My layout room is progressing nicely. The drop ceiling is almost done, and the light housings are in. There are 6, 6-inch recessed and 6, 4-inch eyeball type so I can adjust the direction of the light. I want to get bulbs that are full spectrum, color-corrected–whatever the terminology is for those bulbs that give off a more natural light. I can use PAR16 and PAR30 or R16 and R30 bulbs. The big box stores locally don’t really have what I’m looking for. Has anyone dealt with an online store that they can recommend? And can you recommend a particular brand of bulb? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
My suggestion would be to check at a photo supply store. My college major was in photography and there were all kinds of bulbs depending on the film you were shooting with.
In the past I’ve used a combination of plant “sho-n-gro” lights and some of the “natural” light bulbs that you get at wal-mart. They looked pretty good.
My suggestion would be to go to a lighting store and ask to see the flourescent bulbs that will fit in your fixtures. There are a large variety of color corrected flourescent bulbs that will fit in a standard light socket. I’m not sure if they will fit in cans…
While photo bulbs might work they are very expensive, run hot and have a short life. The question of color correction is a huge subject and there are lots of takes on it. There are fourescent bulbs out there that will come close to the color temperature of sunlight. Whether you want this on your railroad is the subject of some debate. There are lots of modelers using incandescent or halogens and reporting good results. I think the more important consideration is that one colors scenery and paints models to match the lighting you choose. Almost every light source has some skewing of the spectrum and this is ok as long as one takes this into account when coloring the layout.
What follows is a long explanation I copied from the Atlas site from a guy who worked in a flourescent light plant. I hope he doesn’t mind me reposting it here. While he is talking mainly about flourescent lights, the principles apply to all lighting situations:
Your next big choice is color. Many people don’t understand that lamps come in various colors. A standard shop lamp is a “Cool White” a lamp used in a kitchen is a “Warm White” and offices usually get “Daylight” colors. Lamps are judged on color temperature rated in degrees of Kelvin. The lower a color temp, the redder or “warmer” the color, the higher the temperature, the bluer or “cooler” the lamp appears. Meat counters will always use warm white lamps because they give off redder light and makes all that 3 day old meat look good.
Brightness or light output is measured in “Lumens” and cooler lamps generally output more lumens than warmer lamps meaning a layout lit by warm whites would require more fixtures to get you up to the same “brightness” level as fewer fixtures lam
I use the flourescent bulbs from Walmart that come in an all orange sleeve. They are “full spectrum”, like natural light, and 40W. Noticeably better to me.
If you decide to buy the “sho-n-grow” lights and then start spending alot of time in your basement, don’t be suprised to find a “Acme cable co.” van parked across the street from your house all day and all night[:O][;)][:-^][:D]
I used them because they are reletivly cheap and when combined one on one with a regular floresent bulb I found it gave off a little better light then the stark white of just the regular bulbs.
Just don’t buy 20 of them at once or you will have the aforementioned van in your neighorhood!
Note that the ballasts are as important as the lamps. The Workhorse ballasts I use are just about the best. There is no hum, no interference (DCC or otherwise), and they get the most out of your lamps. I have them in my layout, in my work room, and now in my woodworking workshop. I have spoken with other folks who tried the regular electronic ballasts and were disappointed. When they finally gave in and tried these, the difference was incredible.
BTW, those lamps at WalMart, if they are what I have seen, are “Daylight” not “Full Spectrum”. There is actually a huge difference with Daylight being only marginally better than normal lamps, but also less expensive than most full spectrum lamps.
I use the Excella 40W T12 lamps from www.1000bulbs.com . They work very well.