I am in the process of building Walthers Cornerstone Series “The Daily Examiner” which is a three story building. Included was a lamp that mounts in the base which is fine, except that it is very visible. This is necessary to light up the upper floors through openings in the floors. While this works, you can see the lamp if you look thru thw windows. Shading the lamp blocks first floor lighting for an uneven dispursal of light.
Any suggestions on building lighting to provide good illumination without lamp exposure. Some ideas I’ve had include mounting one lamp on each ceiling(too hot), using LED’s (no light dispersal), light blocks (uneven lighting), or perhaps dollhouse lights (haven’t investigated this yet - it might work). What have you guys done and how does it look?
I try to mount lights so that they can’t be seen from the windows, but aren’t right on the ceiling, for heat reasons. This is the City Classics supermarket, where the light is mounted on the wall a bit below the roof, but away from the windows:
It looks like this from the outside:
In the Woolworths building, I used a different approach. I mounted the bulb in the middle of the building, but put a view block between the light and the windows. I angled other interior pictures to draw the eye:
The Woolworths building has a piece of styrene between the two floors. Only the first story is illuminated.
Not all windows have to be illuminated. In fact, buildings will generally look better if you don’t. So, you can block off a couple of windows, and put the bulb close to them. That way, those “rooms” will appear unoccupied, and you’ll have a space to put a light bulb that can’t be seen from outside.
As Mr Beasley said you need to hide the lamp not always easy
Do remember to spray paint the inside of the walls black before gluing together and paint in the corners after gluing together this will stop the light shining through the walls.
Any area that will be visible through through the large windows needs to be then painted light grey then white then given the scenic treatment of choice so the black doesn’t darken the interior scene, blanking windows is the easy bit once the glass is in and the blind or curtain is properly fixed paint the back black.
I find leaving out a window or door or two that cannot be seen once the building is in place on the layout helps dissipate the heat a bit making it less likely you will get one of those heat bulges, but the missing window or door must be out of sight, carpenters and glaziers on site works in day light but they go home before it gets dark.
A couple of holes drilled in a false back will also work providing you leave a gap between the building and back scene.
On my NYC depot, I used painted brass tubing disguised as venting pipes to run my wires up through the floor. I placed them in the corners of the building so that it’s more difficult to see them. The lights are then supended above or taped to the ceiling:
Click picture(s) to enlarge
I like and prefer incandescent lights because it gives off a warmer and more diffuse light. I also think the lamp shades help to disperse any additional heat. However, if you run your lights below the bulb rating, they’ll run both cooler and last longer. I run mine anywhere from 65-75% full power.
Since I posted my concern, I have found a suitable solution to my dilema. I bught some Miniatronics, 14 volt, 30 ma, 2.4 mm dia. lamps, inserted them in a small tube and glued the tube to the just below the ceiling (lamps are loose for replacement if necessary even though they are rated 16,000 hours). I run them on a 9 volt supply so there is softer light and much less heat. Needless to say these lamps should last much longer than I will.
I appreciate the replies given and will probably use them when the situation allows.
I use the same lamps and do exactly the same thing. Here’s how I did the Walthers Diesel shop:
And the finished product:
For powering the lights I designed a DCC controlled supply which doesn’t use track power and can be adjusted with the throttle from 0-12.8V DC. It also has a separate on/off control for exterior building lights.
Click picture(s) to enlarge
