Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Lighting...

Hi everyone,

Things have been busy around the layout shed and this means the blog has had a bit of neglect. Not only has installation of the spray booth taken some leaps forward but so has the wash bay.

I also decided to start assembling Infront Models DOT tanker so there goes some more time.

So now that you have my excuses lets move on....

All the lighting is 28w, T5 , 4 foot fluorescent tubes. They are Sylvania (part no. 200768) 6500 Kelvin daylight tubes and retail for around $4.50 per tube. The tombstones are fitted to fabricated bracket and mounted to the ceiling directly behind the pelmet which is 100mm deep and protrudes 100 mm out in front of the layout as to avoid any shadows on the front edge. The 4 scenic modules require 6 tubes, 4 of which are in line and 2 offset to make sure there are no dark patches. Now as these 2 tubes cross a module join we needed to find a way to safely transport them, this is where the T5 tube comes in. T5 tubes fit neatly into 20mm electrical conduit, so two 1200 mm lengths of conduit are saddled to the roof of the layout where they are stored until the layout is assembled. The other four tubes are never touched as they remain housed within the module which make set up very easy. 

That leaves the power source, we wanted to keep the weight down but ballasts are heavy and then you have to find room for starters. This was solved by the use of electronic ballasts. They are very light and don't require starters. The only disadvantage is they are quite expensive but at least one ballast will do two tubes. Lucky for us I had acquired some some without cost so we were very fortunate.

OK that was a pretty quick post but really, its lighting, it has to be covered so hopefully I can cross it off the list. I would prefer to be covering track work so lets do that next post.

Happy Modelling...YEAH...





Saturday, April 3, 2010

A few Pics....

I was asked recently for a couple more views of the layout. We have been doing work on the return curves on Bowen which I am glad to say has been successful, it didn't leave me any time to think about an update to the blog. So some pics seems like a good idea.
This is 621-721 crossing Bowen Tresle. It's a popular area for photographers as it gives a nice low angle. The tresle was the first scratch built structure on the layout, and it took me a couple of weekends to build and another couple to fit. All the timber is stained with India Ink and the bolts and rail painted with floquil rust and rail brown then finished with Aim powders. Ian's semaphore and my fettler shed top the scene off.
This one is one of my Fav's. When I made this I thought I was going overboard with detail. I thought the bolt head detail would never be seen but this photo made me think again. Kappler timber was used and brass flat and angle. The nuts and bolts are from Scale Hardware (see links) these are unbelievable.
I will try and follow up with the lighting in the next post but we will see.

Cheers