2016/11/25

2016_11_25 And so their was light!

2016_11_25 Aldi 10m connectable (to 40m) rope lights-Just $17


All lights off and no flash! Its very dark outside.  No (real) moon Just strip lights... Oh I like that 👀


Strip lights (both sides) just standing back a little. I could negotiate the mess on the floor, easily with this much light. These strips are sunny white 5m and cost me $8 each plus shipping from China.


The other side with blue Aldi lights on Wodonga side. As you can see wiring job has become a re-wiring job, but I am getting through a lot of modifications and can soon tidy all this up.



Only light on is the rope light. I think I can bare looking at a "blue" moon 😆 I think I will fix it  to top of back scene board, out of sight under layout. I think 4 strips will be quite bright. Might have to reduce the voltage a little. In fact joining a second strip, may do that for me.


Interestingly in this shot the sunny white strips are on and so is the blue rope light. The blue was very bright, but easily overcome by the sunny whites. I wonder if the fader controls will work. I would need to parallel 0 to 36 volts with 12 to 0 volts to get the effect and I'm betting I would need to do that electronically, which bests my analog skills.

Ok had my coffee, time  ⏰  to get down and dirty on my floor once again. 
 Well the trolley at least keeps me above the floor these days. 😌
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_24 Al came over again for more torture.

2016_11_24   Paint the wall. a little carpentry and then the two of us tackled some wiring.



It seems that my mistakes are not looking far enough ahead, or perhaps I am just less observant than I once was?
 The high level road bed was already clear of the lower level SG track. It would have been far better to lay this baseboard against the wall from the turntable on. It was only when I was looking for a place to put the table that I realised I had clear acess from underneath.
The supports are screwed tightly and appears solid, so I just added another support against the wall and will glue the foam board between that and the baseboard. Actually an easy fix, even if the original mistake used resources and time unwisely. Particularly as I have a good friend helping me get this side finished.


Whilst messing around with the timber, Al painted the wall. Thanks mate.

After this we fixed some more wiring on the Wodonga station board. Some jobs were two man easy, and a lot more difficult on my own. We fixed all those!


Ok so now all the wiring underneath this section is either fixed, or easily fixed on my own. And thats tomorrows job!
Above you will notice that I have removed the LED strip lights and cleaned the venetian blind slats and re-glued the strip back in place.
I used hot glue, and I was very lucky not to destroy the strips. As it turns out the leds are soldered on to the strips with low temp solder, and the hot glue damaged one strip of 4 LED's. It could have been much worse.  I will use "no more nails" in future. But the lights are now out of sight and give great illumination. Some say you need three rows of light strips. That's not for me. I am not modelling a desert scene, after all. You might notice on top of the track some rope lights? These are 10m Christmas lights from Aldi. They can be connected together, up to 40 m, in length, but from their instructions, I am not sure if one power pack is enough for all of them??  But at $17 a box, good value. These are a blue light strip, and will be used during night time running to simulate moonlight.


This is the other side of the island baseboard. Wodonga Coal Siding. These lights were put in 2 years ago, and I attached the LED strips to venetian blinds (as reflector) and to hold them straight I screwed it all to a strip of 35 x 18 pine. The strips have stayed attached, however the wood support is a pain to work around and it certainly does not look great. But it works and will stay in place.

Ok thats it from Al and I for another good "Al-Day"
Cheers
Rod