Veeduber wrote:

Too expensive, right? I think so too. But the cost of LED's continues to drop
and ultrabrights will probably be down to a nickle each by the time the bird is
ready to fly, if ever.

-R.S.Hoover

Did you count on using less LED's as you went up and down. The
superbright LED's come in packages that will spread the light through a
45 degree angle. Combine that with the need to have less light output
in the up and down directions, and you come out needing only about 10 LEDs.
--
http://www.ernest.isa-geek.org/
"Ignorance is mankinds normal state,
alleviated by information and experience."
Veeduber