Got to love the history behind this town. Think of all the work that the townspeople put into building the community. Sad to have Lester go the way of so many other failed railroad towns. I'm glad Robert Ray has the heart to care. These people and this history deserves to be fondly remembered.
So today, I finally finished the 1930's era industrial ceiling lights for my roundhouse. These are the type I am trying to reproduce: And this is what I ended up with. I used 6K ohms of resistance, so they would only just light up instead of drown out the camera. I also painted the floor and studs, so now I can move on to drawing up the walls:
I made those lamps cheap and quick. I bought these LED's, and twisted the wires: Wired 0402 Warm White LED I bought these Stainless Steel Bead Caps and threaded the wires through the bead cap, all the way to the LED. This represents the reflector: 3mm Stainless Bead Cap I filled the inside of the reflector with Clear Parts Cement and let dry: After the clear parts cement dried I applied a second layer to make sure the LED was glued in place, then let dry overnight, I wired them into the framework of my building, and painted them hunter green, I went ahead and painted the twisted wires with the same paint only because I used Tamiya X5 Green paint which is sticky and will hold the wires together better than my flat black does. They are not perfect, but they are tiny, and are the best option available in Z, and cost about 75 cents each to make.
I will never hold back any secrets either. As soon as I come up with a cheaper way, or learn any tricks or tips, I will share them immediately for everyone to use. These lamps are so easy and inexpensive to make, anyone can do it, and I recommend everyone try to make some. These lamps will look good on any covered loading dock, in warehouse structures, or even inside downtown storefront shops. They are actually more suitable for N and HO scale projects, as the size is more appropriate but these are the smallest bead caps I could find.
Darn. I wish I knew about these things before I took on a massive lighting project. I have at least 4 modules with numerous Just Plug LEDs lights. Managing and chasing the wires is difficult. It isn't as easy as it looks. Jim
Here is today's update. I drew up the walls, cut and airbrushed them brick red (Actually Floquil ATSF Mineral Brown). I also drew up the windows and doors, cut them out, and airbrushed them with Tru-Color Flat Deep Brown ( which is more satin by the way). And I cut the window glazing. I got 2 brick walls up, and the third is just taped in place to hold the second wall in proper alignment because my studs are leaning a bit at the top: The windows are actually 3 layers, as the prototype could open from the top to middle, and from the bottom to middle, with the middle pane fixed. I thought it was unique enough to go ahead and model it that way, even though they are a pain in the rear to assemble. Buy hey, they look better than just a plain un-openable window like moSt models, and they cast a cool shadow that will photograph in sunlight well.
Well, I got the JalapeƱos, Red Bell Peppers, and Sweet Orange Bell Peppers all planted today. Watered the Blueberry bushes that we planted last month, and they are doing OK, they are only 1 gallon size so will need a few years. Was going to mow, but it will be warmer tomorrow, so I went back to work on my Roundhouse. I got all the walls up except one I am leaving off till I figure out the Arduino DFPlayer thing for arc welding LED's and sound effects. I'm planning on placing the Arduino in the machine shop extension back left, so that is the wall I left off. I also made the lower roof, and started making smokejacks for it: Here is what the prototype smokejacks look like:
I was not sure I likes the scale of the smokejacks, so I took the roundhouse outside to take pictures. The photo's will tell you if something don't look right, and since I just glued the smokejacks on, I still had time to pull them off if I don't like them. I think they are OK, after all, these smokejacks need to accommodate messy steam locomotives billowing all kinds of soot and black smoke.