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Here’s a small work-in-progress Hogsmeade Station from the world of Harry Potter. It’s an actual station in the real world but modified for the film adaptations of the books. My version may have started out as the JW Lockwood Estate set but was heavily modified and rebuilt into the train station, along with other spare parts added. Wiring is done with universal LED’s powered by a spare Lego 9v train speed regulator. I had originally picked up a soldering kit to fix the old 9v track wire connector parts (cheaper than buying new old stock) and decided to give LED’s a go as they would be easier to work into lamp posts than Lego 9v 2×1 light bricks. Wiring is done as “plug and play” so that the layout can change as the design progresses. Will look great when I do a train ride video later this summer of all my Lego HP and train stuff.
Looks great! I love the lighting. Maybe you can work in an old signal too!
I’m reeeeeeally interested to learn what you learn during the refinement of the lighting system on this project. I have one dream project that will require lighting as a key part of the presentation.
If I find an old signal, sure. I can wire it in. For now, those LEDs are small enough I might be able to tinker with some more bricks. 😉
Thanks. It’s pretty straightforward, once you do one solder joint. Then it’s repetitive. Main things are to pick a LED that’s the right size and decide if you want to do AC universal like I did or go with cheaper DC with the red/black wire management. These “PICO” LEDs were by Modeltrainsoftware. I drilled through the lamp post part let the LED stick up inside the clear Lego head-shaped globe. I had about a 25% fail rate of accidentally drilling off center but I learned after getting the LED’s that I could have picked a much smaller drill bit. Dab of hot glue at the bottom end hole keeps the wire from slipping out without heating the LED at the top. Another trick is that the company sells tiny male/female plugs so you can make everything plug in play and not worry about a permanent layout. Overall, it was fun and easy, much cheaper I think than using the old Lego 9v lamp bricks and 9v wires like I did for the big King’s Cross Station MOC (though that was worth it for the incandescent lighting effect I was looking for). I’d say go ahead and get a soldering kit, some of those PICO or similarly sized LED’s and have some fum testing your dream project. 🙂
Freehand because I don’t have a drill press. I set the lamp shaft on some blocking and the electric drill/screwdriver leveled on its side and carefully tapped in a little at a time to not get stuck or melt/warp the plastic. Made sure it was lined up on center. Pulled out and removed the waste every 1/8″ or so and went back in with the drill bit, like how a contractor drills for caissons in the earth. Ended up going in at both ends since it was longer than the bit but I was precise in lining up the holes. Drill bit could have been much smaller since I later ordered “Pico” sized LED’s.
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