Alternate suggestions Re: Light up hallmark spaceships????

I can make some suggestions that were brought up long ago and far away.

One of the things I thought about but never tried seriously in gaming
was
using blacklites. If you find the day glo or florescent modelling
enamel,
you can make ships' parts that will glow interestingly under blacklite,
even with moderate ambient normal lights.  One problem is, on a black
table
top, dust will ususally glow, likewise. Also, there are some florescent
fish lines (I don't know why not ALL such) that glow brightly, and would
make neat 'lay of shot' strings between ships.

I've put dots on what would be portholes, and always thought
drybrushed-over-black would be the way to make engine nozzles look
right.

Another trick I've thought about, but never even gave a try was light
guides, either fibre optics or plastic cylinders. Got the idea from a
McDonald toy that had a light guide that took a sharp bend from the top
of
it's head to the center of it's canine 'face'. With the right overhead
light, the eyes glowed wickedly.

Natch, if you go with electrics, putting a small bulb in the center of
the
fig, and using light guides to distribute the light to the surface would
probably be the best idea. Shouldn't be impossible. I'd think the
biggest
NSL would be the place to start.

Me, I'd look for a toy spaceship with LED's and just try to snaz it up
for
the tabletop... ;->=