Lighting Pelmet design

[Jamie]

All,

One of my tasks for the summer is to build a lighting pelmet for the layout. Now I'm familiar with the general style which I think is most common: an inverted, L-shaped pelmet which cantilevers out from the back of the layout.

 

I took a walk round B&Q this morning, to have a look for potential materials. It dawned on me I have no idea of dimensions.

 

Should it be at eye level? Above head-height? How deep should it be, how far back should the "shade" part go? What material should I use? Won't that be too heavy?

 

And so on.

 

If anyone can advise as to how they constructed theirs, I'd be grateful. The actual lights themselves I've sourced already.

 

 

Regards,

Jamie.

[Donw]

Ideally the pelment should overhang the front of the layout so that the models are not in shade. Probably just over head height to avoid clouting your head although it is quite natural to bend over if trying to get a closer view.

The front needs to be deep enough to shield the lights from the viewer - you want your modelling to dazzle the audience not the lights.

On sparrows whaRF I had spots angled down and didn't need a top piece over them a lot depends on how you mount them.

Its difficult to sugest sizes without knowing the light fittings.

I had two beam one at each end that were fixed either end of the layout to support the lighting. Other ideas were to use copper pipe to make supports (having a pipe bender helps).

Donw

[petnik]

By far the most helpful intelligent observations on this subject - and on presentation generally - I've read are in Iain Rice's 'An Approach to Model Railway Layout Design; Finescale in Small Spaces' (Wild SWan 1990).

[Jamie]

Lights are expected to be the slimline fluorescents designed to go under kitchen wall units. If I can source daylight tubes for them locally, so much the better. It's fluorescent lit in the room anyway, doesn't look too bad.

 

Essentially I hope to come up with an easily-produced (or sourced) housing for these which will:

a: look presentable

b: shield the public's eyes from the light source

c: shield my eyes from the light source (don't particularly want to handle three-links with a migraine auora.

 

An overnight thought was that with a 6" depth, sufficient rigidity could surely be found to span a fair length, possibly the full frontage of the layout. Clearly it will have to be in sections, and connections between will have to be suitably rigid.

[Edwin_m]

I've just built something very similar, Halolite T4 fluorescents from Screwfix which seem (to me anyway) to have a good light from the triphosphor tubes they come with. The tubes are just in front of the front edge of the layout, about 600mm above the track and close behind a 150mm pelmet to reduce forward light spill. The 20W ones are about 630mm long and other sizes are available with about the same watts per length.

 

They have a plug one end and a socket the other so can be attached into a longer string, but I think this is unlikely to be good enough where the supports might need to be disconnected. Here I have used the extension plugs and sockets they come with, wired by insulated "chocboxes" and extra flex. The plugs and sockets are rather large so you may have to either move the lighting back and forth or accept a gap. I'm only just building the second one so not quite sure how this will work.

 

Also best to power via a 13A plug as this avoids wiring regulations issues. As it's a home layout I've attached them underneath a removeable shelf for storage and to keep dust off the boards, and painted the underside white to reflect a bit more light down.

[66C]

Hi Jamie

 

We have used the T4s from Screwfix for some time. The supplied jumper leads have been used for connecting in daisy-chain fashion and there have been no problems connecting and disconnecting when at exhibitions. These fluorescents are much lighter than conventional units. All the electrics are sealed and double insulated so there are no issues with electrical testing at exhibitions. We fit a Euro chassis plug and cover (Maplin HL15R and JK66W) in the lighting unit so that we can use a 5 metre mains lead (Maplin QZ82D).

 

Regards

[Jamie]

Thanks Bill, Edwin.

 

So the 'leccies side of it is sorted. I'll look into those double-insulated fittings, it's possible the ones I had my eye on are not and therefore more complex.

 

Support wise, I had this in mind:

3 No. thereof, to be joined in situ. As viewed from the front right. Does it look sensible?

 

I've an inherent distrust of all things timber but the elusive quality ply at about 6mm thickness would seem reasonable?

[Edwin_m]

This is a very long span if you plan to make it without intermediate supports, especially as in-situ joining will probably introduce some weak points. Most people have some sort of support bracket reaching over the layout from a post at the back.

[Jamie]

Yep, there's a slight bend (5 degrees or so) in the front of the layout too, that I'd forgotten about in my previous reply. Some secondary supports will be required right enough.

[Kris]

Have you looked at Bcnpete's thought's on this for his model of Coombe Junction see here. There are several parts to this but it might be of interest.

[PaulRhB]

Regarding height there's no set limits but I do it so a 6ft tall person doesn't have to stoop to see the layout.

Two of us are 6ft 4in so we don't want to be staring directly at the lights all the time so that height is ideal.

Here are two pics of it with 6ft 4in tall and a 5ft somet' people

 

 

And here's the the techy bit. Thanks to the mountains my supports are central cantilevers with a bit of loo chain attaching it to the back of the board. the light support is 2x1 and 3mm MDF sheet and the B&Q link lights.

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Light fittings can be heavy, have you considered using lighting units intended for caravans? I have some LED under shelf units that give out the same amount of light as an equivalent flourescent tube but weighs about half as much. Another advantage is that they only require 12V dc. The down side is that the units are only 5 or 6 inches long and you will need a lot for a large layout which could prove expensive, they cost about twice as much as flourescent tubes.

[bullit]

Hi, I quite like the look of the Halolite T4 fluorescents from Screwfix. Could anyone tell me how hot they get?

 

I've built a basic lighting rig using 'link lights' in a similar daisy chain concept but after half an hour running they got very hot - too hot to touch in fact. Not sure I'd be too happy at an exhibition with these.

 

cheers

 

Ste

[66C]

Hi Ste

 

Heat is not a problem with the T4 units from Screwfix - we use them mounted under rectangular white gutter sections as shades. A layer of 6mm plywood is set into the "base" of the gutter to stiffen it and provide material for the mounting brackets supplied with the T4 units. After all day at an exhibition the units are not too hot to touch - just warm.

 

One of our lighting rigs is shown below.

 

 

Regards.

[bullit]

Thanks for that Bill,

 

I went and bought 2 from the local Screwfix - I'm very happy with them. Bought the longest 30w ones and they do run a lot cooler than the eterna ones I had previously.

 

Funnily enough I use the same arrangement as you - marley guttering! I was wondering if I should have bought black instead of white but now realise my lights hang too low anyway - need to lift them up so they wouldn't be so visible. My logic was that I'd lose more light reflecting from inside the black ones so plumped for white. I use the end caps and joining pieces too.

 

Cheers,

 

Ste

[Re6/6]

To save making heavy and obtrusive wooden L shaped supports we use 15mm copper pipe bent in a pipe bender and supported at the bottom with plastic pipe run clips that allow the pipe to be snapped out on breakdown. We found that if there was a problem of sag (which can be seen in the snap) the pipework can just be bent/tweaked to compensate.