Lighting structures

[MisterBeasley]

I'm a transition-era modeler and I prefer the warmer glow of incandescents.  They do use more power, though, and will burn out eventually.  However, I run my 16-volt bulbs at 12 volts and they last a long time.

During construction, I put interior walls in my structures to isolate rooms within them so that I can have some rooms lit and others dark.  Since rooms are illuminated, I put rudimentary interiors in them by printing walls and floors on my computer and cutting them to shape.

These are incandescents.  I positioned each bulb near the "ceiling" of the room it's in so that the viewer does not see the bulb directly through the windows.  From the outside at night:

A couple of other things to note:

You can't see much through small windows, like most of those on the top floors.  Spending a lot of time detailing the interior doesn't do much for you.  Even the couple in the upper left who are about to "get lucky" at the Shamrock Hotel are only visible in silhouette, and even that because they are right next to the window.  The ground floor with the large windows shows interior detailing much better.

Light leaks through cracks and glows through walls.  This is a DPM building with very thick walls, so glow-through is not a problem.  For more typical thin-walled structures, paint the insides with a dark color and line the walls with cardstock cut to shape.  I put square balsa strips in all the corners to prevent light-leaks through cracks.  On urban buildings like this, I cut the sidewalks to fit around the buildings, so the walls sit inside the slightly-elevated sidewalks which keeps light from leaking out from the bottom.

[mlehman]

Sojourner67

Hey Mike, nice lighting effects!

Thanks!

You'll note that it's practically 100% LED lighting. Bulbs are OK, if you have just a few, otherwise you start needing largish power supplies. Bulbs tend to be less adapatable in mounting than LEDs. Bulbs put out lot of heat...

Needless to say, I highly recommend getting a string of holiday lights in your favored color temp of white, some resistors, and trying some circuits out. You'll find LEDs much more enjoyable to work with.

Assuming your Rivarossi is DC, the a simple diode bridge and a LED would work for a constant lighting circuit. The one in the circuit I show for lighting passenger cars will work, although it's kinda largish for a loco. You can get individual diodes and build one. Or there may be smaller diode bridges that someone can recommend?

[MisterBeasley]

Sojourner67

Since I'm running DC only I could tie them into my transformer?

You can do that to a limited extent, but I'd advise getting a "real" power supply for lighting and accessories and keeping your train power for the trains.  You can get a nice, hefty 5-amp supply that will give you 12 volts DC for a fistful of dollars on eBay, free shipping from China.  Go to Radio Shack and get a bunch of fuse holders and some 4-amp fuses, because the typical "wall wart" supply does not have a circuit breaker.

[Sojourner67]

So you can just use mini-lights, the kind I can buy at craft stores? I thought f that but I see companys like Model Power selling "peel & Stick" lights. Since I'm running DC only I could tie them into my transformer?

As to the locomotive, it's a Rivarossi Heisler, in HO.

Hey Mike, nice lighting effects!

[mlehman]

Sojourner67

Not familiar with products that exist but I'm looking for easy ways to light the interior of buildings. What's out there? Also, how does one install a constant LED into my loco's headlamp?

 

As Dave noted, a bit more info on the loco is needed to offer options on the head light.

For structures and general lighting around the layout, I have a thread I call The Night Scene with lots of practical tips: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/213765.aspx?page=1

There's also info on lighting rolling stock on DCC, too.

[hon30critter]

Hi Sojourner67:

For interior structure lighting LEDs are your best bet. There are two basic ways to go about it. One is to use individual LEDs to light specific 'rooms'. The other is to use multiple LEDs to illuminate larger areas.

The easiest way to use multiple LEDs is to buy them by the strip. These LEDs are wired so you can use them in multiples of three LEDs and they run on 12 volts so you don't need resistors. Here is one example of many:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/5M-Warm-White-3528-SMD-LED-Strip-Lights-300-LEDs-With-DC-Connector-/281427724086?hash=item4186664736:g:nDUAAOSwgkRVT2N6

If you want to use individual LEDs then you should consider using 'flat top' or 'straw hat' LEDs. These spread the light out in a much wider pattern than the more usual round top LEDs which have a focused beam. However, the round top LEDs can be modified very easily to spread the light more generally simply by sanding the surface with fine sandpaper. Here are a couple of examples of the straw hat LEDs:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/100-x-5mm-straw-hat-Warm-white-LED-Wide-Angle-14000MCD-/121304549948?hash=item1c3e508a3c:g:DMwAAOxyhXRTMjuH

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/50PCS-5mm-Straw-Hat-WarmWhite-160-Wide-Angle-Super-Bright-LEDs-lamp-light-/151476031629?hash=item2344acd08d:g:y7kAAOxyaTxTUcb3

Note that the prices are in Canadian dollars because I'm searching my own eBay site.

Keep in mind that if you are going to use the individual LEDs you will need to wire a 1000 ohm resistor in series with the LEDs in order to use them in a 12 volt circuit. The best way to do that is to have one resistor for each LED.

Your question about locomotive lighting requires a bit more information before we can give you specific answers:

- Which locomotive(s) Please include manufacturer and scale.

- Are you using DC or DCC?

- If you are using DCC do the locomotives have factory installed decoders or are you installing them yourself?

Dave

[Sojourner67]

Not familiar with products that exist but I'm looking for easy ways to light the interior of buildings. What's out there? Also, how does one install a constant LED into my loco's headlamp?