Weather finally cooperated and I was able to get some night layout shots:
You’ve been busy lately. The lighting is fantastic. really looks cool in the canvas quonset hut. The loco illuminating the tunnel is pretty cool too. I’ve not seen a similar picture to that yet.
Looks like the grass in the horse pasture is just regular old grass. Do you have to pick everything up to mow? Dose each building have it’s own battery, or is there a hidden wire providing power?
Really like the sheep herders wagon
Randy Lehrian Jr. said:
Looks like the grass in the horse pasture is just regular old grass. Do you have to pick everything up to mow? Dose each building have it’s own battery, or is there a hidden wire providing power?
The horse pasture is wild grass and moss. It doesn’t get super tall, but I do hand trim if it gets out of hand.
I use malibu 12v AC outdoor lighting. A 600 watt transformer powers the lights (two separate 300 watt zones). There are underground wires going to each building. The building lights hook up to the underground wires via alligator clips making it easy to connect and disconnect. Most of the buildings use malibu bulbs. The wattage ranges from 4 to 18. But they are predominately 4 w and 7 w bulbs. I also use smaller 12v bulbs for places a malibu bulb won’t fit. This includes the billboard lights, gas pump globe, and in the sheep herders wagon.
Man I like night shots.
Tom H
Matt,
The gasoline pump glass dome…how did you illuminate it?
Jay Briscoe said:
Matt,
The gasoline pump glass dome…how did you illuminate it?
The globe is from a kit Ozark miniatures used to sell. It was made by a company called R & D Unique, Seattle, WA. But unfortunately Ozark does not list these kits anymore. It also came with Conoco decals, so pretty much perfect for what I needed.
The nice thing about the globe is it is clear. So you can light it. I used a small 12v bulb. I put a small aluminum tube in the pump to hide the wires. The wires go underneath and connect to the main power supply wires inside the side building…I have to open the sliding door to get to the connection.
The base of the pump is by Piko.
Some more night photos:
I really like the closeup of the gazebo.
Nice! Must be a lot of fun t run night trains on your line. I’ve yet to get any buildings lit. I bought a bunch of short battery operated LED Christmas lights in January. I put some inside indoor buildings, but haven’t tried them outdoors. Need to do that.
A few night shots of the San Juan. Now with interior lights:
Wow! I know the camera accentuates the brightness but holy cow - you might be having an alien encounter inside those cars (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Cool Pics… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Very cool pics.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Daktah John said:
Wow! I know the camera accentuates the brightness but holy cow - you might be having an alien encounter inside those cars (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
They do look too bright with my camera. Can’t really adjust it like you can with an SLR and changeable lenses.
You could try taking your shots a little earlier in the evening. It doesn’t even really need to be dusk, so long as you are in shadow. More ambient light will tone down the cars being so hot. Even with a fully adjustable camera some of my best night shots are really taken just after sunset while the sky is still very bright.
The “golden hour”, at least that’s what professional photographers call it.