# Back to the track 2: lighting upgrades-



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

I'm also upgrading all my track lighting in my track rehab. I plan on redoing all of the trackside lighting effects as well as the track signal lighting. I've been collecting all kinds of LED's, flash units, bulbs, switches and so on over the years and decided to drag it all out this week. I also picked up a curious mini flourescent light set up from Fry's electronics that looks super cool on the layout. Here's some of my progress so far:

I've had these Lemax LED kits laying around for years. You can find these at Ace Hardware during the holidays for mini displays. They are great for amusement park rides:









This Ferris wheel had these LED's on it for years. Some are blown out from the flaming crashes into the carnival  but most still work. Just a few touch ups to the old ride...









I hot glued a number of these blinking LED sets to the remaining carnival rides on my layout:


















Lemax also makes a handy multi-plug power pack for their LED kits so I went about running the plugs up from underneath and resoldered the wires and shrink wrapped.









Nice and tidy power hook ups:


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Blurry shot of the carnival lights without my flash. (gotta learn more setting on the camera..:drunk









Now for the cool white light LED's I am installing on all the trackside buildings. I built small circuit board sections for easy gluing inside of the buildings and ran the correct resistors for my 6vdc power packs. The Sunoco gas station (previously Shell) was the first recipient: The white LED's look more natural and really throw some light.









Here is a shot of the inside:









NOW for the really cool gizmo: mini flourescent lighting! These can be found online or at the larger electronic supply stores. They are a bit pricey though but they are soooo cool for recreating realistic miniature flouresecnt lighting. This 100mm bulb is going under the canopy of my Sunoco refueling station:









Here is a shot of all the guts, including the mini transformer to drive the light. I got creative and made it look like a rooftop unit on the refueling station. Came out really cool!:









Here's a "day shot" showing the flourescent and white LED lights in the refueling station:









Here are some "night shots" of the refueling station after I cleaned up some of the area and replaced some of the track workers hanging out around the pits. The flourescent light looks even better in person. It really catches your eye when you walk up to the track. I plan on installing lots of these in buildings around the track.


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

More night shots: I still need to tidy up some of the wiring.



















More to come as I go along.
-Scott V.


----------



## RiderZ (Feb 19, 2007)

*!!!*

Very cool lighting projects SlottV.Keep us posted on the progress.I love to see everyone's projects coming together.:thumbsup:


----------



## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Verrrry cool! :thumbsup:

I love seeing what other folks use in their track builds.


----------



## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I'm always intrigued by lighting jobs!!! Lookin' good!! I really like the carnivla rides!! Nice job!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## Car-guy (Dec 23, 2008)

WOW!! I really like the lighting too. Very sweet! :thumbsup:


----------



## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Excellent mid-life upgrade to an existing track layout. Really adds a lot of pop, especially for some night racing and enduros with dark segments.

I see you're using heat shrink tubing. I borrowed a tool from the TM recently when I had to do a bunch of heat shrink work. It's a heat tool designed for crafting (embossing) and I was blown away by how perfectly it worked for heat shrink tubing. 

http://www.amazon.com/Embossing-Heat-Tool-120V%2f-360%2dWatt/dp/B000QTFH58


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

I love doing trick lighting and plan to do some enduro races in the future. When I built the new room in the basement I included both Flourescent overhead lights and also dimmable recessed lighting for night racing effects. 










My radical plan is to incorporate a home lighting control PC into the track and over head lights in the room through software programs they offer for this. Theoretically you could pull up a program that would adjust everything to preset light levels. It's waayy out there but would be another example of taking the hobby to new heights. 

That's a cool heat tool for a good price. I have one of those pencil torches but it needs a refill. Just been using a Bic lighter for the shrinking. Shrink tubing works great and I've been trying to focus on more professional skills on my electrical work. Some of the older stuff under the track is so sloppy. I always try to solder every connection but the old electric tape over the connections has fallen off of so many old connections. I'm trying to use most of the old wiring grid for the previous lights with my new LED stuff so I have to go through it all as part of the rehab. Plus heat shrink tubing is easier to push through holes in the table as opposed to wrapped vinyl electric tape.


----------



## tomhocars (Oct 19, 2005)

Scott,Nice work.So many talented people in this hobby.Tom


----------



## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

The heat tool works far better than a lighter. Far safer too.


----------



## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Nice work Scott, the service station looks great, day or night. Good looking track, nice landscaping!!! RM


----------



## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Yeah Scott is committed. Difference between involved and committed? When you have eggs and bacon for breakfast, the chicken was involved..the pig was committed.


----------



## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

*More lighting tech-*

The FedEx guy brought more toys for the lighting upgrades: Miller Engineering Mini CFL light kits and one of their EL experimenter kits. These EL panels are the same thing you see in the Timex Indiglo wrist watches. The kit comes with a programmable board to do 32 different chase patterns with the EL panel. You cut out small sections to light up. I'll probably use this kit to do a "Vargo Speedway" animated entrance sign. Cool stuff. 










The 100mm CFL bulbs will fit under the roof of most of my buildings-









I hope to do my new Sunoco prototype signs with the larger EL (non-animated) backlighting:


----------



## mmheyho (Jan 3, 2008)

Very cool that flexible sign stuff is very interesting I can think of all kinds of applications for that stuff.


----------



## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

Please keep us up to date on the Miller products. I have been eyeballin' those for years. Maybe a short tutorial as "how to." Those are really cool looking so far at the gas station. David


----------

