HELMSMAN FLASHING BEACON KIT
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Amongst several new items available from Helmsman Model Rail is a useful flashing beacon kit, suitable for locomotives, unpowered rolling stock and many other applications including road vehicles.
The kit consists of an orange 2mm lighthouse LED, a circuit board to power the flashing beacon and a bridge rectifier - although this is not needed for certain applications - together with full instructions. A small amount of soldering is required for best results, although with care it may be possible to use screw connectors instead.
I fitted it to an old 1:43 scale Land Rover languishing in a dismantled state in the spares box. A pilot hole was drilled in the plastic roof, then opened out to take the LED beacon.
The voltage required to power the circuit board needs to be greater than 3V, so I used a 9V PP battery. If used in a non-powered item of rolling stock the battery will need to be concealed somewhere, together with an on/off switch.
The unit can also be fitted to unpowered locomotives and rolling stock using the track current via pick-ups on the wheelsets. If these are not already factory-fitted you will have to fit these before installing the beacon unit.
If fitting the unit to a powered locomotive, you will need to dismantle the model and ensure that there is enough room to locate the circuit board and bridge rectifier, and also determine where the beacon is to be located.
Whichever method you choose, the result is a convincing bright flashing beacon with a steady rate of flash that also has a slight fade effect to give the impression of a rotating beacon. It
Amongst several new items available from Helmsman Model Rail is a useful flashing beacon kit, suitable for locomotives, unpowered rolling stock and many other applications including road vehicles.
The kit consists of an orange 2mm lighthouse LED, a circuit board to power the flashing beacon and a bridge rectifier - although this is not needed for certain applications - together with full instructions. A small amount of soldering is required for best results, although with care it may be possible to use screw connectors instead.
I fitted it to an old 1:43 scale Land Rover languishing in a dismantled state in the spares box. A pilot hole was drilled in the plastic roof, then opened out to take the LED beacon.
The voltage required to power the circuit board needs to be greater than 3V, so I used a 9V PP battery. If used in a non-powered item of rolling stock the battery will need to be concealed somewhere, together with an on/off switch.
The unit can also be fitted to unpowered locomotives and rolling stock using the track current via pick-ups on the wheelsets. If these are not already factory-fitted you will have to fit these before installing the beacon unit.
If fitting the unit to a powered locomotive, you will need to dismantle the model and ensure that there is enough room to locate the circuit board and bridge rectifier, and also determine where the beacon is to be located.
Whichever method you choose, the result is a convincing bright flashing beacon with a steady rate of flash that also has a slight fade effect to give the impression of a rotating beacon. It