bit more robust, though slightly out of scale.

Click here: C0402R 20pcs Pre-soldered 0402 SMD Led micro 0.1mm Copper Wired RED NEW | eBay



Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/21 19:25 by wabash2800.