How to fit LED Lights to a Peco Inspection Pit (the Cheap Way!)

This weekend, I finally got around to fitting lights to my Peco Inspection Pit. Lighting in the Metcalfe Engine Shed on my current 'main' layout has always been a bugbear, and having seen the excellent Mie Depot (as seen on the Mie Depot at Carnforth Railway Station video) in action, I decided to give it a go.

A while back, I'd bought a string of LED Christmas Lights from Wilko, with the idea that they would make great lighting options for the layout. I paid something like 5 GBP (in the post-Christmas sale) for them, and although I've not counted them, similar products on Amazon have something like 100 lights on 10m of cable, so it's pretty good value for money.

Peco Inspection Pit Segment (Unpainted)

The Peco inspection pit kit comes in segments, which look something like the unpainted example in the photo.

Along the top, there are some clips that hold the rails - Peco supplies them in the pack, but I prefer to use my own rails - and in the center of each one is a drainage hole.

Usually there's a grate on it, but I decided to remove them (as you can see) to put the LED light in. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo before I started to experiment.

So you'll need to imagine that there's a grate over the hole in the segment pictured here!

Assembled, Painted Peco Inspection Pit

Assembled, painted, and with a buffer stop added, the inspection pit looks something like the one pictured on the right.

It's painted grey (something which doesn't come out very well on the photo) and has steps at each end. The drainage grates have all been drilled out to make way for the LEDs.

Depending on how long you make the pit, you'll have space for five or six lights. A five segment pit fits well into the Metcalfe engine shed, leaving space at the back for a buffer stop, as pictured.

The next step was to cut off some LED lights (a string of five, in this case) and push them through the holes. The end result is as pictured.

Fitting LED Lights to Peco Inspection Pit

It's not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea.

Luckily, I'd also been careful to drill the holes 'just right', so there's no need for any glue to hold the lights in place.

This is important for me, as I have one golden rule when making layouts - everything is as temporary as possible.

This means that the use of glue to fit lights (which can go pop at any moment!) is out of the question. 

It's also the reason why I don't solder rails together; a contentious point, but one that I believe is vital in keeping costs down!

So, with the lights fitted to the underside of the inspection pit, it was time to put it back in place, plug in the 12V transformer, and test the installation.

First off, I always test these things under low voltage - and as there are 4 lights, at 3V per LED, 12V is the maximum - and had found out two things. One, that operating the lights under anything less than the 3V they were rated at made them look extremely lacklustre, and two, they're pretty bright!

Undeterred, the first test fitting was duly photographed. 

Lights fitted to Peco Inspection Pit

There's a few bits and pieces in this photo, including a scratch built walkway, and some figures and equipment from the Bachmann Scenecraft range.

The gray area is a bit of plasticard cut to exactly fit within the walls of the engine shed, and the baseboard had a hole cut into it to receive the inspection pit.

I know that goes against my reuse philosophy, but in this case, I made en exception because holes are easily filled, covered over, re-used, or just plain hidden!

The four lights shown here operated for a while, and didn't generate extraneous heat, so I decided to try fitting teh shed over the top, and taking another photo or two.

It's only when you fit the whole thing together, and take photos, that any flaws become apparent.

So, firstly, let's look at the effect on an empty shed (i.e. with only the scenery, and no loco.)

Light from Peco Inspection Pit

To my mind, it's unrealistically bright, but you do get a sense of what the shed looks like inside.

In fact, the photo is a little dimmer than real life!

However, given that these LEDs are currently (until my 12V LED strip light turns up!) the only lighting in the shed, I think that the overall effect is reasonable, if not realistic.

However, things take a turn for the worse when a Class 37 is parked in in the shed...

Class 37 in the Shed

The issue is that these LEDs are quite directional and boxed in by the inspection pit, so there's less bleed than I expected from around the loco.

To deal with this, the next steps are several-fold.

First, I want to reduce the power of the lights so that they're not so unnaturally bright. Since I'm working from a 12V power supply, I'm going to wire an adjacent factory in series with the inspection pit lighting, and reduce the number of LEDs to two (per installation).

Then, I'm going to fit overhead lights to the shed (using a strip of 9 LEDs bought off eBay. Hopefully they will provide enough (and not too much!) light to make the whole thing come alive.

Lighting these elements is the last bit of work before adding scenery and ballasting, and still to come are some dwarf signals, and yard lamps, which will all need wiring in before ballasting can commence.

If you want to leave a comment, I'd welcome it, and you can also 'follow' the blog to get regular updates.

Using Forced and False Perspective in HO/OO Gauge with N Gauge Models

One of the challenges when modelling in smaller scales is giving the illusion of space. HO/OO and N gauge layouts are also often synonymous with limited availability of space. It seems that fewer and fewer people have access to the once ubiquitous spare room.

This means that there are two challenges to address:

• smaller scale, less imposing models (locomotives, rolling stock and scenery);
• less space to create the illusion of more.

Backscenes are often used to good effect to create the illusion that the layout is merely a part of a larger geographic area, as are techniques for enclosing the layout using scenic breaks (such as bridges) and varying the height of rails, embankments, and so forth.


Using HO/OO and N Gauge Together to Create False Perspectives


However, there is another option - to use smaller scale models, scenic items (such as low-relief models and trees) to create an illusion of perspective. So, OO and HO modelers can use N, or even Z guage items to represent things that are distant, provided that some basic guidelines are followed.

One great example of this in action is the MRC's Copenhagen Fields layout. The rolling stock is N gauge (actually finescale 2mm standard) and the surrounding models and scenery goes right down to 1:450 to give the illusion of vast scale.

While I accept that Copenhagen Fields is also a large layout (9m x 3m), the techniques can still be applied to a smaller layout that is only 36 inches deep. To do so, however, a few guidelines need to be followed.

Scale Differences Between the Gauges

The first thing to establish is what the scale differences are between gauges (for a complete run-down, check out the Gauge & Scale Guide at RailMania). For example:

- O gauge is 1/43.5 scale
- OO gauge is 1/76 scale
- HO gauge is 1/87 scale
- N gauge is 1/148 scale
- Z gauge is 1/220 scale

Therefore, the difference between an OO gauge and N gauge model, in terms of scale is roughly half. It follows that, from a given viewpoint, there is a point at which, if an N gauge model is placed behind an OO gauge one, it will appear to be more distant, and not merely smaller.

That is the point of the false perspective, also known as forced perspective - to use a 3D model in place of a flat backscene to imply depth, hopefully giving a more realistic result.

Because of the way perspective works, pieces of scenery that are trying to force the perspective need to be diagonally behind - i.e. up and back from - the foreground objects.

There are so many variables, that often trial and error is the best way to proceed.

Trial and Error

Firstly, you need to decide what you are going to use to create the false perspective:

• low relief card models (i.e. from scalescenes.com);
• modified card models (i.e. from Metcalfe);
• modified plastic models;
• small scale models (vehicles, people, etc.) placed on the layout, in front of the back scene. 

The obvious advantage of using Scalescenes models is that they can be easily modified, and if you make a mistake, re-printed! Destroying an expensive Metcalfe kit in an attempt to make it low-relief is a bigger risk, and the same goes for plastic models.

Once you have decided what models you will use to create the false perspective, it is a case of placing the various bits and pieces of scenery on the layout and observing the effect from different points.

You will find that there are places where the effect works, and places where it doesn't. If it really doesn't work from a particular angle, consider blocking the view with a scenic break, or changing the shape of the layout.

(The late Carl Arendt wrote an excellent piece on designing micro layouts, and one trick he used was forced perspective.)

Having gone through the trial and error exercise above, the modeler will now be acutely aware that not only is there a 'sweet spot' in which models can be placed for the best affect, but that this sweet spot will move around depending on the viewer's position.

Trawling through the forums on the topic, the accepted wisdom appears to be that forced perspective is fine for backscenes and supporting scenery, but needs to be used wisely.

In addition, while three to four feet is the smallest width that most people recommend, more enclosed 'micro layouts' work well because they naturally restrict the viewer's line of sight, thereby reducing the chance that the illusion is broken.

Finally, don't ever forget that it's not just about the models and backscene. Roads need to narrow into the distance, fences and walls will diminish, and if one part of the layout is out of kilter, the illusion will start to fall apart!

Top Tip for Corrugated Surfaces

I was reading September's Model Rail and was particularly interested in an article about making corrugated iron sheets. Now, Paul A. Lunn suggests using a Modelscene corrugated panel as a kind of template, pressing a piece of thick aluminium foil (such as from a takeaway tray) down onto the panel so that it picks up the corrugated form.

The advantages are clear - weathering and distressing a piece of foil is way easier than doing the same on a piece of plastic, which is far removed from the kind of surface that is being modelled. For complete instructions, Model Rail is probably still available on the news stands, if not they might have a back issue service, and this particular tip is in Issue 160, September 2011.

Now, the reason that this interested me was that I don't have any Modelscene corrugated panels. However, what I do have are:

• toothpicks
• matchsticks
• cardboard

The thought occurred to me that I could replicate the corrugated panels by gluing either toothpicks or matchsticks to the cardboard, and then pressing the foil between two of these makeshift panels. Other bits and pieces can also probably be used - toothpicks give a rounded edge, matchsticks a square one, but there are probably other possibilities to explore.

I look forward to seeing your efforts, and will be posting my own as I perfect the technique. A big thanks to Paul. A Lunn and the folks at Model Rail for the initial spark!