Large Scale Central

Beating the Boredom: Lighting Up The Life

Modeling
#1

Shortly before this all went to hell in a handbasket, I picked up a soldering iron in hopes of making things light up. I had picked up an Aristo switch-tower at the end of last fall that had wires snipped and original lights removed. Fortunately, in that estate, most of the parts were there to get it close to original. I spent yesterday evening re-wiring and lighting it up.

After getting the light glued, I secured the switch-box.

Finally, put the roof back on. I’m not sure if I’ll re-wire the smoke unit or set up a flickering burn-barrel down on the base.

#2

“Let there be light! Oh, wait, hang on a sec. Let there be batteries!” (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Successful wiring is a grand feeling.

#3

It was only my second time using a soldering iron. New skills!

#4

Bill Sakalaucks said:

It was only my second time using a soldering iron. New skills!

And that’s an even grander feeling!

#5

Bill Sakalaucks said:

It was only my second time using a soldering iron. New skills!

That’s why I love this hobby. All the skills one ends up learning along the way.

#6

Good deal. i was not going to get to excited about lighting my buildings. But now that I have done one I love the idea.

#7

This is on my list to do after the roadbed rebuild this spring, lighting my buildings. I have a bunch of old solar garden lights I’ll try to leverage. They had solar roof panels in the late 1800’s, right? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#8

It’s a sky light that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. You can also put them in windows and seem to work well

#9

I remote wired it all and made a rock with the solar panel and electronics in it.

#10

Devon Sinsley said:

Good deal. i was not going to get to excited about lighting my buildings. But now that I have done one I love the idea.

I got the bug a couple of years ago. Did four with LEDs bouncing off colored vinyl ceilings to get a proper color temp. Bought a bunch of cheap grain of wheat bulbs on Amazon and put them in a few buildings. The bulbs do not last long enough for me. I keep them llit nearly 12 hours a day. Love seeing them out the window on a dark morning (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)

EDIT to add: I power them with a constant 12V in the track, then tap the track where needed. My trains are all self powered r/c.