I just found the coolest thing ever!

[David Hingtgen]

You'll just have to trust me, as I absolutely cannot photograph it no matter how hard I try, but anyways:

The formation-light decals from CAM actually glow bright green. They are the EXACT color of say an F-14's lights glowing at night. Very, very, very, cool. And since they're just decals, they're 1,000x easier but just as impressive as those guys who put tiny LED's in their planes to flash the navigation lights. The F-18 ones also have the missile launch rails glow. http://www.camdecals.com

The effect is like this, just a bit greener and not as bright:

Edited June 21, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Myersjessee]

THAT IS EXCELLENT!!!

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Neat! I'd bet it'd look snazzy on a low-vis.

[Stamen0083]

Are they just formation light decals, or do they come in a set of other decals too?

I haven't spent much time there, but I haven't figure out where to go to find them on the site yet.

Edited June 21, 2004 by Stamen0083

[David Hingtgen]

Kinda depends. Most of their 1/72 sheets include all the stencil data/generic markings, including formation lights. I know their 1/48 F-14 squadron markings sheets don't have any. (you have to buy data sheets separately for the 1/48 F-14's). I think all of their F-18's include them regardless of scale. I have some 1/32 sheets coming soon, will let you know.

I'm pretty sure all their separate F-14 stencil/data sheets include them.

And of course, there's the "Formation Lights" sheets, which'd definitely have them.

http://www.camdecals.com/main.asp?action=72 About 10 spots up from the bottom. They don't specifically say the 1/72 are glow-in-the-dark, (the 1/32 and 1/48 do), but since my 1/72 F-18 and F-14 sheets have glow-in-the-dark ones, I'd be very surprised if the separate ones didn't. I mean, why else would they sell them? Nobody's going to order non-glowing lights, since every other decal sheet on Earth already has non-glowing ones. And especially since they're known as "the guys with the glowing decals".

For some reason CAM's own site can never seem to display their stencil decals (only squadron markings), so here's a pic of the 1/48 set for F-14/18's:

http://greatmodels.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=cam48a001

PS--I've ordered decals direct from CAM's own site several times, they're very fast, and are in Cali. And if you only order a few decals, they only charge like 2 bucks to ship in the US. The order will go through Brookhurst Hobbies, their main distributor.

Answer to a soon-to-be-asked FAQ:

Stencils are the generic warning markings painted all over planes. Most famous being "No Step" "Rescue" and "Jet Intake". So called because they're quickly spray-painted on over the camoflage with a stencil.

Edited June 21, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Stamen0083]

This is a sweet find. Thanks, David.

I was contemplating how I was going to do the formation light strips on my VF-0S. Now I know :-D

I mean, how cool would those strips look on this tail, eh?

Edited June 21, 2004 by Stamen0083

[tetsujin]

You know what amazes me more? That photo. I was totally unable to find a photo online of a fighter with its lights on. :|

[Jedi Knight]

Ummm, those look more like reflective/glow strips, and not lights, on that F-18.

[David Hingtgen]

They're lights. They have an on/off switch, and use electricity. I have some of the stuff myself. If they simply glowed/reflected, the military wouldn't use them, for you couldn't turn them off. Bad idea to fly over Iraq/Bosnia/Afghanistan all lit up.

They're electroluminescent lights, specifically. Neat stuff.

[Stamen0083]

Hmm... Do you mean that "lightsheet" stuff I hear about that some people use to light ship models?

Electro-luminescent... Hmm... Would be interesting... Very interesting indeed.

Jinnai, send me a free sample.

[David Hingtgen]

Exactly, and that's how I have some. I found out that if you "overload" blue, it changes to the green of formation lights. But I'm pretty sure the military uses inherently green.

Only problem (aka expense) is getting the converter/driver, and the only one I have is inside my light-up USS Lakota.

Edited June 22, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[tetsujin]

Exactly, and that's how I have some. I found out that if you "overload" blue, it changes to the green of formation lights. But I'm pretty sure the military uses inherently green.

Only problem (aka expense) is getting the converter/driver, and the only one I have is inside my light-up USS Lakota.

Indeed. IIRC you need to drive that stuff on high-voltage AC. (They don't use a lot of power, but it has to be high voltage. Well, around 100 volts anyway...) That means if you run from a battery you need an inverter and a transformer, that'll take up space, use up extra power, and make a little noise. But I believe the strips themselves are rather efficient.

You can buy kits with the stuff at Micro Mark. All Electronics has some kits between $20 and $35. I've never experimented with it.