For hundreds of years, lighthouses have served as beacons in the night for both navigators and those lost at sea. Countless ships and lives were saved thanks to their warning light. Some, equipped with powerful Fresnel lenses, were visible as far as 25 miles out to sea. But, with new methods of navigation, many lighthouses have become obsolete and no longer act as lighted sentinels along dangerous shores.
However, the love of this nostalgic era has not vanished. Today, the popularity of lighthouse collectibles and memorabilia is making this one of the fastest growing hobbies in America. Everything imaginable from "to scale" lighthouse models to monogrammed wearing apparel is now is style.
Until now, a realistic beacon light for the various scales of lighthouse models being manufactured was not available. Some large-scale lighthouses incorporated motors and gearbox assemblies to actually rotate a light, but these were both expensive and cumbersome. In addition, this method was not feasible for small-scale structures.
A means was necessary whereby a realistic beacon could be incorporated into lighthouse models of different sizes. The tree lighthouse beacon lighting kits developed by GRS Micro Liting can now provide this ability.
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The electronics incorporated into each it provides a completely realistic "rotating beacon" effect without moving parts or mechanical assemblies. To simulate this rotating effect, the intensity of the lamp is rapidly ramped up to full brightness and then dimmed gradually, to give the illusion of a rotating beacon.
Many lighthouse models do have permanent on, or flasher-type bulbs, but these do not accurately simulate an actual working lighthouse. The GRS kits use basically the same electronics, only the bulb size is changed to create the three different scales offered. Parts included are shown below:
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