SciFi Ship Lighting

I was wondering if there is anyone currfently building good interior, exterior, and navigation lighting for Star Trek Star ships?

Three people come to mind immediately

Don at Don’s Light and Magic - http://www.dlmparts.com/electronics.html

John at Madman Lighting - http://home.myfairpoint.net/johndavidcook/id7.html

Randy at Voodoo FX - http://www.voodoofx.com/fiberfx.htm

If one of them doesn’t have what you’re looking for, you might be better rigging it yourself

Monsters in motion has some lighting also

http://www.monstersinmotion.com

Also take a look at

http://www.trekmodeler.com/services/lighting_kit_refit1/lighting_kit_refit1.htm

They have both pre-built and DIY kits, although at the moment they aren’t taking any more orders for the pre-built kit because the demand has been so high.

Also take a look at the Hobbytalk forum on model lighting:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/forumdisplay.php?f=305

And Starship Modeler has a forum topic dedicated to lighting and electronics as well

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewforum.php?f=58

If you’re willing to do a little research (and a little trial and error) you can do your own lighting for a whole lot less. I’ve lit up a few of my models and if I can do it anyone can…seriously.

You can also find many lighting kits for many models at www.culttvman.com

But think about it carefully- I bought a highly advanced lighting kit for the 1/350 NX-01 Starship by Polar Lights- After looking at the huge mass of loose electronic components and reading the rather complicated and not particularly helpful instruction sheets, I sent the unopened kit back for a refund, which Mr. Iverson graciously provided. It was way beyond my abilities, and I am a very experienced modeller and an elecrical engineer. This thing also cost nearly $200 for maybe $50 worth of parts, and any mistakes on the modeler’s part could result in a critical failure. I’m sure if properly constructed and installed, it would make for a very impressive effect for this model, but I for one just did not feel confident about my skills being adequate.

I agree with Fly-n-hi- do your own lighting design and keep it simple.

Good to know, as I’ve been considering whether to buy kits or just make them myself.

Thank you one-and-all for your informartion it is greatly appreciated, Magoo