Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[rodsup9000]

   Wow, Mike those stars really do pop and the background looks very good.
  I really like what your trying.

[GaryHinshaw]

This is the sky:



This is the sky on drugs:

You're putting way more time/energy into the sky than I would ever have patience for (ok, I map the sky for a living, but I digress).  However, the result looks pretty awesome! 

[MVW]

(I hear the chorus, "WE TOLD YOU SO!" Yeah, yeah, yeah.    )

Wasn't that a Beatles song?

Jim

[mark.hinds]

The sky's the limit! Or more accurately, the sky is limiting progress at the moment.

First, the fun stuff. You guys know I've been playing a lot with: 1) lighting, and 2) UV-luminescent paints for night skies, and some ground effects such as switchstands and lighted structures. These projects have converged. I was doing more research on the Wildfire pro UV paints and finally ran across somebody's site advising against using LED UV lighting with Wildfire, it's the wrong wavelength and the results will be poor. I can attest that, yes, the results were disappointing. The full story is Wildfire and other UV-sensitive paints require a 365nm light source, while the LED sources being sold by the stage lighting companies are 390-400nm. UV "blacklight" tubes and other more traditional UV sources were recommended.

It's always a bad idea to tell me I can't do something.    365nm LEDs exist, I know that because it is also the working wavelength for UV-cured resins, and super-bright 365nm LEDs are used in dental resin curing wands (Shapeways users also might want to take note). They're just very expensive, at least from US sources. eBay to the rescue, as usual. A Chinese vendor is selling UV spotlights in several wavelengths in the popular track-lighting formats - regular screw base, MR16 and GU10. GU10 is what I'm using for daylight spots, so there you go. I ordered a couple of 365nm samples which arrived over the weekend. My biggest concern was the vendor fudging whether they really were the stated wavelength.
(text and images removed)

You are using UV bulbs, produced by a Chinese manufacturer, purchased on EBay.  Given that UV is implicated in skin cancer and cataracts, you might want to check out the possible health consequences of this.  Other than that, your sky is ingenious, and looks good. 

Have you considered the backdrop techniques used by these guys?  http://www.nebwrailroad.com/index.php?title=NEB%26W_Railroad_Heritage_Website  IIRC, they used a series of backdrop layers, with a 2-D flat section right in front of the sky, on which the background hills etc. were pasted / painted.  The sky was just painted in various shades of blue, simplifying the painting.  An additional advantage of their technique is that for a free-standing backdrop, one could experiment with backlit translucent painted plastic sky backdrops. 

You can see the backdrop technique quite well in certain sections of this "virtual tour" site:  https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=e6d8iA5vGQ5

MH

[Bob]

Your night sky is amazingly cool - I'm looking forward to seeing the next, expanded version with more bulbs!

[C855B]

Thanks, gents! 

You are using UV bulbs, produced by a Chinese manufacturer, purchased on EBay.  Given that UV is implicated in skin cancer and cataracts, you might want to check out the possible health consequences of this.  Other than that, your sky is ingenious, and looks good. 

... IIRC, they used a series of backdrop layers, with a 2-D flat section right in front of the sky, on which the background hills etc. were pasted / painted.  The sky was just painted in various shades of blue, simplifying the painting. ...

UV, generally speaking, is not a concern in this application for three reasons: 1) health issues don't come into the picture until approaching UVB wavelengths <315nm; 2) due to the physics, the LED source efficiency drops precipitously below 350nm. That's one of the general complaints about LED UV sources and why most suppliers only do 390-400nm, you have to work hard to get decent emissions at 365nm; and 3) we're not talking about tanning bed (or sunlight) densities, in the case of tanning beds you're 2-4" away from very strong emitters in the 250nm range. So, no worries, just don't spend all day (and night) staring into the bulbs 10 feet away.

Backdrop layering is where Robyn and I are going with this. The initial plan was the entire backdrop on panels, eventually revised through a lot of trial-and-error to a painted sky and layered cutouts for horizon objects. We're debating whether these cutouts will be flat or on 1/8" foamcore to play with forced perspective.

[marklin-au]

 I would like to throw another idea  at you , Hans Peter Porsche of Porsche car family has a large museum / layout near the town of Anger in Germany close to Salzburg . He has used 36 top range laser projectors  in his public layout room all computer controlled & interconnected which produces a 360 degree sky effect which has moving clouds , aircraft & a complete electrical storm for added effect . Very big $$$$$ for all of this  but the effect is spell binding .


 Link to a 10 minute video  ==    Not a valid vimeo URL

  Just something to maybe prod a idea or 3 .


Cheers    Tom in Oz.

[C855B]

Tom, I've been aware of the Porsche museum for a while and some of the background, too. Yes, a lot of investment in the effects generation, way out of my league. With the low prices of large flat-panel TVs these days in the time since, it would not be impossible to line the walls with, say, 80" 4K TVs and get the same effect for a tenth the money. Before retiring I designed and managed that kind of technology in control room video-wall systems, and know very well it's still not within my budget!

From what I read around the web, Hans Peter wanted a "trains everywhere" kind of layout probably closer in scope to Miniatur Wunderland, a Christmas tree layout on steroids. However, the professional museum curator he hired moderated the expectations to "something tasteful with general appeal" and Hans Peter's monster layout plans were softened if not dialed-back outright. I would like to know what the original vision was, but nonetheless the end result is well-executed and very cool.

[C855B]

>>... This is the sky on drugs. ...

Very funny, Gary. I just noticed that.   

[milw156]

Received supplies and tools from Fast Tracks a few days ago. I'm pretty happy with the modified Atlas turnouts:



Thanks again to @Mark W for the technique. Much, much smoother in operation than stock. I suppose experience will speed up the points filing. I like how the servo points motor can be fine-tuned to almost no pressure, but still maintain full closure. Easier on the solder joint. Another change was using phosphor bronze instead of music wire for the points link. Easy to solder the PB to the PC board throwbar - I was using CA - so another weak point of the design has been solved.

I went back several dozen pages trying to find referenced post and couldn't. Was it in a different thread? I am interested in trying this, can you steer me in the right direction?
Thanx,
Rick

[Mark W]

I went back several dozen pages trying to find referenced post and couldn't. Was it in a different thread? I am interested in trying this, can you steer me in the right direction?
Thanx,
Rick

Here's the original thread for Atlas Turnout Upgrades: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=39251.0

[C855B]

Finally prepping for painting the sky:



It was a PITA to get the laser aligned. If any of you remember from a long time ago, this section of the benchwork is not level, but is a constant 1% grade left to right to compromise with the 2% grade of the floor. Laser wanted to self-level, of course, 'cause it's supposed to. It has a non-leveling fixed function, but tweaking the laser manually for 1% over 50 feet is a "...OK...don't breathe..." affair. The laser is the guide for masking the sky area; you can see the start of masking on the very left. The objective was to be further along this evening, but with all the ups and downs on ladders a knee declared "Enough!" and put an end to the day's work.

[rodsup9000]

 At least it is some progress.

[C855B]

Finally, meaningful headway on the sky:



That streak will go away tomorrow with another quick pass of Sky #1.5:



Hopefully I won't shred things too much when removing the masking.

[Cajonpassfan]

Looks good Mike, I wouldn't worry about a streak here or there, it's nature in action...when it's all done, you won't even notice it, and it will look "right".
Otto K.