The discussion on temporarily gluing models with rubber cement was a good one, but I found that the rubber cement is often very hard to remove and it holds the parts together more than needed for a "work-out-the-kinks" assembly test.  The solvents in some rubber cements attack plastics, as well.  For jobs like this, I have used Walthers Magic Masker (904-106).  I have tried some of the competing liquid mask products, and while all of them are pretty good at paint masking, none quite matches the Walthers as a non-super glue.  A blob of the water soluble liquid mask holds reasonably well when dried, but not so strongly that it causes damage when pulled apart.  The masking comes off of most materials quite cleanly and easily, even on painted surfaces; that is what it was designed to do.  Just use some caution on porous materials like cloth or some types of wood.  The latex material has a little spring to it when dried, too, so a minor amount of wiggle fit can be used.

The best method seems to be to go for the worst looking glue job; just a fair-sized drop of liquid mask where most needed and mash the parts together leaving an exposed glue blob on both sides.  Blobs are easier to remove than a thin coating, and remember this is just for a test, not final assembly.  You will have to clamp the parts together for a time, just as with any adhesive, but the liquid mask dries pretty quickly.  Since you use so little of the masker, it isn't very expensive to use, either.  (HINT: the material sticks especially well to itself, so dip a couple of wooden toothpicks in the masking fluid while you have it open and then put them aside.  After they dry, they can be used later to start peeling the masking stuff off.)

- Bill Becwar

Just a brief warning about "dimmable" CFLs They DO NOT dim like an incandescent bulb does. You can't dim them down to nothing, although they are getting closer to that, and you certainly can't turn them on by fading them up from nothing. In fact many need to be on full for some time before you can dim them at all.

I also take issue with the comment that LEDs are novel and not cheap. I have recently ripped out all of my CFL lighting an replaced it with LED strips. Now I can not only dim my lighting but make my layout any colour I want. I have an automated day to night sequence that I use when we have "24 hour" operating sessions. The LEDs fade from daylight into an orange sunset on to the pale purple of twilight finally settling on a dim blue for night and then back again. None of this would be remotely possible with CFLs.

As for the cost of LEDs, my installation was about 20-30% more than the CFL lighting, but if you take into account the functionality of LEDs there is no comparison. To say nothing of the many, many CFL bulbs you would have to buy to last the 50,000 hours that the LEDs are rated at. 

Theres a good blog going on right now at http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/6138 that will give some info on LEDs

I hope this is of benefit to everyone.

RR

You said: 

"I have an automated day to night sequence that I use when we have "24 hour" operating sessions. The LEDs fade from daylight into an orange sunset on to the pale purple of twilight finally settling on a dim blue for night and then back again." 

I'm wanting to do that on my layout to do a sunset in my mountain area.  Can you please share how you have automated the process?  Thanks!

Rick

In fact it may make for a good article.

In my other hobby I've worked with day night cycles.  However not with LED's and not in this application.  I'd like more info on the particulars of you setup.  Including products, hardware and software if applicable.

Thanks

Now I'm curious as to what your other hobby is.

Normally I don't respond to internet related things this quickly, or thoroughly  but it's currently about minus a-million degrees outside right now and one of the furnace vents is right under my computer desk so I have decided that this is a good place to nest for awhile!

It would seem there is a great deal of interest in this subject, and I increasingly find myself knowing answers to other folks questions. This concerns me somewhat as it wasn't that long ago that I knew diddly-squat about this stuff. I routinely spelled "L" "E" "D" with a 6 !!

I am... God help me, thinking of writing an article about the subject. I'm certainly not an "expert" but I have converted to LEDs so, at the very least, I have a practical, "school of hard knocks" knowledge of the subject.

If you check out the link to the other blog I've included previously it will give you some more info about my setup and hardware.

but to recap I've used one strip of cool white LEDs in conjunction with a RGB (Red Green Blue) strip and between the two I can generate enough light for "daytime" as well as all the purdy' colours. As for the controller, I've spent a great deal of time looking for AFFORDABLE controllers and decided that this one worked the best for me. http://www.ecolightled.com/product/programmable_rgb_led_controller/led_lighting_controllers

I've used two of these, one for the white LEDs and the other for the RGB and for $46.00 a piece I'm amazed at how well they work. Not perfect, mind you, but better than any others I looked at. One of those was the Apollo controller from Elementalled.com. It's a bit more sophisticated at three times the price but doesn't give you the loooong fade times we would need. They do utilize software for programming the "scenes" while my controller has to be programmed in situ.The reason I didn't go with these folks is that of all the emails I sent them they answered exactly ZERO.

Well, I'm not sure if I've solved anyone's problems but my feet are quite toasty now and I'm pretty sure my boss wants me to show up for work tomorrow...Brrrrr.

Rick Reimer

Rick,

Thank you for the information and the link.  This looks like just what I need.

Rick

I'd rather see something that can be connected to a computer through a USB port.  It might be possible to rebuild these units and connect them to relay contacts operated by DCC decoders or something like that, but something ready to go would be simpler.