Sandy Lake & Northern misc builds, etc.

[deemery]

Well, I went down and reconnected (and tested!) the back wall light strip.  Then I grabbed my roll of gaffer tape and taped the wires to the ceiling near the connection points, to relieve strain.  Hopefully that's a permanent fix.  

Off to the eye dr in a bit, not sure when I'll get back to the layout with one eye done and the other still needing correction.

dave

[Philip]

Looks great Dave!

Philip

[deemery]

Well, I didn't get all of the strips done, but that's because I added 2 small fill strips:


What's left is the string that goes along the front, following the curve of the benchwork just out of sight on the bottom of the photo.

A new lesson learned:  Just because connectors bought at different times -look the same-, that doesn't mean they'll actually mate!

dave

[jbvb]

Watching your progress with interest.  Almost all of my layout is illuminated by fluorescent tubes and LED strips more or less above and slightly in front of visitors.  I like the effect, more or less "cloudy bright" with no sharp-edged shade.  Your photo shows several different sources illuminating parts of your scene.  I'm curious how much shade you'll have and how it will look.

Changing topics, did you see the article Create Realistic Rocks with Custom Molds by Ken Harstine in the June RMC?  He's modeling specific locations high up in Donner Pass with lots of exposed rock. And he's paying more attention to geology and rock type than many.

[deemery]

The lights are complete above the farm corner.  This is the darkest part of the layout, and shows just the LED lighting (no overhead room lights). 

The lighting here is frankly not even, but that's OK.  I did orient the strips to provide the best light over the tracks, to highlight the trains (if I ever run any...    )

The troublesome connection on the strip at the far corner is loose.  So today's project will be to try to fix that.  It'll be painful (literally, that's a nasty contortion to reach the connector...)

add:  I did get that loose connection resolved. 

dave