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Post by rockymountaineer on May 9, 2020 4:15:57 GMT
.... David have you had any lights burn out? I saw one of ours out the other day but haven’t checked it out yet. What is the large building on your layout.? Back shop? It looks neat. ....
Bill, no lights have burned out in roughly 2.5 years. There are actually 3 buildings in the second photo. The building directly behind the locomotive is the Lionel Factory (tinplate version) from Lionel, offered back around the turn of the century, if I recall correctly. The small building behind the boxcars and Hellgate Bridge is an old Korber building, the JLC Manufacturing Co. And the larger building behind the tinplate Lionel Factory is actually another Korber building, a scale version of the Lionel Factory. The two Korber buildings were painted in Lionel blue/orange trim to match the tinplate version of the Lionel Factory.
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Post by Adam on May 9, 2020 9:23:19 GMT
I second the Philips Hue light. I have the white only bulbs but they give off excellent light when you need it and they can dim way down when you want a night or dusk effect. So far very reliables
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Post by harborbelt70 on May 9, 2020 9:24:19 GMT
Jason, These fixtures were purchased from Home Depot. They are available in Black or White. I like them because you can place individual lights in different locations, they have snapin electric connections so you can rotate them 360 degrees and slide left or right. Each section will support 4 lights. I used dimable LED bulbs. Relatively inexpensive. I do not have a flat ceiling, they are designed to be placed on a flat ceiling surface. I had to add spacers to keep them balanced. PS. You are looking at a 130 year old structural Hemlock in a stone walled basement. Yes it is dry. Speaking now as a thwarted architect/civil engineer, that stone and timber construction is really amazing - in fact, beautiful in its own right. What a setting for trains. Good lighting adaptation too!
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Post by harborbelt70 on May 9, 2020 9:28:29 GMT
No track lighting here. Just basement ceiling lights. Or, no lights. Or, you could always finish the ceiling with inlaid or fluorescent lighting where ever you want it. Never was a fan of the track lighting, but I’m probably in the minority. Nice pictures of your "basement" - I could do with a room and layout like that! Also nice to see your Santa Fe passenger cars on the rails. Actually I also have natural light and ceiling track lighting over where I mostly set up track, but the ceiling lighting seldom gets used.
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Post by fabforrest on May 9, 2020 11:50:56 GMT
Sadly, I did not think of track lighting when construction was underway. Regrets galore.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2020 12:41:19 GMT
PS. You are looking at 130 year old structural Hemlock in a stone walled basement. Yes it is dry. Speaking now as a thwarted architect/civil engineer, that stone and timber construction is really amazing - in fact, beautiful in its own right. What a setting for trains. Good lighting adaptation too! Thank you HarborBelt70, We are grateful for our home. It is a very strong, beautiful, well built home. We all have what we have for our trains and this stone basement works for me. I do appreciate your kind comment.
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Post by Yellowstone Special on May 9, 2020 13:42:21 GMT
No track lighting here. Just basement ceiling lights. Or, no lights. Or, you could always finish the ceiling with inlaid or fluorescent lighting where ever you want it. Never was a fan of the track lighting, but I’m probably in the minority. Nice pictures of your "basement" - I could do with a room and layout like that! Also nice to see your Santa Fe passenger cars on the rails. Actually I also have natural light and ceiling track lighting over where I mostly set up track, but the ceiling lighting seldom gets used. Thank you, harborbelt. Basements are big in Utah. Natural light is a good thing. When we run the trains during the day, we often turn the overhead lights off and just appreciate the natural light through the basement windows, which brings out the layout lights a little better.
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Post by thebigcrabcake on May 9, 2020 14:55:25 GMT
Jason is a great modeler but he's also a very talented videographer/Vlogger as can be seen on his successful YouTube channel called JDStucks: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6C1PI96VLo3dwjumleZxPw. The later requires different and substantial lighting. My recommendation is for a combination of Can lights and track lights. The Can lights should be spaced four feet apart in a grid pattern and are more than enough for everyday running of trains. For Video and Photos, Track lights should be installed on the ceiling perpendicular to the edges of the layout just about over the head of any operator/spectator and angled to provide light at roughly a 35 degree angle to the areas of the layout (the train tracks) that are most likely to be filmed. I would use small adjustable lamps placed every 12 inches on the lighting tracks. These can be easily re-aimed whenever necessary. By placing them directly overhead of the operator/spectator space, they will be easy to access for adjustment. They MUST be LED to avoid the uncomfortable heat levels and circuit overload that accompany other choices. People see images but cameras see only light. The best quality images can only be captured by camera light sensors if they have proper lighting. Cameras need 50% more light than people so if the lighting looks good to you, then you must add additional lighting for the scene to look good for your camera. ‘The lights pictured below came from Home Depot and they come in white or black. Emile
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Post by dennym57 on May 9, 2020 14:59:04 GMT
I just have a three lights on the ceiling and the rest from the layout.
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Post by Yellowstone Special on May 9, 2020 15:18:58 GMT
Jason is a great modeler but he's also a very talented videographer/Vlogger as can be seen on his successful YouTube channel called JDStucks: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6C1PI96VLo3dwjumleZxPw. The later requires different and substantial lighting. My recommendation is for a combination of Can lights and track lights. The Can lights should be spaced four feet apart in a grid pattern and are more than enough for everyday running of trains. For Video and Photos, Track lights should be installed on the ceiling perpendicular to the edges of the layout just about over the head of any operator/spectator and angled to provide light at roughly a 35 degree angle to the areas of the layout (the train tracks) that are most likely to be filmed. I would use small adjustable lamps placed every 12 inches on the lighting tracks. These can be easily re-aimed whenever necessary. By placing them directly overhead of the operator/spectator space, they will be easy to access for adjustment. They MUST be LED to avoid the uncomfortable heat levels and circuit overload that accompany other choices. People see images but cameras see only light. The best quality images can only be captured by camera light sensors if they have proper lighting. Cameras need 50% more light than people so if the lighting looks good to you, then you must add additional lighting for the scene to look good for your camera. ‘The lights pictured below came from Home Depot and they come in white or black. Emile Emile, so that’s why your photos and videos are of such professional quality. It’s because of all those overhead lights! 😉
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2020 16:27:51 GMT
I used the same track lighting setup as Wood, and, like him, I also switched to LEDs. The halogen bulbs that are supplied with these fixtures generate a lot of heat; and, several people have told me that the halogen lights can, over time, cause the paint on the trains to fade, especially the older prewar tinplate trains. I don't know if that is actually the case, but I didn't want to take the chance. This has been a very reliable system, and I wouldn't change a thing if I could do it over again.
John
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Post by rockymountaineer on May 9, 2020 18:09:00 GMT
Just to add a general comment here... once you install and use a good combo of flood and spotlights on the layout in your train room, you’ll NEVER go back to just “standard” room lighting. The difference is like night and day.
Bottom line... good lighting is EVERYTHING!
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Post by thebigcrabcake on May 9, 2020 18:11:21 GMT
Emile, so that’s why your photos and videos are of such professional quality. It’s because of all those overhead lights! 😉Thank you for the nice compliment. In all honesty, I actually Do attribute lighting as the most important factor in a successful photo/video. My hierarchy of importance: For Photos: 1. Lighting 2. Camera 3. Tripod For Video: 1. Lighting 2. Tripod 3. Camera Emile
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jdstucks57
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Post by jdstucks57 on May 10, 2020 16:52:32 GMT
Wow, thank you all for your replies! The type of lighting Emile is suggesting is most likely what I'll go with. And I'll be doing a lot of videos and pictures of my layout so the more light the better!
Thanks everyone!
- Jason
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Post by Spice7 on May 10, 2020 18:01:45 GMT
I ordered some led bulbs as previously noted, old bulbs generate heat and power. Attachments:
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