Street lights on main street


Charles Smiley

Charles Smiley

cspmovies
Walnut Creek now has proper streetlights installed on Main St. NIGHT STREET-1.jpg
 
Charles, That is absolutely awesome. How did you do the sidewalks and curbs. I'm doing my downtown this winter and sure could use some insight.
 
souleman1948 said:
Charles, That is absolutely awesome. How did you do the sidewalks and curbs. I'm doing my downtown this winter and sure could use some insight.
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the sidewalks are Strathmore board available at art supply stores. The generic name is artist illustration board. it cuts with a razor - even on a 45 degree angle. so i make the roads with it too. I raise the road center with strips of balsa wood so the road has a 'crown' to the center.

i seal with spray can clear lacquer then add texture gray to the road folloed by darker chalk powders.

sidewalks are scored every 4 feet or so with section lines and colored with concrete color then add character with various chalk powders. sidewalks are layered over the road and the excess gives a slab floor for under the buildings.

i hope all that makes sense. go to www.cspmovies.com and find the tab on the left called "model Railroad" and go to the slideshow there. you can see some of the photos there of streets in better light.
 
It's a quiet night in Walnut Creek, all the residents are home watching "The Ed Sullivan Show" Elvis is on tonight.
 
Charles Smiley said:
the sidewalks are Strathmore board available at art supply stores. The generic name is artist illustration board. it cuts with a razor - even on a 45 degree angle. so i make the roads with it too. I raise the road center with strips of balsa wood so the road has a 'crown' to the center.

i seal with spray can clear lacquer then add texture gray to the road folloed by darker chalk powders.

sidewalks are scored every 4 feet or so with section lines and colored with concrete color then add character with various chalk powders. sidewalks are layered over the road and the excess gives a slab floor for under the buildings.

i hope all that makes sense. go to www.cspmovies.com and find the tab on the left called "model Railroad" and go to the slideshow there. you can see some of the photos there of streets in better light.
Click to expand...

That slide show is a great resource. Wonderful series of scenes, trouble is I know I could never produce models to that quality! Inspiration, though :)
 
Thanks Alan. Lots of those models were built decades ago and they have been reworked into what you saw there. So they didn't start out that good. It took several revisions for many of them. So after awhile they start looking good. Also, you don't see the "mistakes" and rejects tossed in the dust bin. :D
 
I don't know why but doing liting in buildings and street lites is my kryptonite. Great job on yours.
 
Charles, yep - looks very good.

Lynn, doing lighting for your buildings and streets is easy and very straight forward - even if you use LED's. If you can wire up a DCC track, turnouts, signals and so forth, you'll breeze through building and street lighting. Believe me, if I can do it - ANYONE can :D
 
Charles, yes, it is amazing that something you thought was great when made, in later years as modeling skills have improved does not look so good anymore. natural progression, I guess.

Tony, I hope you are correct as my wife insists that I add interior and lighting to an American stainless steel diner kit recently completed!
 
Alan,

Installing lights into buildings is very easy, regardless of whether you use the good old fashioned incandescent Model Power Self Adhesive lights or LED's.

If you are wanting to light a modern structure, the diner, I'd suggest using LED's (cool white perhaps) with nothing less than a 470 ohm resister. That should give you the effect that you might see (lighting wise) in such a building.

Feel free to PM or email me if you need any specific help or a step by step guide to anything.
 
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