Anyone have any idea where to find good detailed photos of the German WWII search lights? I want to detail out the light from the AFV Club kit.

I've tried googling but not found much detailed photos.

Thanks!

I put "60cm Flakscheinwerfer" into google images search and got some good hits of photo collections

http://www.asphm.com/vehicules/flak_sw_36_sd_ah_51_stromaggregat/flak_sw_36_sd_ah_51_stromaggregat.html

http://www.maquetland.com/article-phototheque/2499-projecteur-60cm-bruxelles

A few hi-res pics from Flickr :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nilsmosberg/sets/72157627378960338

H.P.

Thanks, guys! I've been searching and googling but without much luck.

Keep 'em coming! I want to make this light as realistic as possible

These should keep you busy for a while

http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32056

http://www.pwm.org.pl/viewtopic.php?f=473&t=36964

http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/land_vehicles/flak_sw-36/


H.P.

A lot of duplicate photo information here, none the less here is my contribution as seen at the Kruse/Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana.

A link to nearly 20 more photos follows.

http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/165thspc/library/SearchLight-60cm

Thanks, everyone!!

One question: is the interior all silver? Or only silver on the back wall?

To my knowledge, only the parabolic reflector....chromed.

Cheers,
Joe

When I saw the one at the Kruse I could not tell through the glass what was going on. But I have the same question about the interior color(s).

One thing I can say is that GE US search lights had a mirrored back reflector but everything else inside was painted white. I know this may not help with the German question but it is well known that opposing military/industrial designers often follow in each other's footsteps rather than recreating everything from scratch.

This one is a SW 34 150cm searchlight, but I guess it should be the same It looks like that only the reflector is chromed, and that the rest is painted dark grey :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nilsmosberg/16626094655/sizes/o/

Here you can see the reflector of the SW 36 and its transport crate in the foreground :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nilsmosberg/13888603275/sizes/o/

H.P.

Thanks, everyone! This has been hugely helpful! I've poured over the pics and am about to start wiring finally.

One missing piece question though: how does the power get from the generator to the searchlight? Or in other words, where is the power socket on the searchlight?

Thanks!!

My guess :




EDIT : looks like I was right. Here's the same socket box on the 150cm searchlight :



Full size

H.P.

I love the one guy's comment; "when I first saw the AFV searchlight I said 'now what am I going to do with that?' Then I thought of all my flak guns and 88's and said to myself will six be enough?"

I know it is very hard to see in this photo and I apologize for that, but the mirrored parabolic reflector in the back of the searchlight will appear more reflective if you paint the BACK side of the clear plastic silver instead of the front as the instructions seen to indicate.



It is just like painting an old fashioned cartoon animation cell. You paint the reverse side of the clear plastic and then turn it over. The painted color will appear totally smooth, uniform and highly reflective.

Or as another example the silver coating of a mirror is placed on the back side #1 to take advantage of the smoothness of the glass and #2 to protect the delicate silver coating.