Fantastic progress!

You're gonna have more light in there than a NASA satellite assembly unit...!!! Looking REALLY good....

As I said previously, "Go Gary go!" Looking good! I just checked back and noticed that your first post while still waiting for the weather to dry out enough to build was back in the middle of December and here in April you are almost ready to start the layout! Cool!

Thanks everyone. Russ, thanks for the encouragement again, and yes, we have come a long way in 3.5 months. I haven't made too many mistakes on this project, but discovered one this afternoon...

I decided to install the AC in the "thru-the-wall" sleeve when I got home from work. I pick it up and try to place it in the sleeve, but it won't go in.

:? Huh? What's the deal? I know this is the correct sleeve for this model. Wait... No... I didn't. I couldn't have! No! :oops: I know I read the installation instructions! AAAAAGGGHHHH!!! I put the sleeve in the wall BACKWARDS!

Well, after removing some screws and cutting out all the caulking around the sleeve, I was able to remove it from the hole in the wall. And then, while I had it out, I noticed that this unit is similar to what you may find in a road-side motel, I'm sure you've seen the AC units that mount way low down on the floor and the air comes out at a 45 degree angle or so? Well, this one is like that. And I thought the air was going to blow straight out of the unit like a window unit, so I had made the hole pretty close up underneath where the layout shelf will be - so the air is going to be blowing up directly at the back side of the fascia. Not good. So as long as I had the sleeve out, I lowered the hole. Had to cut out the plywood on the outside, the studs, the sheetrock, rebuild the 2x4s around the hole, and close it back up. Got it all done tonight, now I just have to finish the sheetrock on the inside.

sometimes I am such a dumb___! :oops:

if you put the a/c in backwards, it would serve as a heat pump furnace

Gary, that is one heck of a nice building, no comparison to the barn I'm building. You should have many hours of enjoyment from it.
The lighting system is wonderful. I don't think I will be near that elaborate. Maybe I'll just hang shop lights or dimmable florescent bulbs.
Charlie

I still say "the more light the better." Charlie, I hope you don't go cheap on the lighting. It is one of the most important things in my opinion.

Gary S Wrote:I still say "the more light the better." Charlie, I hope you don't go cheap on the lighting. It is one of the most important things in my opinion.

Natural light is best (and I am not talking about the beer) Seriously, this time of year the weather is nice where I live, and I find it much easier to do my modeling on the patio. I can see the details so much better!

The trouble with natural light is that it's not very reliable - other than for the fact that it seems to disappear every night, of course.
While the quality of sunlight can't be matched, I much prefer the ability to control the light, both on the layout and when working on trains at the workbench. That's one of the reasons why there are no windows in the layout room. A portable diorama for photography, though, could be a useful option.

Wayne

I actually prefer incandescent lighting, especially for photography, but with them soon to be outlawed I'll have to go with the fluorescent. I have some of the new replacement bulbs that came from Home Depot that do give off a warmer, yellower light, but I haven't tried any pictures with them. I personally hate too much lighting on a layout, I don't think it looks natural, and for natural looking pictures you need the light to either produce no shadows at all, or only a shadow like you get from sunlight.
Charlie

I agree that the ideal situation would be a single point light source (to render the shadows properly) but I suspect that the single point light source would need to be several hundred yards away to make the shadows convincing for the entire layout.

Fluorescent tubes are made in various "temperatures" which give different kinds of light. They make a "sunlight" or "daylight" version which supposedly matches sunlight. The ones I am using are 4100K which are soft white. I would have preferred the sunlight ones, but the supply house had the 4100K as standard with the fixtures and I didn't want to pay extra. I would also prefer the incandescents but it is harder to get the light spread out so that there are no variations in the light on the backdrop. With your "island" concept versus my "shelf" concept, I think I have more backdrop than you will, so this will be less of a problem with your layout.

I can't ever remember seeing a layout that had too much light. (I have seen plenty that don't have nearly enough!) Anyway, it all comes down to compromise because we can't recreate the sun and its lighting effects in miniature.

Oh... Charlie, I hope I didn't sound condescending when I used the word "cheap". My apologies if it came across that way.

Gary S Wrote:Oh... Charlie, I hope I didn't sound condescending when I used the word "cheap". My apologies if it came across that way.

Gary, my wife calls me "cheap Chuck" so no offence was taken

doctorwayne Wrote:The trouble with natural light is that it's not very reliable - other than for the fact that it seems to disappear every night, of course. Wayne

You live in the wrong place. 330 days of sunshine per year here!

Been working on the backdrop the past two days. I started with A medium blue and made 5 different shades by adding white. Then I painted a band of each color on the wall, dark at top, light at bottom. Now I am blending the colors together by lightly rolling the lower color into the upper color. In the first two photos, you can see the distinct bands. In the third, I am blending them together.

Oh... with 170 feet of backdrop, this is alot of work!

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