Hey everybody.

Welp, for a first post, I hope this helps.  I'm no wizard, but I'm happy to share what I know and how I understand it.  I just completed this mini-series the other day specifically covering a couple questions raised here on what's involved with lighting a model.

From blacking out the interior, to mounting the lights, creating lightboxes and baffles, selecting a power supply, running wires, soldering, heat shrinking and everything in between; a ground-up tutorial using the Revell 30th Ann. Cylon Raider as an example. 

Note that this is the cheap and sloppy way to do it.  I am no expert in any of this.  I'm just not rich enough to afford lighting kits, so am learning all this as I go.

Total costs expected: 

1 can of black spray paint= $1.

up to 7 leds at .10¢ ea(ebay) = .70¢ (ebay)

up to 7 resistors at .01¢ea. (ebay)= .07¢

Power supply (yard sale) = $1

Heat shrink at $1/yd = ~.01¢

Solder at $1/tube - ~.01¢

Scrap piece of card stock and styrene = .10¢

~6" of fiber optic at $30/100' = ~.15¢

Subtotal = ~$3.04 so far. 

We'll round up and call it under $5 for all costs apart from the model kit.

one important note to kick off with.  There are two ways to wire: serial and parallel. 

Serial means the + from the power supply goes to the + of the 1st led. The - from that led goes to the next led's +, the - of which goes to the next + until the last led's - goes back to the power source -.  Benefit: you can use fewer resistors and/or each circuit of led's is the total of the power's voltage eliminating resistors completely.  Hair-pulling Moment: if one led dies, they all go out like old fashioned xmas lights. 

Parallel means the + and - from each led goes to the + and - of the power supply.  Benefit: one led dies, one led dies, the rest stay on.  Hair-pulling Moment: each led needs it's own resistor.  (oh no!)

This will make more sense as we go.  Ask any questions.  Correct any errors.  This Cylon gets parallel wiring.

Installment 1.

In the case of space ships, metal should not 'glow'. So it is important to black out the inside of the kit.  If not, the interior lights will give a soft shine to your model.  bad stuff.  If you want light to bounce around inside, spray with silver or gloss white next.

Using foil to block light can cause electrical issues, so paint is better. 

Analyze where the leds are going, how many and how you are going to power them -ext. or int., battery or wall wart.  Figure out how you want to connect the juice to the model.  In this case, I am creating several access ports for a wall wart as I want the option to film this from several angles.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1drqnHG6RVg[/youtube]

Coming up: Doing the power supply numbers and resistoring those leds.