How to model a moonlit night in Wiley City

[298]

October's Model Railroader has held alot of interest for me, not just because I'm still wondering why they keep sending it to me after my subscription ended, but because there are a series of articles concerning how to add lights to your layout.

 

I must add at this point that people who know me will know layout lighting is a bit of a pet bugbear of mine, I'm not sure why people don't bother with it on their own projects or see it as an afterthought as to me it really is a necessity from the planning stages onwards. It was always my intention to present my current layout as a warm sunny day, just as I remember visiting the real location. However, although I'm not interested in lots of out of place unrealistic light sources or the typical continental layout full of plastic Faller buildings that look like there's a mild thermonuclear reaction going on inside of them. I do think realistic, animated light sources can add life to a scene- I can't remember it's name but if you'd ask me what was the first US that inspired me to join the dark side, I'd tell you it was one built and exhibited by Peter North in the mid 1990's, and had a single flashing neon sign in a window that was literally the finishing touch. My own locos have headlights and flashing beacons as per the prototypes, but I've yet to add the dozen or so small battery powered highway flashers that the crew used when operating into the night during the harvest.

 

Anyway, one of the articles recommends using blue LED rope light to create a moonlit night, so I invested in some to have a go and see if I could add a new dimension to my layout (I'd previously used mixed lengths of daylight and cool white on a small diorama so was familiar with the stuff). The layout has enough impact when illuminated by a single 5' cool white daylight tube and no other lights on in the room, as seen here:

 

 

I hastily added a few grain of wheat bulbs inside the Airstream trailer (might do this one with a red bulb...), Workshop, and General Store, and arranged 297 and 298 on the layout with lights blazing:

 

 

I wasn't sure about the initial effect, the article does state the blue light is there to provide some background and theatrical effect, as any ambient light on their test layout wouldn't be bright enough to operate by. I also found that even on 9 volts the LED's emmitted too much light and needed to be carefully placed to avoid illuminating the backscene too much, so I set the wall-wart to 7.5v.

 

From another angle, we have daylight:

 

 

Properly exposed (looking too bright to me):

 

 

Underexposed by 2 stops:

 

 

And with the blue lights on 9v:

 

 

Conclusions...? I think it adds a new dimension to operating, but I've just found some colour-changing LED strips on eBay that could be used for more effects, such as a late evening sun, less theatrically blue moonlight, or even used as a balance with the layout's own lighting to correct that in a hall when exhibited.

 

Any thoughts...?

[long island jack]

I've tried this with "HELM" at a few exhibition,with mixed results,it all depended on the hall lighting,it worked best in poorly light venues,which at exhibitions you don't want,in bright halls the front of the layout was far to bright and you didn't get the effect of all the spot lights along the back building,it looked naff!

 

At home it worked ok with just the spot lights on,was thinking of trying blue leds at sometime,but got waylaid with the new layout,now its on the to do list

 

 

Helms built in side a box which i thought would help for having different lighting effects,ok at home,not so good at exhibition,don't know how Wiley City is constructed, think you will have the same problem at exhibitions,unless you ask for a dark corner!!

 

just a few thoughts

 

Ray

[shortliner]

The blue looks too much like UV lighting - moonlight is more directed from above and a cold, whitish-silver - how you replicate it I don't know, but I suspect it needs a permanent scene paintied in multiple shades of grey, rather than a switchable scene between daylight and moonlight. A possibly more realistic effect could be ptoduced featuring twilight or dawn, with internal/external lighting on, or full heavy cloud cover immediately pre or post a storm

[shortliner]

Andy, I don't know if this will give the result you want, but it may be worth investigating - It appears to give a more silvery light than the blue ones

http://www.azgardens.com/p-253-moonlight-simulation-led-light-34-watt-moonlight.aspx

I haven't checked to find out about shipping etc.

[298]

I quite like the idea of this, and 5 meteres ought to be enough to provide adequate illumination for all but a bright sunny day (and if I don't like it I can always sell it on to someone to put behind their telly:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-STRIP-LIGHT-COLOUR-CHANGING-AQUARIUM-LIGHTS-FISH-UK-/270794554155?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3f0c9cfb2b

 

The only downside I can see is it is literally one step away from a full day to night automatic effect. I suppose it could also be used to correct un-natural hall lighting, not that the layout will be travelling out very often, let alone regarding this as a particular issue as the eye does adjust to the ambient colour temperature. If I asked an exhibition manager that question, I doubt I'd get much of a response...

[298]

Helms built in side a box which i thought would help for having different lighting effects,ok at home,not so good at exhibition,don't know how Wiley City is constructed, think you will have the same problem at exhibitions,unless you ask for a dark corner!!

 

just a few thoughts

 

Ray

 

 

Ray, it's in a box (seen here at TVNAM in 2011):

 

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi all,

 

I'm firmly in the 'Old School' camp when it comes to lighting of layouts.

 

No matter how much better the available lighting products have become - you still cannot colour balance using a single light source type such as LED or Fluo tube.

 

Ever since the first layout I fully lit - I've followed the same principal.

 

Use Red, Green and Blue with an sadditional white source to give a fuller range of light availability and enable you to create the directional dimension.

 

Yes - you need dimmers for all of these lights.

 

This way you can adjust the intensity of the individual light sources to compensate for the ambient light at the venue.

 

You can either use colouored bulbs or plain bulbs with lighting gel filters to achieve the colours.

 

Thanks

[Jon Grant 4472]

These photos of Hudson Road were taken at Keighley show in about 2002. I used blue spotlamps and a blue canopy to cut out as much show lighting as possible

 

 

 

 

 

Jon