Light shining through Plasticville switchtower

You can paint it, might be easier.  You have to put something inside to block the light, what you use is entirely up to you.

Maybe you can use a higher volt lamp so it don't shine as bright. Instead of a 14 volt bulb try an 18 volt bulb. Another thing is to use a glue gun if you can and glue the areas that the light shines through except for the windows and doors.

Lee Fritz

Lee, I think it's shining right through the plastic sides, I've seen this on a lot of buildings after adding lights.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

You can paint it, might be easier.  You have to put something inside to block the light, what you use is entirely up to you.

The light is shining through the walls. I thought about painting the inside black but I didn't know if that would stop it. I will give it a try.

Thanks,

Steve 

As Phillyready stated the light may be too bright and use a larger voltage bulb or find out what the current draw of the lamp is and put a resistor in series with it 22 ohm? Did this wit a interior light that I added on a standard gauge # 8 loco.

I have the same problem when I put an LED into a box car that I am using for hobos. Let me know what solution you find. I like the idea of a piece of black construction paper.

Airplane trick: paint the inside silver.  I did that on an orange box car, and it changed its translucent nature.

The reason it is done on an airplane is that, in the olden days the outer skin was cotton cloth.  UV rays from the sun would kill cotton in three months outside - so we sprayed enough dope with powdered aluminum mixed in so that no sunlight could be seen through the skin.  Then we painted the colors.

We still do that.  We use Dacron now, but it too deteriorates in the sunlight.  There are modern coatings with graphite in them that block sunlight equally well.

Painting the interior walls black would work, and I believe it has been done many times. I would be concerned about paper inside a lit building...its just one more ignition source to be concerned about.

Hobbit posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

You can paint it, might be easier.  You have to put something inside to block the light, what you use is entirely up to you.

The light is shining through the walls. I thought about painting the inside black but I didn't know if that would stop it. I will give it a try.

Thanks,

Steve 

This is a common problem, painting the inside a dark color such as black is very effective at stopping the show through of interior lights.

Bogie

+1  on the black paint!  

-Pete

USE BLACK or Dark GREEN or DARK BLUE   Paint .

I agree with JAYJAY  , paper could start a fire .   Use a water based paint. 

Black paint on the inside has worked for me.

jay jay posted:

Painting the interior walls black would work, and I believe it has been done many times. I would be concerned about paper inside a lit building...its just one more ignition source to be concerned about.

Heavens to Betsy !  I'm amazed we survived the 1950's with our cardboard Christmas Village lit with 110v C6 Christmas bulbs!

Seems to me that any light source hot enough to ignite paper would also begin to melt the plastic structure.

Rusty

"I'm amazed we survived the 1950's with our cardboard Christmas Village lit with 110v C6 Christmas bulbs!"

Yeah, the fire concern is a little over the top. 

I've used black paint to "de-translucent" plastic buildings - works, but it often takes more than one coat. The silver paint is an interesting idea - maybe silver over the black for a double whammy.

The dark cardboard/construction paper definitely works, and is reversible, but can be pretty tedious on certain buildings. Tried it; didn't like working with it.  

Just spray 'em black until it works. 

Use aluminum foil, held in place with 3M 77 or any other spray contact cement.  Spray the foil, not the building, stick it on, then trim around windows, wall edges, etc.  Attach the foil dull side out.  It will hold just about any kind of paint  

Use cheap acrylic craft paints.  You may need more than one coat but that's what makes using cheap paint best.  However, be aware that water based acrylics don't have much of an affinity for plastics.  But that also makes them the best choice in my opinion because a future owner can wash the paint off if they desire where oil based paints don't come off easy.

You may also want to consider buying some white vellum for glazing the windows.  Vellum lights well and prevents a viewer from seeing the bare interiors.  You can buy it by the sheet in most craft stores that have scrapbooking sections but you can also buy it by the pack at office supply stores like staples.  A few dabs of hot glue easily keep the vellum in place in the windows.  Water based adhesives on the other hand cause edge curling and warpage of the vellum.

Black paint is a favorite of mine for the interior light blocking.  

Rusty,

I seem to remember back in the 50’s as a child, most of our plasticville houses had melted spots on them, usually on the roof where those big old Christmas lights started to burn thru the plastic.  My father would try to disguise the spots/holes with all kinds of things.   He got pretty good at it.  I don't remember any of the structures being fatally ruined.  We just thought it was part of the overall charm of trains in the 50's.  I know he would have loved LEDs. 

Ed

Line the insides with thick aluminum foil.

Andrew

Like John s and Andrew state. Go with the aluminum foil liner. Reflect the light on the inside and protect the plastic building from heat off the light bulb in a confined space. better yet, switch to an LED and heat warp worries will disappear!