Well…after a couple of days of research learning about bulbs and switches, as well as picking the brains of my coworkers (who are engineers) about electricity, I’m finally embarking on the exciting endeavor of wiring my layout for lighting and have included a pic or two of my first projects.
The first is an AMB Interlocking tower at the SE corner of the layout. The distant light in the background is the other Interlocking tower (Walthers) at the NW corner:
Lighted Interlocking tower at dusk
The second is the same photo but with the headlight of my BLI 2-8-2 Mike turned on:
For those interested, I will be dividing my light wiring into two separate blocks: one for exterior lighting; the other for interior lighting. Each of the light blocks will be wired in parallel and can be shut off independently.
Each interior light will be able to be shut off independently. (A few bulbs will have the capacity to have their intensity adjusted with either a potentiometer or trimmer cap.) I’m still deciding on how I want to handle the exterior lighting control. Either the exterior lights will be controlled individually (like they are with the interior lights), or as a “cluster” for each structure. For now, I’ll be using 12V 30mA grain-of-rice bulbs.
Anyway, it’s been a fun learning experience and I’m hoping that it will really add a whole new dimension to the layout. [:)]
Still obsessed with vehicles again this week, just finished a plumbing truck for my layout. Made my own decals like usual. Gotta get busy on ballast and stuff this weekend.
Nice truck, nice lighting effects. I love the little details in scenery.
I spent the week in the shop with an old C&O 2-6-6-2 that we bought to pull the coal train through Sublime Mountain pass. Got sound put in, that was a challenge. They put it to work before the shop was even finished. A couple of pics of the engine.
They were hoping it could pull a whole train up the grade, but no. Here it waits for a helper.
and a pic of the Mountain that was sent to get it up the slope.
It runs OK but like all the old brass, it looks better than it moves.
Nice work, everyone. A good camera makes a bit of difference. I’m still using a clunky old SP 1000 Pentax with a standard 35mm lense.
A while back, I posted this mini-diorama I had built as a transportable programming track. The backdrop, such as it was, was a simple hill outline and some blue sky. I recently tried my hand at an improvement to give some depth of field in preparation for doing a small similar scene at some point around my new layout. Here is the Mark II version-
Looks pretty neat at night all lit up doesn’t it? You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier as it really brings out interior details you might have missed otherwise.
So have you encountered the dreaded light leakage yet? How are you dealing with it. Mine occurs usually around the roof line. But in complex structures like the Kibri Cathedral, it pours out all over the place! ACK[xx(]
Tom - Great pics and good job with the lighting. I have always been intrigued by the thought of night time operations. Putting blue lights on the ceiling to simulate moon and using structure/street and loco lights to provide all the illumination. You can really concentrate ones attention on any part or structure on the layout.
Terry[8D]
Yea, my Walthers Interlocking tower leaks through the walls - but NOT under the roof line. [:)] I’ll have to paint the inside walls a dark color then repaint them again with a lighter one. That should take care of any light leakage.
All my roofs are detachable but I shouldn’t have any problems along the roof line. The one I suspect may give me problems will be my Alexander Scale Model freight station. It’ll take me a while to get around to completing all the structures and buildings that I want to illuminate so I’ll be learning a lot about lighting and what I need to do in the future to avoid any problems.
Along with lighting, I want to start adding furniture and equipment to the inside of the buildings. I was perusing through MRs new How To Build Realistic Layouts in the LHS last night.
There was an article in it on Interlocking towers, with a beautiful fully-detailed photo of the upstairs: chair, desk, interlocking handles, floor, etc. Wow! Was that impressive! [:0] I’d eventually like to add a few of those items to mine - especially the handles.
Anyway, there’s always something to learn, isn’t there? [:)]
You’re doing a job on that benchwork. Can’t wait to see the layout.
Art,
NIce stuff as usual.
My son insisted that I have deer and wolves in my woods. I could not find any wolves, but we found some deer while stuck in Pittsburgh today. If I didn’t know better I’d say that Weekend photo fun is losing popularity.
Tom, love the lighting effects. That is something I will have to eventually look into. What a difference it makes. Also, Chip, love the trees and Ray, that backdrop is premo!
Not much this weekend. I had originally decided to use code 100 on my lower level staging because I had gotten a deal on some flex last Nov. I’m going with Walthers code 83 TO’s on the upper layer so I decided to stay with same brand on the lower staging, just code 100 instead. I ordered 19 #5 TO’s for the lower level and this weekend when I unboxed them, lo and behold, they were the old non-DCC friendly kind.
I was using an assembly line method and had already snipped two ties off of all of them when I realized this [D)].
Needless to say I was not in a good mood. After looking into what it would take to convert them (no thank you), I decided that I was not going to compromise at this early stage and start what I consider beyond my capabilities just to get it to work. So, over to the LHS and wiped him out of all the Walthers code 83 TO’s. So I have a boat load of code 100 flex and code 100 #5 TO’s that I will sell on you know where.
This is the result with the “right stuff”. At least I “feel” better.
Great job everyone. This is what the hobby and this forum is all about, not the other rubbi***hat seemed to boil over this weekend.
Tom the lighting project looks great. I get a lot of kids (I have 19 neices and nephews in the US alone) who often visit the layout. I have put switches all around the facia and plan more. All unlabelled and all turning on and off different things. I plan to add some sound effects controlled this way. This kids just love it.
howmus, those back drops are really looking good. I can’t wait to see a completed section with the foreground scenery in place. Benchwork looks like it is coming along well also. I wi***hat I had heeded the advice and taken as much time and care as you, rather than rushing to get trains running!
Chip Looks good for someone that contributes nothing but fluff to the forum[:D] the concentration of trees and other plants is really effective.
I have nothing to show and have not done any serious MRR for about a month. There just seems to be too much else going on. Hopefully this week will see some progress?
![http://home.rochester.rr.com/howmus/WebTrains/Spline~2a.jpg[img]](http://home.rochester.rr.com/howmus/WebTrains/Spline~2a.jpg%5Bimg%5D){kind=link}