More Bench Work

In a slight change of plan I have decided to put some timber up between the supports  so the background will only have to be flush with it and not have slots cut in it to go around the supports.

I got some angle strips and masonry screws to secure the supports to the wall to make it more stable.

Because it is tall and narrow I have also bolted the east side of the bench work to the floor.

The layout bench work 95% complete and painted, in the foreground is the location of the Helix.

East side bench work.

Lighting The Layout

I have finished painting the supports for the west section of the layout and I am in the process of fiddling with the final placement.

I decided to play around with the lighting for the layout just to check that I made the right choice and because I am sick of wood working at the moment. The photo above is the just the room lighting on some test wagons on the second level.

I was thinking for a while about how I was going to light the layout and for while I was focused on single tube fluro lights but the cheapest one that came with its own plug was about thirty five dollars. Then I had a brain wave when I was in bunnings and came across a string of party lights with incandesant bulbs for twenty bucks. What if I replaced the bulbs with 23W compact fluro bulbs which would be 2w under the max rating for each light socket and I didn't have to wire them up just plug them in. The lights are spaced 700mm apart and have a three meter cord from the socket to the first light. I have tried a few styles of CF bulbs and have settled on Cool White 2700K for the effect I want.

Test wagons in the middle of the deck.


Test wagons on the edge.

Test wagons about two inches from the back.

Test wagon in the middle.

Test wagons about two inches from the edge.

Test wagons on the edge.