Can you help there I am about to build a winter layout with lots of Snow and the frozen look can you help what lighting do I need is it white light or Blue light and have you used it many thanks Robin
Hello Robin,
I've been watching your thread to see what comes up but there are no replies. It is early days, just two, but I thought I'd chip in.
Where is this layout? Is it at home or for exhibition? I think that will affect the lighting you use a lot. At home you can shut curtains, dim the room lights and so on, but at an exhibition my guess is that you will need a fair degree of control depending on the hall and where you are in it.
Examples I've seen use a mix of colours and directional lighting as the sun is generally low in the sky. Possibly a mix of blue and pink from different directions. Another thing that suggests winter time is yellow light coming from windows. Snow really mucks up our colour balance and perception.
Another thing is to look at the colours of other things in the scene and perhaps keep them muted. On one otherwise rather nice model railway scene the tree trunks were very brown that unfortunately made the scene look an old movie shot in Hollywood with foam sprayed on flourishing vegetation. In a non-winter model railway the same tree trunks would possible just have looked a darkish colour.
I am half tempted by this LED strip light myself for layout lighting (not snow scene):
http://www.banggood.com/5M-SMD-5050-RGB-Waterproof-300-LED-Strip-Light-44-Key-Controller-12V-p-996877.html?utm_design=20&utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=Mail_mid35_email&utm_campaign=newsletter-emarsys&utm_content=Claire&sc_src=email_1561434&sc_eh=fc55b3934c2060111&sc_llid=152750&sc_lid=75442057&sc_uid=pF52N6crHw&emst=pF52N6crHw_152750_1561434_222 (http://www.banggood.com/5M-SMD-5050-RGB-Waterproof-300-LED-Strip-Light-44-Key-Controller-12V-p-996877.html?utm_design=20&utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=Mail_mid35_email&utm_campaign=newsletter-emarsys&utm_content=Claire&sc_src=email_1561434&sc_eh=fc55b3934c2060111&sc_llid=152750&sc_lid=75442057&sc_uid=pF52N6crHw&emst=pF52N6crHw_152750_1561434_222)
Whether it could be used to give convincing snow scene lighting is uncertain, but it appears to be be fully controllable.
I've bought a few things from the company and so far all has gone well.
Quote from: GraemeD on October 20, 2015, 09:02
I am half tempted by this LED strip light myself for layout lighting (not snow scene):
http://www.banggood.com/5M-SMD-5050-RGB-Waterproof-300-LED-Strip-Light-44-Key-Controller-12V-p-996877.html?utm_design=20&utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=Mail_mid35_email&utm_campaign=newsletter-emarsys&utm_content=Claire&sc_src=email_1561434&sc_eh=fc55b3934c2060111&sc_llid=152750&sc_lid=75442057&sc_uid=pF52N6crHw&emst=pF52N6crHw_152750_1561434_222 (http://www.banggood.com/5M-SMD-5050-RGB-Waterproof-300-LED-Strip-Light-44-Key-Controller-12V-p-996877.html?utm_design=20&utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=Mail_mid35_email&utm_campaign=newsletter-emarsys&utm_content=Claire&sc_src=email_1561434&sc_eh=fc55b3934c2060111&sc_llid=152750&sc_lid=75442057&sc_uid=pF52N6crHw&emst=pF52N6crHw_152750_1561434_222)
Whether it could be used to give convincing snow scene lighting is uncertain, but it appears to be be fully controllable.
I've bought a few things from the company and so far all has gone well.
I used one of them on my O-16.5 layout see film
here the lighting is running on fade 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBb2nyq_zU
That is some pretty psychedelic lighting there! It shows what the possibilities are though. How is it in terms of brightness, and how many of the LEDs did you use?
Quote from: GraemeD on October 20, 2015, 17:24
That is some pretty psychedelic lighting there! It shows what the possibilities are though. How is it in terms of brightness, and how many of the LEDs did you use?
I used a full roll like this but I need lots of light as the room I keep the layout in is dark
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8594/16506156978_93f54751b7_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/r9Anpq)100_7897 (https://flic.kr/p/r9Anpq) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
here is the layout with the LEDs off
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/16071430494_0b754788e2_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qubhnd)100_7898 (https://flic.kr/p/qubhnd) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
& with them on
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8589/16506350840_ffdef33b04_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/r9Bn2S)100_7899 (https://flic.kr/p/r9Bn2S) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
again with them off & curtains closed
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8674/16506152788_aef0a62527_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/r9Amab)100_7900 (https://flic.kr/p/r9Amab) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
& On
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8679/16506151718_ce21aaa346_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/r9AkQJ)100_7901 (https://flic.kr/p/r9AkQJ) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
and heres some close ups with the LED off & on
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8632/16486455127_7f9bfd2c58_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/r7RoJk)100_7908 (https://flic.kr/p/r7RoJk) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8603/16692414721_c666e6f17c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rr3ZkP)100_7909 (https://flic.kr/p/rr3ZkP) by brian mosby (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozzer36/), on Flickr
Nice! I think you have sold me on the idea.
Another example of using an LED strip:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi893.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fac131%2Fgastwo_photos%2Fbonc%2520light%2520small8.jpg&hash=839e4b0f31440d6934ac62ee700714d50d63ee09)
Sorry, Robin - this isn't answering your question. Please excuse the hi-jack.
Shaun.
Again not quite answering the question, but here is some excellent layout lighting.
http://vikaschander.com/layout-lighting/ (http://vikaschander.com/layout-lighting/)
Perhaps the useful bit is the positioning of lights if you want that "frozen mutton Farquharson" effect :-)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/The_shortening_winter%27s_day_is_near_a_close_Farquharson.jpg/300px-The_shortening_winter%27s_day_is_near_a_close_Farquharson.jpg)
(A favourite painting in Aberdeen Art Gallery)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Farquharson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Farquharson)