Simple and small blinking circuit based on NE555 timer. Uses 1206 components for ease of customization. The description proposes components to follow timing as defined by the FAA beacon light requirements. Careful with the output LED resistor RL if using voltage higher than ~10V; current 180 ohm can take a red LED up to 9Vish. Chip and circuit can tolerate 16V. Works well using 5V source. Should be fun to use for RC aircraft. For real applications (i.e. 3 miles visibility) one might want to add a mosfet with a dedicated VCC for the output light.

For 40 flash/minute (slow) at ~50% duty-cycle: 1.5sec total time, 1.1sec ON time: C1=1uF Ra=100k, Rb=1M (0.69Hz) or Ra=10k, Rb=1M1 (0.65Hz)

For 70/minute: 0.9sec total time, 0.45sec ON time: C1=1uF Ra=11k, Rb=620k (1.15Hz) or Ra=75k, Rb=560k (1.21Hz)

For 100 flash/minute (normal) at ~50% duty-cycle: 0.6sec total time, 0.3sec ON time: C1=1uF Ra=12k, Rb=430k (1.65Hz) or Ra=51k, Rb=390k (1.73Hz) or Ra=82k, Rb=360k (1.80Hz)

Pretty, 130/minute: C1=1uF Ra=10k, Rb=330k (2.15Hz)

For 180 flash/minute (fastest allowed by FAA) at ~50% duty-cycle: 0.33sec total time, .17sec ON time: C1=1uF Ra=5k, Rb=240k (2.97Hz) or Ra=22k, Rb=220k (3.12Hz) or Ra=68k, Rb=180k (3.36Hz)