The Night Scene

[hon30critter]

Mike:

Like I said before my friend, you had already convinced me that LED lighting strips are definately the way to go, and you just proved it again. Even lighting, no heat, low power requirements....what's not to love!!

Thanks

Dave

[mlehman]

I took several hours this evening to reconfigure the LED strip lights in many places, then added the 3 new strings I bought today. Along with a few others picked up along the way, I now have 18 of the 12' or 13' strings in the main layout room and the light is INTENSE. The dim spots in a few places are replaced by even lighting throughout.

A pic from the door to the layout room.

The Durango penisula is now evenly lit across its 7' width

The engine terminal

The ASARCO smelter and mill

Cascade Falls

 

The Sunnyside Mill is totally sunny

Total energy use for the LED light strips in the main layout room? 173 watts.

Jim Hediger has an overview of layout lighting in the Jan. 2015 issue of MR. His take on LEDs was they're not quite ready for prime time in terms of cost and internsity. I pretty much agreed with that sentiment until I put the first of these LED strip lights up a little more than a year ago.

One concern expressed in Hediger's article was professional installation of lighting is the way to ensure it meets code and is safe. That's certainly something you need to do when wiring many lighting systems into the home. The LED light strips don't require that. Simply unroll, hang-up carefully, and plug in.

Another big plus, due to their limited energy consumption, is that LEDs don't create noticeable heat.

Other advantages are the flexibility of the light strip that allows it to follow the tracks; they work well for portable installations that are easy to move; light from the strip lights is all parallel, like sunlight; and they are available in several color temperatures.

 

[mlehman]

An update on the Patriot LED Strip Lighting at Menards may help avoid some confusion. For some reason, what has actually happened is that Patriot has changed the description of their Daylight white LED strip lights to Cool White. There were Daylight ones out there, as I bought two of them. Then I started finding only Cool White ones in that shelf space.

Initial inquiries to the Lighting Dept people didn't gain any insight to whether Daylight ones would be restocked. I talked to a fellow who pulled both that and the Warm White version from their boxes and plugged them in for comparison. I thought the Cool White one looked familiar, but in the previous version was definitely a bluer white. I went home, found a box for the Patriot Daylight version, and then found by comaprison it was the same SKU as the Cool White Patriot version.Well, how about that!??

I was pretty sure I had it resolved, but fought the crowds to pick up 3 of the Cool White ones, SKU 340-2510. Plugging them in here for comparison showed they were indeed the same color temp as the previous Daylight-labeled version.

Obviously, buy the lights in the color temp that works for you and you layout. Just be awere that Cool White is the new Daylight with regard to the Patriot LED strip lights only. I've not seen this done with other lighting yet, but maybe I just haven't bought it lately.

The icing on the cake was explaining to the new guy why I needed lights that matched -- I have a model railroad. Turns out, he's one of us! So left my contact info for him to come by and run some trains -- probably when Xmas is over, knowing how retail is this time of year. My offer to him is, of course, a standing one for other members of our community. Drop me a PM and we can arrange some operating time  or just come by to see things. Of course, I'll try to recruit you into the NMRA, but I promise not to be a pest about that. The best example is a good example.

[mlehman]

Dave,

All my light strips are Daylight (~5000k), with the exception of a single 6' one that is Warm White I needed to fit a certain spot. The current supplier at Menards where I get them, Patriot Lighting, now offers that, plus Warm White and Cool White.

The "morning light" one was serendiptious. It was just easier to plug into the opposite circuit and was pointed the right way. When I saw the effect, I knew it was a keeper.

I've thought about using a few RGB ones like you're considering, but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Something I have considered also is electrolumisecnt wire. Radio Shack, among others, offers it. I really doubt it's bright enough for what you want to do. I was thinking about using some behind my Silverton town flats as "city glow" for the sky bheind and above it.

[hon30critter]

Mike:

You have me absolutely convinced that LED strip lighting is the way to go. The different effects that you have shown are all really effective.

I think that I will try some of the RGB strips (Red/Green/Blue) where the colour can be adjusted easily. Lots of potential!

One lighting effect that I am trying to figure out is sunrise/sunset. I have contemplated leaving a small gap between the background and the buildings/mountains so that a light can be placed behind them with a bright orange glow to mimic the rising/setting sun. I originally thought of using an orange spotlight but I don't like the idea of that much heat below the layout. I think that using an array of variable coloured LED strips both behind the scenery and from the ceiling just might fill the bill.

The construction of my layout is still a ways off but I am definately going to explore the possibility.

Dave

[mlehman]

I've added several more of the LED light strips as the budegt has allowed. While the light overall has been adequate with the original 10 of them, there were some spots that could use more light. Another factor is that the LED light is rather directional, so you sometimes need more than one pass through a scene that is deep in order to evenly illuminate the whole area. Between these, I set out to fill and enhance what is already very workable lighting.

The pics in the following scene are of Silverton taken from about 10 feet away on the opposite side of the Dunrago penisula. There were already two light strips passing over head, but they pointed mostly straight down. The side of structures and rolling stock wasn't well lit.

I added another pass through the scene, placing it on the ceiling past the layout edge slightly into the aisle. I tilted the strip so that the light fell at an angle, helping to illuminate the side of objects better. The way I plugged it in was to add it to the circuit that powers the light strips over the center penisula. The light of one light strip, plus the spillover from the center lighting provides what I'd call "morning light," a handy effect for taking pics.

Turn all the light strips on and you can see how the yellow sides of the reefers pop out more distinctly, etc with the added sidelighting.

 Silverton is definitely as bright as it needs to be

[mlehman]

Randy,

I may have located the pic you're thinking of or one very similar. Andy Sperandeo  wrote a retrospective on John and the G&D in the Dec. 1981 MR. On page 69 is a really nice night shot of the roundhouse.

I think I aced the light levels and color, such as you can get at night, but John's shot is a far more impressive effort. I've got the look, but not the detail. But it's kind of amazing that images like that floating around back in my hazy memory are apparently continuing to influence me below the conscious level. I sure never set out aiming specifically to use John's work as a guide, as it's been years since I looked at any of these pics before Randy mentioned it. It certainly demonstrates John's considerable influence on the hobby, more than we may even be conscious of.

[mlehman]

Randy,

I appreciate the comments. It's certainly a good feeling to find your work in comparison to a master like Mr. Allen. It wasn't particualrly even what I was aiming for, but maybe what I dredged up in term of an internal image of what I was trying to do contained memory of John's work. Those of us of a certain age were impressed by his epic work, so similar results in our work may not be so surprising, even if the must creep in subliminally.

I knew about the UV effects, but have tried to stay away from them myself. Nowadays, that soft glow is pretty easy to obtain with LEDs and most of my structures are near enough that the wierd daytime color is likely to intrude.

EDIT: Dug up some similar pics. Small image here, but the associated link takes you to a a large format version of the image.

 

Another shot of the Durango roundhouse. Needs some interior detailing.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/213/durroundhouse21.jpg

 

An overview of Durango from the ASARCO smelter.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/703/hu86.jpg

 

 

This link is a large format version of the original Durango roundhouse night pic.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/163/durroundhouse23.jpg

 Hmmm, some of this isn't working out like it should. My computer is still on XP and it and the Kalmbach server haven't been playing well together on pics. Maybe you'll get large pics, maybe not.

[rrinker]

 I can't remember where I saw it now. I checked some MR issues covering the G&D but it may have appeared in a non-John Allen article on lighting effects or something. Closest I can find is in January 1969 MR, Page 47 top. But that's not the one I'm thining of, the one I'm thinking of was from a viewpoint to the left of that one, and you could see some of the background buildings. I've found plenty of other G&D night shots, but not the one I'm thinking of. You probably know John used UV light and reactive paper in many of his building windows and signs to make them glow at night. The last set you just posted also could be of the G&D. The lighting effects are truly great, as is the modeling. There's something about the overall effect in your photos, something also evident in John's, that evoke a feeling that other well composed photos of top notch models somehow don't.

          --Randy

mlehman

 

rrinker

 That picture bears a strong resemblence to John Allen's night shot of the roundhouse.

                 --Randy,

 

 

 

Randy,

Thanks! Now that you mention it, it sure does. On page 6 of the Westcott book, he's pictured in relation to the roundhouse about where I took my picture of my roundhouse. But I didn't see the one I think you're talking about and I'm hazily remembering. Must be somewhere else?

I'm certain his scenes influenced my work with structure lighting, as he utlizied a lot of it, considering the LED was still pretty much a dream when I joined the hobby (a sore spot these days locally after Nick Holonyak was skipped over for the Nobel in Physics for inventing the LED in favor of some folks who made it blue!) and everything was bulbs.

There's a nicely lit train on page 46, too. More night pics on 120 and 146.

 

[mlehman]

Medina1128

Wow! Just by taking the picture without the nightscene setting, the locomotive changed. How'd you DO that?? Smile, Wink & Grin

Marlon,

Not only "check your manual," as river_eagle recommended, but learn to use manual settings and you can make a lot of cool things happen. One is setting long exposure times for low light pics. You do need to have a tripod or other way (beanbag, etc) to immobilize the camera, maybe a timed shutter release could be helpful. Then you just add time until you get a long enough exposure to look right. The great thing about digicams is you don't waste a lot of time or money learning the settings that get you in the ballpark. Once you've done that, it's much easier to find the right settings to use.

[Medina1128]

 

[Medina1128]

river_eagle

Check your camera manual, many have a night scene/nighttime setting that adapts to the low  available light without using flash

 

 for this pic, the only lighting is what's in the scene, streetlights and such, the room is totally dark, the camera picks allthe right settings

 

same basic scene without nightscene setting

 

 

Wow! Just by taking the picture without the nightscene setting, the locomotive changed. How'd you DO that?? 

[mlehman]

pt714

Have you ever had snow in your night scenes, either temporary or permanent?

P,

Funny you should ask. Yes, to snow. Haven't done a night pic yet, but since you asked....

There was an avalanche up on the Silverton Northern a couple of weeks ago. The road foreman helped with out with some pics..

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/673/5stlKE.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/674/eKTXfZ.jpg

The engineer saw just enough to get the mixed stopped in time.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/538/mgE1ax.jpg

The work train and ditcher were up there for several days cleaning up the mess. Here's a pic from the first night they got the track reopened, with the lights back in the valley below shining.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/905/1GDmwC.jpg

The snowshed looks like a place of refuge for man or machine caught out in the elements.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/908/2kEQV9.jpg

 

[pt714]

Mike, these photos are truly inspiring. I'm very interested in night operations and lighting-- it's a dream right now, as my layout is just getting off the ground, but I'm always looking for things like this that kindle future scenery ideas. Have you ever had snow in your night scenes, either temporary or permanent?

P

[mlehman]

rrinker

 That picture bears a strong resemblence to John Allen's night shot of the roundhouse.

                 --Randy,

Randy,

Thanks! Now that you mention it, it sure does. On page 6 of the Westcott book, he's pictured in relation to the roundhouse about where I took my picture of my roundhouse. But I didn't see the one I think you're talking about and I'm hazily remembering. Must be somewhere else?

I'm certain his scenes influenced my work with structure lighting, as he utlizied a lot of it, considering the LED was still pretty much a dream when I joined the hobby (a sore spot these days locally after Nick Holonyak was skipped over for the Nobel in Physics for inventing the LED in favor of some folks who made it blue!) and everything was bulbs.

There's a nicely lit train on page 46, too. More night pics on 120 and 146.

[rrinker]

 That picture bears a strong resemblence to John Allen's night shot of the roundhouse.

                 --Randy

[mlehman]

I appreciate the comments, Peter. LEDs make structure lighting so simple once you've done it a few times, I now just design it right into the build.

And it's always a good excuse for another pic, here at the roundhouse in Durango.

[HO-Velo]

Hi Mike,  

Glad to see your thread restored.  Timely for me to review your lighting methods.  Recently followed your lead by setting some ambient "moonlight" with a blue bulb.  Structure and scenery lighting really brings a layout or scene to life and is well worth the extra effort, fun too.

Thanks and regards, Peter    

[mlehman]

Bayfield Transfer Railway

You should write an article.

Thanks, BRT. Maybe I should, but not until I finish the dissertation I'm writing. It's the editing that's the hard part. I write here to decompress from less happy subjects, but all my editing mojo is going there right now, so it'll have to wait at least a couple more months.

mlehman

The new office is kinda bright,

Looks just fine. If the office guy is anything like me, when it comes to doing the paperwork I need lots of light. (not to mention inspiration to actually get the job done).

Cheers, the Bear.

 

Bear,

Appreciate the comments. Only problem is it's a long walk from the Wilde Mine to the nearest bar for inspiration...

Usually, they catch a train into Red Mountain to Maguire's...

The windows are a little steamy tonight, so everyone must be having fun.

["JaBear"]

mlehman

The new office is kinda bright,

Looks just fine. If the office guy is anything like me, when it comes to doing the paperwork I need lots of light. (not to mention inspiration to actually get the job done).

Cheers, the Bear.

[Bayfield Transfer Railway]

You should write an article.

 

[mlehman]

Thanks, Chris.

Sometimes I write a bit sketchy late at night, so if anything's unclear let me know. I also have a lot of leads on different aspects of structure and car lighting, so may be able to help or suggets where to find it. I am no electrical expert, that's for sure, so with a little work all these effects can be obtained.

I've not posted much here recently, so how about a few  that aren't up elsewhere...

That's the Wilde Mine at Sheridan. The new office is kinda bright, so may still get toned down with some more resistance and a strategically placed  shade or two in the windows.

The next one is the dock at Thompson's Wholesale. This was done with some lights like the Rice Lights by Starlite Creations.

Finally, the still mostly undeveloped station at Black Cat Junction, up on the Cascade Branch.

 

[LOCO_GUY]

WOW, Now that's a really cool night scene(s).

[mlehman]

Thought I should include a link back to my thread on adding stars and other objects to your night skyz;

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/228359.aspx

Here's a sample.

[mlehman]

Time for an update on The Night Scene. Note that I often submit Night Scene-worthy pics to the WPF thread here every weekend that are different from these -- at least I try to not repeat any without a specific reason to.

So here are some of my recent lighting installs around the layout. They get easier as you go as you place the infrastructure, the wiring and power supplies, around the layout.

In Durango, the Oriental Refinery was lit at my wife's suggestion. I used a section of the rice lights and wound them around the fractionating tower (or whatever it is called.) I twisted the LED so that it would point toward various valves and light up the ladders and platform. I wound it around the structure from topto bottom, tacking things down with CA. After getting the lights on, I used liquid elctrical tape to apply the light's "fixture" by carefully painting the top and a little of the sides of each rice light, it blocks the light in such a way as to create the impression the LED was in something that focused the light in a certain direction. I then used aluminum paint to cover the black of the "tape" so that everything blended together. It's a 3-foot model that looks good during the day and great at night with the lights on.

Added more pole-mounted lamps at several places. Here's the Silverton Electric Co-op's light.

The Dove Creek icing platform

The icing platform, with the warehouse next to it. The warehouse lamps are simply an LED with the leads bent at 90 degrees, pushed through the black foamboard, where the wiring is carefully solderd on (remember, it's foamboard if you're swinging the hot iron around.) The I cut a section of white plastic tubing, slicing off one small part of the tube from top to bottom to make it into a C shape. This snaps over the LED and looks great. They're a little dim here, but I went back and tiik away resistance. I left access to do this easily. This is always a good thing to do, because if it's too high, you need tio physically remove the resistance from the circuit. It's easy to add more, but you don't want to have to disassemble something bcause it doesn't please the eye with it's light.

On the narrowgauge, the Red Mountain Sinclair was lit.

Foretunately, pole light are easy to adjust -- provided you don't glue 'em down! I subtracted some resistance from the too dim lights are the Silverton Northern enginehouse.

The bean co-op at Dove Creek received a light. It was especially welcome, because it's dark down on that first deck.

 In Dove Creek, the area around the nuclear depot and along the wrong side of the tracks in the red-light zone was lit up, dimly for the most part. There will be more from the gate scene at this week's WPF. Here's some pics of my version of Downtown Deco's Addams St #1. The rooftop sign is lit with some "flicker" LEDs from a Xmas light set. It's easy animation without anything but wiring up some LEDs. I'm still figuring them out, but they are well worth experimenting with for various lighting effects.

[mlehman]

Some more pics at night from around the layout.

New platforms light at Durango station.

A low angle shot.

Unobstructed view of the station with nice pools of light pushing back the darkness.

The Durango Freight Depot.

The narrowgauge side of the icing dock, along the freight house NG lead.

A night view of the new office at the smelter.

[mlehman]

Stix,

Sorry, missed your comment the first time around...

Yeah, the blue thing is a matter of taste. I like it myself, so it works for me. An important component is that that the new LED lighting is partial spectrum UV, so that helps with doing sky effects. I've written that up here: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/228359.aspx

Some folks use the flourescent effect to paint in lit windows, etc, but I confine that to sky effects. The exception are the tiny markers I make from beads and pins to designate the Normal position for turnouts, where I put a tiny dot of paint on top so it's visible at night.

I could see adjusting the brightness to balance it between the overhead light and building lighing. My problem is the extent of my lighting, which is pread among at least 4 power supplies. I suspect that you're using blue lamps, as I'm pretty sure my blue LEDs aren't dimmable (although they are starting to be more widely available)? In any case, I have set brightness to the overheads and adjust building lighting to match it as best possible. Just got done adding another couple of strings, because Silverton was pretty dark toward the back, so you can make adjustments.

A couple more recent pics...

[mlehman]

This entry is about how I made another, more modern-looking light using SMD LEDs from Ulrich Models/Richmond Controls. I found some small, black eyelets used for scrapbooking at Michaels. A piece of 3/32" styrene tubing is CA-ed inside it, flush with the end with the raised lip and protruding from the other end, which will be the top of the lamp. The protruding tube is filed so it's round. The bottom of the lamp is then drilled so it forms the "lens" for the SMD LED to nest in.

Next, I used canopy glue to fasten the SMD LED inside the "lens" of the lamp.

Using lamp "arms" salvaged from the Walthers billboard kit, I epoxied them to lamp, using tape to hold things in place while the epoxy set.

Using the 3/32" styrene tube, I cut lamp "posts" and glued the lamp/arm assembly to it. The wire leads were CA-ed to the top of the arm, then go done the tube. Paint the lamp and post, being sure to mask the face of the LED. I left the lens white, but it could also be painted silver before installation of the LED. Wire in the appropriate resistor and things look good. Here they are at Rockwood. I may still tone them down with a little more resistance. They have 100 ohm resistors in this pic.

 

[wjstix]

I've always found that the "blue light" thing is really easy to over-do. Real moonlight isn't really blue afterall. I use Evans Design "cool white" LEDs, which have a little touch of blue. I use one throttle of an old MRC dual power pack to control those lights above the layout, with the other throttle used for interior lights. That way I can vary both to get the right balance.

BTW Evans LEDs come with resistors and diodes already attached, so you can hook them up to AC or DC power up to 14-16V and they work fine. In a few isolated buildings, I've hooked them up directly to DCC track power.

[mlehman]

Mike,

Thanks, I appreciate your comment.

One thing I forgot to mention...I think what makes the lighting work so well is that the light levels from both the rice lights and the other lights I made from SMD LEDs (I'll post more on those in a bit) are stopped down with resistance so that what they illuminate is just bright enough to see colors. Once you get beyond the pool of light they offer, then the overall blue from the "moonlight" takes over.

It's so simple a thing to do, yet so effective.

I've taken to not soldering the resistor into the circuit for each light in many cases, just using a wire nut to hold my "best guess" for a resistor value, then adjusting if needed, up or down, once it's on the layout. It works wonders.