Thinking of filling this cove with tailights, but not sure what material to use. My idea was to sandwich first the mesh, then red plexiglass sheet(1/8), then a peice of metal with the holes and lights set into that. Something like 6 lights equally spaced across working as banks of three on each side with thunderbird sequencers. Some of my concerns are maybe not being able to see the lights because of the interference with the mesh? Also, not sure on what material would be better traslucent (not see through), or transparent(see through). What do you guys think.
I think if you use plain transparent red it will look like you can see right through it and you'll just see a bright spot where the bulb is and the rest will look dim. Translucent plastic seems like it dims it down a lot because it diffuses it too much. How about putting a piece of clear prismatic lens behind the clear red plastic? They sell it in 2x2 foot squares to use for fluorescent light fixtures. If you could make some parabolic shaped reflector housings either shiny metal or painted white or silver, that'll get a lot more light out than just a bulb by itself. Maybe you could cut up a bunch of junkyard tail-light housings to get just the reflector and lamp holder parts out of them. There's tons of ugly old cars like Ford Futuras with massive tail-light assemblies in them in the junkyards.
how about a clear sheet of plexi with a light coating of testors candy apple red model paint. Can't see much when looking in at it, and it gives a real eerie glow when you hit the lights. Been using it for years on all my custom tail lights.
Like RusyBolts said, you're going to need to use some type off diffuser, otherwise you see all the lite fixtures and wires etc. I'd try the prismatic plexi behind the perf metal and the red behind that. Also, you can make frosted plexi in the bead blaster
kinda like Lee lenses? i have thought about this before and am glad you guys brought it up. i have a friend that runs a glass shop (and works for beer ) and at the time i ask him about it he couldnt get red plexi, just clear. what about tryin to heat it and make sort of a "bubble" lense?
on that note, look up the cat that did a tech on vacuum-forming plastic (lexan, iirc).... maybe get a one of kind lense to match the rig.
I think it is your head that is transparent! I would think with the room you have in there you could set it up with the translucent with some reflectors around the bulbs to intensify the light enough to still be functional through the mesh. What the hell do I know though I build Donkeys! Ha!
I don't know if they're nationwide, but there's a chain of stores around here called "Tap Plastics". They sell tons of acrylic (Plexiglass) or polycarbonate (Lexan), epoxy resin, stuff to make fiberglass with, etc. They have big bins full of scraps of plexiglass and lexan that they sell by the pound -- $1/pound the last time I was there. You might check the phone book to see if you have one around there. Pretty good place. They'll cut it to size for you pretty reasonably if you don't have the tools for it yourself. I usually cut plexiglass on a table saw with a carbide blade. When I made the tail-lights for my '54 Chevy flatbed pickup, I used 1/4" red clear plexiglass that I bought from Tap Plastics. The 1/4" is maybe a little too thick. The lights are a little dim. I just mounted some trailer lights behind the red plexiglass, but someday I'm going to redo it with some prismatic clear behind some 1/8" red plexiglass to brighten them up a little more. If the sun shines on the red plexiglass, you can see right through it and see the stuff behind it and it looks kind of cheap. That's why I want to try the prismatic stuff next time. And there's some bumper brackets behind the lenses that I should have painted black because you can see them a little bit through the lenses (they look like lighter colored rectangles).
Thanks for the input, I think I'll try the claear with the paint sounds the cheapest to try. I am going to make the housings reflective somehow. Rjp if that is your shoebox in your avatar I love that car and talked with you at Indy a few years back. Anyway thanks for the ideas. FRIZ
Im half retarded and kinda confused on what your gonna do. But just in case you didnt know, you can glue alluminum foil inside the tailight bezels to make them reflective.
you could use ruby red clear plexi and for a cheap diffuser between it and the lights, you could use one of the types sold to cover fluorescent lights in drop ceilings. They come 2x4 I believe, and they're pretty cheap. BTW, that bed is bitchin'!
If you're looking at the idea of painting the clear plastic, I might have a better alternative than that Testor's model paint! Testor's Candy Apple Red would likely be too opaque for what you want to do, and I have never had any luck with their transparent red. Got an airbrush? Know someone who does? Stop in at Leisure Time Pet and Hobby in Champaign and grab a bottle of Tamiya Acrylic Clear Red. Yes, it's acrylic (water based) paint, but it's waterproof when dry. Much better than the Testor's paint. Tamiya makes a number of "clear" paints that could be helpful for automotive detailing. A good clear coat over the acrylic paint could help insure it's longitevity, but I have no idea what would work best. Might be worthwhile to see if you could get some automotive urethane clear shot over the top. Just a thought. Tim D.
Get the regular lens material with the little piramid bumps on the back side. You can get it in sheets, when the lights flash it will project it sort of. But you need to put your lights in buckest with some sort of reflective material even if its just shiney silver paint on it if you want them to focus as seperate lights.
Look at some of the expensive vehicles that are out now. They combine exposed metal looking bezels with plastic covers. Some highlight each LED. Maybe a clear plastic cover vac-formed to have a crown with radiused perimeter over the grill - chrome plated with a piece of red plastic behind. The red plastic can be heated and blown to inflate thru the holes in the metal grill. Not easy but its an option. You could drop the clear cover and have the red plastic blown up thru the chrome grill. Look would be a modern twist of the billets that were added in the past. Put a diffuser of frosted platic behind to limit bulb burn.
RustyBolts has the key. That prismatic material they use in fluorescent fixtures is great. It's available in 2x4ft sheets at any home center. I sandwiched it with 1/8" red plexi and it lights up brighter than the stock lenses. Each little cell in the prismatic acts like a lens which spreads the light out and lights the lens more evenly. I also found that flat-white paint in the reflector is visually brighter and gives more even light over a given area than silver. mi dos centavos
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