In-ko-pah RR: Another brick building

finescalerr · January 17, 2015, 11:15:53 AM

Most satisfactory. -- Russ

Design-HSB · January 17, 2015, 02:12:42 PM

Ray,

that thou sets new standards for fine scale modeling.

Ray Dunakin · January 17, 2015, 05:08:02 PM

Thanks, everyone!

Chuck Doan · January 17, 2015, 10:31:27 PM

That is just excellent Ray! Just right. Great details!

TRAINS1941 · January 18, 2015, 06:33:48 AM

Beautiful detail work Ray.

Jerry

Ray Dunakin · January 29, 2015, 05:13:45 PM

I wanted the radio shop to have fluorescent lights, but of course there are no working fluorescent lights in 1/24th scale. However I had an idea for a way to possibly simulate the appearance of working fluorescents...

I started by using 1/16" acrylic rods to represent the tubes. Small rounded bits of styrene strip were glued to the ends:

The base of the fixture was made from a strip of .100" x .250" styrene. Three 1/8" holes were drilled through it:

I used thin sheet brass to make the reflectors:

After painting the fixture white, I glued on the tubes. To help disperse the light and to give the tubes a somewhat frosted look, I brushed on a very thin coat of fluorescent white paint that I had leftover from a Halloween project years ago:

I marked the positions of the three holes and drilled three larger holes in the ceiling. Then the fixture was glued in place. Three 3mm LEDs were inserted into the fixture, through the holes in the ceiling. You can just barely see the rounded ends of the LEDs showing through in this photo:

When I first connected a battery to the leads I was disappointed... the beam from the LEDs simply made three bright spots on the acrylic rods. However, when I tried photographing it, I found that it looks perfect in photos! Here are some test shots, looking through the windows of the building:

At this point I think I'm done with the radio shop. Next will be the barbershop details.

artizen · January 29, 2015, 08:44:53 PM

Super!!!

Hydrostat · January 29, 2015, 11:01:26 PM

Ray,

that's all over phantastic. I made the same experience with modeled items that didn't satisfy me in reality but worked well on photos. If I got it right no one will ever see the neon tubes on the layout for angle of view reasons, so what about the three spots? Even the somewhat narrow bench now looks believable because evrything is that cramped in the shop. It's amazing how much work you put into that (I don't mind about task requiring great diligence), but the results justify it absolutely.The wooden surfaces of the radios look very realistic. The impression only is destroyed when there's a blotch of light on the surface like in the seventh picture at the right upper edge.

One idea about the led: Maybe you can cover the reflector with aluminum wrapping sheet to have it mirroring and put a little circular section on each led head so you only have the indirect reflected light? Don't know if that works.

Cheers,
Volker

finescalerr · January 30, 2015, 12:13:37 AM

Volker just gave me an idea about light diffusion: What if you had diffused the light from the three LEDs before it leaves the fixture? You could have sprayed some clear glass or acrylic or styrene with something like Dullcote and put it between the bulbs and the fixture. Or instead used vellum or something similar.

It really doesn't matter at this point. The model looks terrific and your experiment was successful through the lens (usually where it counts most). I'm just kind of thinking after the fact ....

Russ

Ray Dunakin · January 30, 2015, 12:17:45 AM

Actually I forgot to mention that I roughed up the lens of each LED a little with fine sandpaper, to help spread the light.

NE Brownstone · January 30, 2015, 06:55:48 AM

Honestly, with all of the great detail in the rest of the model, nobody will even notice the light issue. I keep going back and find new details. Awesome job.

Barney · January 30, 2015, 07:49:46 AM

This is lovely stuff - well proportioned and fine and now you say the barbers shop !!!!!
Barney

mabloodhound · January 30, 2015, 08:56:12 AM

Excellent Ray.

Ray Dunakin · January 31, 2015, 08:00:47 PM

Here are some shots of the building in place on the layout. Note the worn, old sign on the foundation next to the stairs. I painted that mostly by hand, which was a pain. It wasn't very sharp either but didn't need to be. Then I roughed it up with sandpaper: