I've been working on the light set up for the SV8 GTE and have found led's that are much better suited for the job.
The problem is not getting enough light trough the body and number shield, the problem is getting the right amount of diffused light in the shield and
no light seeping through around the shield.
First thing first, during research for the lights I'm doing now I discovered these 5630 SMD led's from store.brightcomponents.co.uk
As the name indicates they measure 5,6 mm x 3,0 mm. So two of them side by side will perfectly light up the whole number shield panel.
The way I will mount them in the body will be by use of 0,5 mm thick transparent double sided tape. This will diffuse the light even more.
(Only the backing tape is red, the tape itself is clear)
The problem of containing the light of the led's to just the panel can easily be done by masking of the surrounding area.
As I wrote in my original post, on prepainted cars you would need to do this on the inside of the body. For dark cars mask off the shield and paint
the surrounding area black.
On light colored cars I would use silver. You could also use thin foil like bare metal foil. (at least on the inside)
As for Flagstaff's desire to do the position lights (like on IMSA cars) I have discovered these from ledbaron.de
These are just 0,4mm wide and 3,8 mm long, so small enough to form the position light matrix, but you'll need 7 led's per number....and very good
eyes.
That is if you want to be able to make double digit shields..your main problem here will be how to control them..ardino micro?
On the left the LED MICRO PLCC2 010 PUR WEISS from led baron.de. On the right both the PLCC2 colored with a drop off Tamiya clear. You can also see
two 5630 smd leds mounted in the body for the M8 foglights.
If you are happy with a fixed number you can get away with 1- 5 smd's (the easiest number off course being postion 1)
These micro SMD's can be ordered pre wired, with wires ranging from thin to absolutely ridiculous thin (motor armature wire)
Unfortunately they're only available in white.....but with a drop of Tamiya clear, you can color them yellow, or red or any color you like.