The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Let there by cliche!

So recently, thanks to a tutorial on the W.I.P. forums, I have been taught a way of lighting up the tiniest of miniatures. Due to my dire need to take modelling to ridiculous excesses, I thought it warranted further investigation. No! It doesn't involve the use of arcane fiber optics piped from a model's base, which was my original guess. (And a pain in the rear, to boot!)Rather, I have been introduced to a marvelous little piece of technology known as the SMT LED. What is an SMT LED? It's the most ridiculously tiny Surface Mounted Light Emitting Diode you've ever seen. About 1/5 the size of a normal 5mm LED, all told.Now, I solder like a monkey, but apparently even I have the motor skills to bang this together. From this little fella...

You get loads of light!

Don't believe me?

The applications for this sort of thing are limitless - just imagine an orky battlewagon all lit up, or the driver's compartment illuminated my different colored gauges! Even lit Kustom Force Field Generators! (Which I am currently planning!) And they fit in the tiniest of places...

And you can do it in a variety of colors! I was in a sudden mood to start lighting some of my Daemonhunter dreadnoughts, and after about 15 minutes with a dremel and soldering iron I was able to put this together:

 

Dremelling a forgeworld item is not for the faint of heart, but you could do this to any dreadnought, any power klaw, anything large enough to fit these super-tiny lights! I'm working up the nerve to light an ork's bionik bonce at the moment. I might do it to Ghazzie's head for the sake of it. This wire is the wire I recommend using with these things. It's super-tiny and can fit wherever the LED can, and it's pretty cheap. Don't expect retail radio shack outlets to carry this - I had to order my batch online. I also grab most of my SMT LEDs off ebay - they can get a bit pricy (I got 50 of the blue ones for around ) but they're worth it!