You need a mix of flourescents and incandecent. Flourescents and "energy saver" bulbs will give odd colour effects. Incandescent bulbs will give a warm appearance light. You need a higher light output than would be normal in a home situation when you are modelling, about normal home lighting level for viewing/operation and a lower "toe stubbing" level for "night time" operation. Probably the simplest way to do that is to have 3 seperate overall lighting circuits so you can choose your light level. One of those circuits can be on a dimmer.
Ackshooly, if you knew anything about lighting, you'd know that fluorescents (note spelling), including CFLs, come in many colors, from "daylight" (5,000-6,400 Kelvin) to warm white (2,700 K). (Maybe in NZ they only come in one color.)
You can mix fluorescents and incandescents for the desired color and effect. Maybe use some concentrated lights, like mini-spots or small halogen lights, for lighting particular scenes or parts of scenes.
In NZ they come not only in the standard range but also a special version for Greg, known as ultra-dull. It attempts to cast light on everything but actually produces only total gloom.
That's very true, however I feel that the "daylight" colour isn't very natural when one is trying to represent the broad spectrum of natures colours. Perhaps it's the difference between NZ's relatively unpolluted atmosphere and that where the tubes are manufactured - or perhaps my eyes need recalibrating?
I think the US has more problems with colour than NZ does.
Eyes do need recalibrating. With time, the lenses tend to darken and produce a warmer, more yellow image. Found this out when I had the lens replaced in my right eye. Now when I close my left eye everything is bright white and shiny new. When I close the right, everything is weathered.
In the course of looking for a new 'train room' with a house on top, AKA basement, I asked my broker to check out the info for a house of interest. She sent me the response from the seller's broker that included the phrase 'Its perfect for a model RxR hobbyist.' which inspired me to attempt this list.
A _'perfect'_ basement for a model RR would:
have no walkout
have 12 block high walls with no windows
be ABSOLUTELY dry and dust free
not have any cute little alcoves
probably be 'L' shaped or rectangular minimum 1500-1600 sqft usable space
have NOTHING else in the basement (furnace, water heater, pumps, tanks, electric service entrance, fireplace, any and all other utilities and services would be somewhere else*)
have one or 2 walls about 60-70 feet long and no wall shorter than 30 feet
have ABSOLUTELY nothing (i.e. stairway or any of the prohibited devices [item 6]) within 5 feet of any outside wall
have 2 stairways one of which leads to a woodworking shop area (the garage) and will pass 4x8 plywood or 16 foot dimensional lumber, the second leads to the hall near the guest bathroom and both can be used for evacuation if necessary
have walls, floor and ceiling coated or finished with a smooth, paintable, dust free surface
have electric outlets located about 3 feet high off the floor spaced about 12 feet apart with conduit embedded in the wall
have a single switch for all power and a separate switch(s) for lights located at the bottom of the stairway
have 2 levels of illumination 1 for construction/maintenance and 1 for operations/display
not have upper floor supports in inconvenient places
may have a small sink as long as it obeys item 8 (maybe it's in the little space under a stairway)
not be subject to flooding, ever!
be climate controlled
probably not exist in the real world
probably never be big enough even though it's perfect ;-)
*As a practical matter, all utilities could be in the same corner near the big stairway to the garage.
Based on discussions here, I may alter item 13 ;-)
We don't even see the same _differences_ between colours, as shown by "colour blindness".
And it's the reason that debates about the 'correct" or "prototypical" colours are often beside the point. What matters is a consistent (and toned down) palette, which gives an overall impression of (at least plausible) reality. This was John Allen's great insight. Sellios, McClelland and many others used it, too.
I'd worry more about people seeing in and theft than lighting for night ops. Not too mention the heat gain from all that glass - it's an easy bet you've got at least one wall that gets the full force of the sun. At least one thing on your layout would be prototypical - sun kinks in your trackwork! Hope you got a monster a/c unit for your space.
The burglar alarm for our Train Room is linked to the one for the house.
Air conditioning is a real problem with our setup. I didn't want to devote a
220 line for the purpose because that would have required upgrading the box for the house so I've used a large 110 unit and a separate portable plus column and ceiling fans. Still gets into the 90's--but it's a dry heat. :>)
Call an experienced Glass Person. They make a UV film that will reflect at least 50% of the heat. It's a commercial product and will pay for it self with the off set of cooling costs. That will help cut down room temps by 20 degrees. It will also help retain heat during the winter months. Mike M
My Train Room is a converted 18 x 30' greenhouse. I'm pretty sure an earlier description mentioned that the roof was replaced by commercial screen room ceiling panels which consists of an outer and inner aluminum layer with approx
3" of styrofoam as a sandwich. Most of the side walls have been covered with
4 x 8 corrugated plastic sheets to provide a surface for backdrops. Fiberglass insulation was placed between the fiberglass side walls and the plastic sheets. The floor is now a 4" concrete slab over the previous layer of approx
8" of crushed rock from greenhouse days. Although this tends to help maintain a more comfortable temperature during spring and early summer, the heat accumulation tends to retard night cooling. When it gets to the mid 60's outside, it's still the low 70's in the Train Room. I did retain a fairly large exhaust fan from greenhouse days that kicks in automatically when the inside temperature reaches the mid 80's. This helps keep the inside temperature down around 10 degrees when I'm not out there and prevents the inside temperature from reaching over the mid 90's.
A large evaporative cooler served well when it was a greenhouse since I had the need to maintain humidity at least at 80% (phaelonopsis orchids). This was replaced by a large 110 window air conditioner since the high humidity was not something in which I wanted to keep my trains. I've supplemented this with a protable air conditioner, ceiling fans and column fans which I run when I'm out there.
So I've had to find some non-standard solutions to a non-standard construction.
The suggestions for the original poster who has a more "standard" structure should serve him well.
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