The wife's HO Atlas layout...

[wombat457]

The Lighting ...

Afternoon All,

I have started on the one area of a layout that I hate ... the wiring. So far, I have one street temporarily wired in with street lights:

The lights used are from Model Power - el cheapo but they work and work well I think. One street down and two to go after which I will start on the alley ways and 14 buildings. The majority of the buildings have their lights in place, it is just a matter of running a "new bus wire for them and connecting them to their individual switches.

You may also note in the pictures that I have re done the perimeter street, have straightened it up a bit and "cobble stoned all of the foot paths (sidewalks). I have to finish cobble stoning the alleyways but, so far, I have had to make almost 100 "stones" but it's all good fun right?

 

[Lynnb]

Lynn,

I complete my buildings BUT do not attach the roofs until I place the light, especially if you intend using LED's. Leaving the roof unattached just makes it easier to get things where you want them.

So far as the wiring is concerned ... regardless of whether I use the Model Power things or LED's, I have been using Super Glue to attach the wires to the roof and down the "corner" of the building. So far, that way has worked okay for me, although is a bit of a pain in the butt to do and not get glue every where.

What I am going to try with the new buildings is using 1/8" tubular round styrene which will be painted black to blend in with the interior. The idea is two fold, well three fold really. Firstly, the wiring will be run through the tubing (obviously) so it will be neater, secondly, the tubing will be easier to glue to the insides of the buildings and (touch wood) won't look as obvious as just bare wires and; thirdly, when using LED's, the tubing will be what holds the LED in place as the "prongs" from the LED will be bent at 90 degree's and each prong inserted into the tubing.

I don't know if this is going to work or not, but theoretically it should. I will be trying it out over the week end so we will see.

One other option (if using LED's) could be to drill two holes through the roof, push the LED prongs through and the use the tubing (round or square) to run across the top of the roof. I'm just not sure if 1/8" tube will look a little odd in that configuration, scale wise.

I've seen the tubing and led's done before on the internet, apparently works very good especially for buildings that are not interior accessible

 

[Lynnb]

The cobblestone looks fantastic. I sure hope the buildings have windows shade pull downs for sleeping. haha

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

Thanks and I know what you are saying about the brightness of those lights. After looking at them for a little while I gave serious consideration to adding a resistor to see if that would "dim them" a little. They are bright.

The cobbles stone effect does look good now it is all done and drawn together. Initially I was a little apprehensive but am glad I tried it. I think it fits the "mood" I want to achieve for the town.

The tubing does work well. I am using 1/8" cut to length from the center of the roof out to one corner then painted black along with the roof itself. Where I am using LED's, the resistors are attached beneath the bench work so all I have is the wires inside the structure. So far. ir seems to work well and keeps things tidy. When I do the next one, I will put up some pictures.

 

[Lynnb]

Look forward to the pics.

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

Here is one that I have started, but shows how I place the tubing across the roof. When finished, there will be tubing running down the corner as well thereby keeping everything neat and (hopefully) virtually invisible.

When using LED's, such as in this picture, I'll connect the resistor once I have run the wires through the bench work. It is that simple.

 

[Lynnb]

I bet if need be that setup could be used by simply drilling a hole through the floor of the structure and sticking it on into the living room.
.

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

Not with you ... what you are looking at is the under side of the roof of the building. If you have a building with 2 separate floors (something I am thinking about trying with one of my 2 story buildings) then you could poke the "prongs of the LED through the "ceiling (if you like) and then run the tubing across the floor of the second floor. Maybe that is what you were saying though

 

[wombat457]

Since Lynn has been asking about lighting, I thought I would try my hand at putting in a second floor "floor". This is the first time I have tried using Styrene so don't be too judgmental with the results.

You may not be able to see the "floor" all that clearly in this shot but it is the "white bit":

The thing I really like is how adding this floor significantly darkens the ground level area - a LOT and, I am assuming, will also darken the top floor area as well once the roof is in place.

 

[jdetray]

Hi Tony --

I have started fitting "floors" to some of my two story buildings.

Are you going to paint the floors, and if so what color? I have painted the first couple of my floors flat black, hoping to reduce light leaks between floors, but I'm not sure if that's a good color. I've never done this before.

- Jeff

 

[wombat457]

Jeff,

This is my first attempt at putting in second floors as well so it is still trial and error. I have primed mine with grey and was going to paint them black as well. I didn't think about light leak between the floors but imagine, if the floor is a "snug fit" together with the adhesive there really shouldn't be any leakage. I also imagine that the paint might "fill" any small gaps as well.

What I might do is place a light (temporarily) to see how things look before I keep going. I'll either post a pic of the results or at least a post.

 

[wombat457]

The renovation ... holes for the LED drilled (a little off center )

LED fitted (top and bottom)

The area around the LED prongs where they go through the holes will be filled with something, probably glue and paint.

 

[Lynnb]

Thanks for the how you do it Tony, I'm really getting inspired and feel a bit more relaxed about liting already. I think for the floors if there would a sand color wood work. I'm been getting quite use to using krylon camouflage kaki it is a very close twin to floquil earth.

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

My pleasure mate, as you can see - it isn't hard at all. Never thought about painting the floors an actual "floor color", kind of got caught on the "how to stop light from leaking through the plastic.

 

[Lynnb]

In fact I have a good friend who swears by this recipe, Tan color. Black wash , Drybrush white for plastic to look like wood. And trust me when I say he is way way way better modeler than me and a Harley guy as well in fact my two most recent bike purchases were built by him In fact her's a link to his site if you want to see a nice RR http://www.dougcoffey.com/

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

Thanks for the "recipe", I just might give that a try. Will take a look at the link as well - always interested to see what others are doing

Amazing site Lynn and exceptional work!

 

[wombat457]

So far so good, well, almost ....

Hopefully you can see the LED in the last picture. I say so far so good, well almost, because in my "rush" to try this I over looked the roof of the building where the second light will go when running my wires for the first floor light. What I should have done was put the building roof light in first then run that wiring through to the ground. Once that was done, I could have connected the first floor light wiring to that which was already run through. Now I have to run a second set of wires

Thankfully this was my "test building" and while it is at the front of the layout, the wiring will run through the bench work in the "alley" behind the building and; consequently, will be hidden anyway.

 

[Lynnb]

Tony what guage of wire would you use as well what type of led's?

 

[wombat457]

Lynn,

At the moment I am using solid Cat 5 wire; however, for lighting you could use 18 or 20 gauge standard wire. The LED's are as follows:

http://www.moreleds.com/icecube.htm

They are what I am currently using; however, I would probably revert to a standard 5 mm Warm or Soft White LED with something around a 700 ohm resistor, depending on how bright you want the end effect.

 

[Lynnb]

Thanks Tony I will have to check my draw of goodies for the leds , I know a few years back I had ordered some. In fact I had wired up red and green to a tortoise switch to show the direction of the turnout.