This page is for illustrating various Branor Products and Projects

The latest development is a simple to use Microlight assembly that can place a tiny bright light in small models. It consists of a tiny Surface Mount bright white LED connected via fine enamel wires. The LED is mounted on a small piece of double sided tape to allow simple fixing to any surface.

The approximate size of the double sided tape holder is 10mm square but this can be further reduced by trimming carefully with scissors.

Resistors are supplied to allow operating from 5 to 12 volts DC at different brighnesses.

The bright white light can be modified by placing transparent coloured gelatine filters over the light. This allows effects like a warm incandescent bulb using an orange or yellow filter.

The LED takes very little current and a fresh PP9 battery should last about 20 hours continuous operation. Alternately, a mains plug power supply can be used.

Microlight Module                   Inserting Microlight into144 scale Dolls House             The illumination effect

A demonstration video of modelling with Microlights is available Watch

Why am I selling these illumination kits ?

After working continuously as an Electronic Engineer for 46 years I became retired (or so I thought) in 2007. I became a sole trader for the last year of full time employment as a contract engineer and I kept the contract option open for past employers who requested some part time help occasionally.

With time on my hands I revisited an old hobby of Model Railways. After about 2 years I had built a very detailed N gauge layout and then I decided to add illumination. Using techniques learnt during my development years I used plastic fibre optic cables to pipe light from white LEDs into small areas. This allowed the illusion of tiny lights like head lamps in cars to be made when the actual much larger light source was remote and hidden. I was pleased with the results and decided to share the idea by writing an article for a railway model magazine. I then found a problem that I could find no source of cheap fibre optic cable to help fellow modellers to buy the required parts. I spoke to a manufacturer of the fibre cable but they were not interested in selling small lengths to model enthusiasts. So then I thought, well, I'm a sole trader, why don't I buy relatively large quantities of the cable and White LEDs and sell them as kits. So, dipping into my life savings I bought an entire reel of fibre (over one and a half miles!) and many hundreds of White LEDs from China.

I do not expect to get rich from this venture and I do it mostly for fun. After 3 months I have only just broke even but now I have more fibre optic cable and white LEDs than I will ever need so the business is still running. My greatest joy is seeing the results that modellers get from using these kits. I hope to be able to publish some pictures of users results on this website. If you would like to send me a picture for publication utilising any of my kits please send to: brucepiggott@ntlworld.com

Cheers, and good luck with your modelling. Bruce (Retired? Electronic Development Engineer)

Endorsements:

The above two pictures show what can be done with white LEDs in buildings and and fibre optics in car headlights. This excellent modelling is by David Abbs in Cambridgeshire. Note how the optical fibres have been placed through the N gauge Mini to illuminate the headlights.

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Last modified: 11/25/09