Bob, After days of looking, I finally found your layout diagram. I need to contact E-8, apparently there is a bug in the forum software. When I click on your user profile, then on your rail images album, the photo is not shown in the album. However, if I search for photos in rail images with your username attached, the layout diagram appears... in the album that I just viewed from which it was missing... Check out this link which appears on your public profile... http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/album.php?albumid=136 Heck, my public profile shows zero albums and I know I have four. Nice plan by the way !
Chris: That link isn't my Rail Images account. You have to go directly to RI to find it under my user name.
Back to the lighting question... Here is a 6500K LED spotlight. Its expensive, but won't generate heat and has the life of an LED. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/White-LED-Flood-Light-Volt/dp/B001NQZNOI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1234911300&sr=1-3"]Amazon.com: White LED Flood Light 110 Volt - Bright Par30 Flood Light Color: Warm White: Home Improvement[/ame]
From what I am hearing and reading, people have been having good results with the LED lighting. I'll be curious as to how well it seems to work for your application. Boxcab E50
As for lighting Chris, why don't you try using "Vita Lite" color corrected fluorescent tubes by Duro-Test. I've used these bulbs for years.The Vita -Lite tubes reproduce the complete full spectrum of light. These bulbs last eight or nine years without replacing under normal use. Below is a link: www.durotest.com
The Duro-Test "Vita-Lite" fluorescent tubes are 5500K. The 5500K fluorescent tube is hard to find and produces the full color spectrum of light that most color corrected bulbs can't produce.
I am using 5500K daylight CFLs. After several experiments with color temperature that is the one that by far looked the best. Jamie
Track measuring and cutting progress... None of it is glued down, but the cutting is nearly over for this yard. Mounting the 11 tortoises is not going to be great fun and a couple are going to have to be 'special' installs with offset lever rods.
Dang that's gonna look real good there in the yard. I am sooooo close to laying track it's killing me (in a good way) watching all these layouts come together. Keep up the good work! Jamie
The yard looks great Hutch - very good craftsmanship. -Gary P.S. Be careful! It looks like something or someone is lurking in the shadows outside the doorway there.
Pretty good progress this weekend. All the track is glued down in the yard, all 11 holes are drilled for the tortoises, and two of the tortoises where mounted and tested. No problems. This was a big milestone. I was worried about tortoises operating under the 3-3/4 inches of stuff above it.
Looks good Chris. I know how hard you worked to make those tortoise machines work, passing through over 3 1/2" of base material.:thumbs_up: Good talking to you this afternoon.
Well I got the last of the eleven tortoises installed today. Number eight was a major pain in the butt, but I guess I have to appreciate that 9, 10, and 11 were just plain easy. I guess it all gets easier when you do these installs multiple times. I learned to bend the control wire without the template. Then, after a trial install, I mark, trim and bend the topside and then reinstall. Well, I guess I can move on to the next step, but I haven't quite decided what that will be yet. I guess some track testing would be in order.
Chris: Glad to hear that you finished that yard. Those Tortoise machines can be really difficult to install. What are you going to do next? There's a larger yard waiting for you in the next room.
Wow, what great benchwork! I can only hope that when I start mine, I can do just as well. I am new to the hobby and a couple of things you have mentioned in your posts I am not familar with. What benchwork book are you refering to? It looks as though that is something I need to get my hands on. What are Tortoise machines and what do they do for you?
