After almost 3 weeks of no work on the RR, this weekend I was able to get back to the infrastucture work before I can start on benchwork.
I stole, well borrowed [;)], two ideas from hminky off his web site at http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/ about lighting and installing a valance.
The use of vellum around the lights to help diffuse shadows and the use of plain old black plastic sheeting for a valance - the kind you can get at wally world.
Folded over one edge and stapled to ceiling. Note vellum strips around light fixture. I’m using 75 watt flours - energy efficient pigtail ones. They only consume about 24 watts and the metal shop light stays cool to the touch.
I’ll let these hang and see how the wrinkles come out. I may need to borrow my wife’s hair dryer to help it along - shish … don’t tell her
Thanks for using my idea, thats why it is there. You probably need more lights. I used the really large 150 watt equivalent pigtails and had three per 8 feet. In the future I will probably use the 100’s and figured 4 per 8 feet of benchwork to highlight more areas. I also hang mine with the reflector edge about three inches form the bottom of the valance.
The vertical wrinkles will go away but the horizontal ones stay but aren’t noticeable.
That looks great! I like the idea, stolen or not. There does seem to be some shadows in the lighting but seeing it in person is the best way to judge it I guess.
All in all, I’m quite pleased. It cost me about $200 in materials to get this up. Labor was free. My son-in-law is an electrician.
I agree with needing more lighting - I spaced mine 1 per 6 feet but left room/elect connections for more. The metal shop lamps are rated at 150 watts, so I was thinking to experiment with 100’s vs. the 75 watters. I want to complete the valance and get the first section of benchwork up along the far left wall. As bryanbell said, there still seems to be some shadows but a flat surface will really tell the story.
