Thursday 17 June 2010

Layout lighting - Epping MRE

I received an email from a rather well-known US model railroad identity asking me about the layout lighting Peter Lewis used on his A-Tractiv Effort layout. Since I often take photos of layout lighting as a personal interest, I had some photos to send to him.

I then started to think that perhaps I could write a post on layout lighting at model railway exhibitions, using the Epping Model Railway Exhibition as a starting point for an ongoing look at the issue. After all, in a previous post I was quite critical of poor layout lighting at the Sandown exhibition.

There are really two perspectives on the layout lighting issue at exhibitions. The visitor wants to be able to see the layout displayed so that he/she can actually see the trains, buildings, and scenery as easily and realistically as possible. Th exhibitor wants to use layout lighting to show the layout as well as can be, within the constraints of time, cost, portability and ease of setting up (and down) at exhibitions. The biggest challenge is providing even light across the entire layout on display and to minimise shadows (and still within those exhibitor constraints). It's a tough ask.

The following photos show examples of layout lighting from most of the layouts at the Epping Model Railway Exhibition last weekend. Layout lighting is usually a subjective issue, so I just want to illustrate the types of layout lighting on show last weekend. I will, however, exclude my personal comments on layout lighting for photographic purposes since most visitors to an exhibition aren't there to take photos of the layouts.


The first photo (above) is of the layout, Dungog. The layout used hooped lights in a rather art-deco looking light shade. I don't recall the lamps being obtrusive as the photo might indicate and the layout lighting seemed adequate for viewing purposes. By using single lights in fixed positions one must be careful in trying to provide an even light across the display area.

Geoff Small (Smaldon Curve) used spotlights attached to an overarching frame. The spotlights are in fixed positions but the heads can swivel to adjust the focus of light on the layout.


Another form of spotlighting was in the shape of this under-cabinet light unit attached to a tubular post on the Myallie Yard layout. There were two of these fixtures on the small loco-depot based layout. I have seen these under-cabinet lights at the local hardware store but I am not convinced they provide sufficient even light.

A common form of layout lighting, especially on layouts at home, are fluorescent tube lights. You can see the double fluorescent tubes used here on the Ober Franken layout. The tubes cover the full length of the front of the layout and therefore provide a consistent and more even coverage of light, something that spotlights often find difficult to do. In this case, the tubes are part of an overarching frame over the top of the layout.


The N scale South Bend layout is 7.5 metres long and therefore offers both lighting challenges and set-up challenges. The layout uses fixed positioned lighting (fluorescent, I think) within a boxed light shade.

The previous layout examples featured lights that were fitted to posts of some kind and "hung" over the displayed portion of the layout. The next two examples show how the lighting is part of the actual layout structure within a "showcase" type of presentation. The first layout is the HOm Bergun and the second layout (with two photos) is the HO scale A-Tractiv Effort which is fully enclosed, the front panel being clear Plexiglas. Note the double fluorescent tubes used under the front fascia on A-Tractiv Effort.


The layout lighting on these two layouts was bright, even, and integral to the actual showcase design. I certainly find this type of lighting, when it is well done, to be of high quality. However, I don't know whether this type of lighting in a showcase design is more difficult to build and move around than the light and post method employed by the other layouts at Epping. Perhaps an exhibitor could give me some thoughts.

I do know, from helping set up layouts at exhibitions, that layout lighting is not a simple thing to do. The planning and construction methods are important but perhaps compromised in terms of ease of transport and setting up. Layout lighting is, as you can see, as varied as the layouts themselves. And layout lighting for exhibition layouts is different to layout lighting styles for home model railway layouts.

Layout lighting is an interesting topic and something I will return to every now and then in the future.

11 comments:

  1. I think this is a good topic. There has been quite a bit written by Iain Rice with his idea of the layout being presented like a stage with enclosed lighting, raised height and masking to highlight area of the model.

    A-Tractive Effort does this well and the quality of light makes it interesting.

    Too many of the layouts with lighting like Dungog suffer in poor lighting conditions. At last years show Bowen Creek suffered as it was part in shadow part in daylight.

    Lighting is part of the overall presentation of a layout but is too often left to the whims of the venue.

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  2. Iain,

    Yes, layout lighting is very important to the overall presentation of a layout. I heard Iain Rice and another presenter detail layout lighting at the NZ Model Railway Convention over Easter (I mentioned this in my summary of the convention in a post on the 4th May). I certainly concur with their views on quality lighting. I do understand that there will be some exhibitors who choose lighting methods that are easy to use, cheap, and quick to assemble and disassemble at shows. However, I also think that showing a quality layout to the public is done best with quality and effective lighting. Good to get your feedback.
    regards,
    Brad

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  3. Brad & Iain,

    I must make an observation on Iain's comment about Bowen Creek last year at Epping. From memory, the only lighting issues were due to the natural sunlight coming in from high windows directly opposite the layout. If there was no natural light and just hall lighting, Bowen's lighting comes into its own. Any layout would have the same problem we did with the sunlight.

    Cheers,

    Ian

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  4. Ian,

    You're right about the direct sunlight on Bowen Creek at the Epping Exhibition last year. I remember it well - it must have also been straight in the operator's eyes! But I must confess, I don't recall the system of layout lighting used on Bowen Creek, although I know the layout did have it. Has it featured on the Bowen Creek blog? Got any tips?
    regards,
    Brad

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  5. Brad,

    The system is pretty simple, just "daylight" fluros behind the pelmet. There is a bit of an overlap between modules to try and eliminate dark spots.

    Refer to this post on the blog - http://bowencreek.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

    Ian

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  6. Hi everyone,
    I did do a very UN-comprehensive post on Bowens lighting. http://bowencreek.blogspot.com/2010/04/lighting.html

    Ian and I designed the lighting for dark venues, as most of them are. We bore the full brunt of the sun last year which negated our lighting all together on the sat afternoon. The curtains were drawn on the following days and I was very happy with the way the lighting performed.
    To be honest, I thought the natural light gave the whole scene a new prospective, which I found very interesting.

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  7. I remembered the daylight shining on Bowen Creek as it is in many of my photos!

    An advantage of a "closed box" type layout, which controls lighting, must also be that you can vary the lighting effects. As a VR modeller I am aware that not every day is sunny and maybe you can recreate the gray dismal effect of Victorian weather typical of places near Ballarat.

    I can imagine other effects such as dust or night might also be interesting ways modeling the railway.

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  8. Iain,

    Hmmmm - different lighting effects to simulate different weather conditions is an interesting one. I know some people have used dimmer switches for lighting on home layouts but I wonder if anyone has experimented with lighting filters to change the colour and intensity of the original light source to change the "mood" of the scene.
    regards,
    Brad

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  9. Did you guys see this post on BC.
    http://bowencreek.blogspot.com/2010/06/little-inspiration.html
    Andrew

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  10. Andrew,

    Yes indeed. How much variation in light and mood do you think it's possible to get using this technique?
    regards,
    Brad

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  11. Brad,

    Hard to say as the backscene used is only short, so the overall effect of mood would be difficult to picture. I wouldn't personally do a layout like this as you lose most of the detail. When JB finishes his circus, it will be interesting to see.

    Andrew

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