Try fogging the glazing, on the inside, with spray paint or using some of the colored cellophane (that took a few minutes to spell(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)) that is used in stage lighting. Never used the cellophane so don’t know how it will with stand UV.
Rick
All good ideas guys thanks. I’d rather not permanently “opacify” the windows, but a hybrid of y’all’s thoughts should work.
Get clear plastic film
Spray one side with frosting paint (or just lightly with almond / off-white)
After that dries, cut into smaller pieces per window
Spray the other side with spray-mount and stick on
CJ
I really wouldn’t worry about it too much. It is VERY difficult to see inside, even with large windows.
I glazed mine with acrylic as the other stuff turned yellow over the years.
On a building with small windows, you don’t see anything but darkness.
When I did the firehouse with LARGE windows, I put some light barriers and shapes inside, but I don’t think I needed to bother…
Even if you’re going to light them up, think of your typical viewing distance - you won’t be able to peek inside unless you put your nose up to the window…and then your nose will be blocking the view. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
All great points Bruce. Mine’s all painted flat black inside, so it may not need anything, like you say.
Cliff Jennings said:
All good ideas guys thanks. I’d rather not permanently “opacify” the windows, but a hybrid of y’all’s thoughts should work.
Get clear plastic film
Spray one side with frosting paint (or just lightly with almond / off-white)
After that dries, cut into smaller pieces per window
Spray the other side with spray-mount and stick on
CJ
I like your particular brand of insanity. Goes though all this trouble, just cause he might change his mind?
Lookin’ great Cliff, going to be awesome once planted!
Haha! Randy, you’re right, I forgot step 5: “Remove after thinking about it more” (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Thanks Buddy!
Cliff Jennings said:
Haha! Randy, you’re right, I forgot step 5: “Remove after thinking about it more” (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Thanks Buddy!
Oh no! You can’t remove anything. You have to add 108 different alternatives…and slowly cross them off…but bring each one of them back after further consideration. In the end, you’re left with 108 different alternatives and you spend all of your time trying to determine which one is the best. Folks will try to “help” you by making various suggestions, but you’ll finally whittle it down to what is easiest for you (not them!); by the time you put it out on the layout, you won’t remember any of the other options and in retrospect it will have been the best choice all along.
The upside, Bruce, is that you have 108 red herrings to throw at the next guy! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)But only if you had a decent memory… which I don’t… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
Anyway, thanks for your sage advice Bruce, I appreciate it. I also like the point you made earlier, about forgetting about it once it’s installed. I’m that way as well; bandwidth on my gray cells is limited.
Thanks also to all you others for your input & ideas, y’all have made me think. I’ve never lit a building for the layout before, and this is kinda big to start on.
Like I said before, it’ll be a few weeks till I get to this, and experimenting with diffuser material will be the easy part (after installing the lights). I’m guessing that a diffuser of some kind will light up the window more than, say, light just going through clear material. Needs something to act against. Not for hiding the interior (you can’t really see it, it’s just black shapes) but just to make the window stand out.
We’ll see.
Tomorrow I’ll be working on the platforms, so I hope to post some progress pics after that.
===>Cliffy
Is it done yet?
Almost Rooster! At least, the platforms.
Started out early this AM, assembling and masking the platforms.
Here’s the painted versions.
The exposed surfaces will get something glued to them.
The base parts will be painted differently, and bonded on later. Their paper was left on for painting the frames, and they were used to mask the feet of all the posts. Here’s the bases, un-papered, but with their post holes plugged or masked for painting (which I’m still doing now).
In the mean time, I’ve been installing the building vents, and inking & clear-coating the platform deck & trim pieces.
Hopefully all will be ready for platform assembly in the morning.
Then, on to lighting, water tank, or ore bin, haven’t quite decided.
===>Cliffy
Cliff you are over the top with this build. Now that you’ve shown the deck work and talked of lighting the interior will we next see proper plumbing and running water ? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
When Bruce built the “Hazardous Waste Plant”, he included running water…!!
Fred
I think one of the mistakes folks make when doing interior lighting is to go too bright and they end up looking like Christmas village buildings, keep the effect subtle run the lights at lower voltage or use something to diffuse the light that way it doesn’t look like a beacon announcing that there is nothing to see inside. BTW great work so far !
Fred Mills, SOG said:
When Bruce built the “Hazardous Waste Plant”, he included running water…!!
Fred
Hehe…actually, I included a tube that allows water to run through it. Fred got the pump to make it work!
And I agree with Gary. Dim, yellowish lights are more appropriate.
Oh yea.
Haha Hollywood! Sorry, no running water… and Fred, I’d never try to keep up with The Bruce! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)This is a pretty crude build once you look closer than a couple feet. But Hollywood, just wait till the catwalks buddy! Hundreds of parts involved there, sheesh… I took an overall part count for the project yesterday, and it was over 2,000. So while plumbing seems attractive, I need to draw the line somewhere brutha. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
This morning I cut some final parts for the water tank, and excapt for a piece of PVC pipe, here’s the pile for that.
Here’s the tank sub-assemblies painted. There’s a wooden stack that will come up from it, but I haven’t gotten that far in the assembly.
While this painting was going on, I glued the decking and trim onto the platforms.
The acrylic sheet posts turned out only fair; and I’m no painter. I like how the decking turned out though.
Overall, I’m fine with the platforms, and it’s time to pull the plug on that aspect.
I appreciate the conversation about the lighting, and David M, those are great shots, that’s what I’m going after. Thanks for that!
I’ve cut and positioned rectangular plastic tubes that will hold the LED tape for each module .
Some tubes will have tape only on the bottom side, some both top and bottom. Due to the roof design, sometimes the LED’s will be visible through a window. This will make diffusers important on at least some windows, to not see the LED’s directly.
BTW, my wife had a great idea for at least some of the windows: hang a photo of a mine (surface works) interior, and let that be visible through some windows. That would be really cool for a room with a number of windows, such as the boiler room (with a row of 5 windows). Now, where to get a color pic of a set of ~four old boilers such as was used in this period, all lined up? Probably not gonna happen, but it’s a neat idea. And it would necessitate removal of the diffuser material.
Anyway, I’ll start on the lighting stuff maybe next weekend. I’ll be on work travel all week, but will have my ears on!
Thanks guys,
===>Cliffy
She read my mind like a dime novel! 'Cept I was thinking postcards in the windows …
John
Wow! That’s looking just awesome!!!
You don’t always need historical pictures. You can use whatever you have and it just makes it more personal.
I did a search online and found something suitable for my grocery store background.
But, unless you have BIG windows, you really won’t see much. Heck, even my people in windows shots aren’t THAT visible.
And if you do that, you may want to stand them back an inch or two from the window so the light can still get out.
:nothing to say:
