Miniflyer

Hi guys.
I'm working on an Avonds F-15 and am fressing it up "all scale", including the lighting system. After about 2h of F-15 on the discovery channel, i goi it figured out as below, but i'd appreciate for someone who knows his way around the real thing to confirm or correct me.

- Position lights green/red at wingtips (2x): steady
- Anticollision red in wing root leadingedge(2x): flashing
- Anticollision red in right vertical fin: flashing
- Formation light white in left vertical fin: steady

Did i get something wrong?
Thanks a lot
Cheers

MLaCoste

My Feedback: (15)

Nope, you got 'em right (unless you're going to add taxi/ landing lights on the nose strut). Make sure to post some pics when you're done.

Mokulele

My Feedback: (9)

There are also lights that light up the external L&R stabs just like commercial airliners. These are on the fuselage and centered on the stab.
Larry

Miniflyer

Mark, in fact i will be adding Taxi/landinglight, but i will be deviating from scale in those slightly....both will be on upon gear down and locked, as i am using them to confirm down and locked and want as much light as possible so i can see them early on the approach.

Larry, could you give me a heads up on where exactly those are located? I've looked all over the 1/32 revell plane, and also found no hint to them on "wings".

Thanks for the quick feedback, i'll get pics as soon as i get the homebuilt powerplants up and running and i finish up the rest of the bird. Finishing will be the "Gulf Spirit" commanders plane of Eglin, by the way....
Regards
Hank

MLaCoste

My Feedback: (15)

Hmmm........not on mine, maybe on the "E"'s

Pyolet

Here's the flood lights that Larry spoke of. Part of MSIP upgrade. Woody.

Miniflyer

OK, since i'll be doing the early C i won't be needing those . Looks like that is a late version (dark scheme), or even an E.

Hey mark, "yours"? Did you work on the Soesterberg F-15? (Tailcode "CR"). My buddy made the Soesterberg "Wolfhounds" Eagle...
Great pic by the way....shows some excellent tail detail i'll be needing. Thanks. Awww, these engines look sweet...

MLaCoste

My Feedback: (15)

Hi Hank-

Yes, I was stationed at Soesterberg AB from 86-90. I was the DCC on 79-0028 (not 79-0027 as pictured above) in 1989, but have had my hands in every single airframe assigned to the 32nd. We had late model C's & 3 D's. I will be doing an F-15 soon, and she'll be done up as my jet.

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

This is my tat......Red, White, & Blue to the bone, and F-15 in my soul.

grinder-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Cool tat. Seems to be an trend. I'll see your Eagle and raise you one Hornet.

My tat with my sons b'days added.

Grinder.

Mokulele

My Feedback: (9)

Miniflyer,
The Hawaii Air National Guard has the A (1976) & B (1974) models and they are all fitted with the tail light. As Pyolet mentioned they were a part of the MISP upgrade I believe initiated about 15 years ago. I think the C & D models were done at the same time. The best picture I could find is in "The Great Book of Modern Warplanes" page 158. There is an F-15 night shot which shows the tail light real well. I was mistaken about the location being centered as it is about 1/4 of the stab back from the LE.
Larry

JPOFL

My Feedback: (36)

Hi Guys
I have atached some pictures of the F15 Lighting.
I make custon light sets but I can't discuss it here on RCU.
PM me for more details.

Enjoy Paul JPOFL[sm=idea.gif]

JPOFL

My Feedback: (36)

Hope thaat helped.
Paul JPOFL

Miniflyer

Hi JPOFL
Thanks for the great pics. I won't be adding the tail floods, but the rest will all be there.... for the custom lighting: thanks for the offer, but i have most of the components ready and in the shelf. Lights from Sandor (great stuff), a flashcontrol homemade from an electronics kit available through conrad, and reflectors gathered out of flashlights in scale sizes...will be coming up with a "special suprise" for the landing light, but am having some big problems there at the moment....
I'll be putting some together in the next time and keep yall posted

flyrcjets

My Feedback: (30)

Miniflyer,
just to let you know, I used Electro Dynamics Hi Intensity lights for the two nose gear lights. They are SO bright you cant stare at them. In the pics I don't have the red lens cover's on the inboard lights.
Anyway, You'll love the lights on the F15! Good Luck , Kevin

Miniflyer

Kevin, i've seen those, too.....but found something even better. That exactly is the "small suprise" i was talking about *smile*. I do have mayor problems with that at the moment, thoug, and as long as i don't have a solution that makes this setup "useable" i don't really want to show and tell.

flyrcjets

My Feedback: (30)

Cool! that sounds good..the EL set up turns the nosegear lights on when the gear comes down. Works great! Hope to see your setup later! Kevin

KFalcon

My Feedback: (18)

Kevin the lights look awesome!

flyrcjets

My Feedback: (30)

Thanks Kenny..here's something for you!

KFalcon

My Feedback: (18)

[sm=thumbup.gif]

JPOFL

My Feedback: (36)

Allow me to spring your surprise.

They are called Luxeon Emitters 1watt to 5watt. We here at JPOFL have been working
on these since they came out. The brigest thing we have seen yet. But they have two problems
with our applaction in the Aircraft.
One is the give off alot of heat and have to be mounted on a heat sink. The 5watt draws 750mah
at 4volts. Heat sink will need to be almost 3/4 inches in dia to keep from blowing the emitter.
Two they need a steady power voltage regulated.

I have worked out the problems and will have these on the market for superman

These are very costly with all you need to make them work.

If you are working on something else we all would like to here it.

Paul JPOFL

Miniflyer

JPOFL
Dang, you caught me there . 5W luxeon on the landing light is what i have planned. Worked out the power supply problem, and am trying to get the heat problem solved now.....i don't want to be running the huge heat sinks. The 1W are now under control without sinks at full power, just got to get some solutions on the large one....will be running some tests as soon as i get the new set of emitters.

I found one big error in your post, though.....the 5W is specified with 6,82V at 750mAh, with a max of 8,3V per emitter. The 4V units are the 3W types...
I do agree that they are costy, 25 euro per emitter for "non-bussiness-type buyers", however the gear around it is just a few cents, at least i want to get it fixed using just that....

Are you running the 5W in your system? If yes, did you de-rate them to 4V to get rid of the heat or are you running custom sinks?
I am currently onto Emitters that are slightly bigger, and are running a few watts on xenon without the big heat developments....if i find something there then that will be more practical than the luxeons.
Regards

JPOFL

My Feedback: (36)

Miniflyer
I think the emitters are the way to go. And Yes you are right the 5watt are rated at a higher voltage.
That is because they are wired in series and not parelle. Personaly I thing the 5watt is to much light for the
nose light, and too much trouble getting a heat sink to work well and be small, to work on the nose light.
You might want to try using copper for a heat sink it transfures the heat faster and will allow a smaller
heat sink. Note on the F15 nose light try to make a small platform out of alum or copper and use the nose
strut itself for the heat sink. If the strut is Alum. it should work, just make sure the nose light is off in the up
position.
Note. When you get your 5watt units don't try to light it for more then a few seconds without a heat senk or it will blow. and 25 euro shot just like that.

Also we will be phazing out the true strobes in our light sets and I will be converting the strobe to 5watt emitters and strobeing them with a electronic devise.

These are but a few of what we are working on for all our Jet Pilots out there.
More to come.
Good Luck and Your F15 looks like it is comming along just fine.
Is it not funny how much time we use to do something like playing around with lights for our
Big Boy Toys.

Miniflyer

JPOFL
thanks for all the remarks and tips.
Here is the way i am planning on going: 1W emitters on all lights, excluding landing light. These are hardly visible in daytime conditions on the real jets, so the 1W will be putting out close to scale light.
The landing light, however, usually blows you right away at 5 miles out...these things are so bright on the real thing, and personally i think the 5W will be close to the wow you get in reality from what i've seen with the 5W i blew a few days ago (6,0V, no heat sink, less than 20seconds, but great light). A heat sink is a must i realized there, but the instructions only gave a slight beware for heat development.....
Copper is probably a great tip, and i'm looking into a way to "hide" the heat sink in a scale fashion....will let you know when the new emitters arrive if it works.
You are right, we do "waste" a lot of effort on lights and such, but personally i think it is well worth it. I will be using the landinglight as a "down and locked" indicator for all 3 legs, so i can cycle the gear on the downwind without having to worry about one not being down.... i'll see early on approach if this is the case. Thats another reason for going all the way on 5W instead of settling on 1 or 3......see it early and clearly. Havent spent enough money blowing 5W for me to give up
Pics and progress to follow...

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

You guys might want to couple your heatsinks to the led device with some thermally conduictive grease, or a (better) thermally conducting pad. It makes the heatsink work A LOT better, all things being equal. I might be able to lay my hands on a few square inches if you want.

JPOFL

My Feedback: (36)

Mr_Matt
You are right I assumed that he was useing a Conductive Epoxy. That is what I use to
encapsulate and Potting the emitter to the heat sink.

The stuff I use is made by MG Chemicals it's called Black-Epoxy Thermally Conductive
832TC-450ml.

Good Luck.
Paul JPOFL