Menard's Watkins City Block ???

ogaugeguyOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

I like the appearance of this structure and am thinking of acquiring it but I have a few concerns. In photos of it lit, the lighting in certain areas, especially outside the Red Owl Market, appears bright to the point of harshness with a distinctly cool LED hue or quality. Has Menard's included a built-in way of dimming any of this structure's LEDs? Also, wanting to put this in a 1940's to 50's setting when incandescent outdoor lighting was the norm, it there a method of coating or coloring those existing LEDs to give them a warmer incandescent color temperature or hue? Also, are the building's windows "real" see through windows or instead painted on the surface of the building's walls to look as though they're "real" windows?

11/18/181:52 PM

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Original Post

JerryGOGR Forum Member

Ogaugeguy,

I just took some closeups for you. This should answer most of your questions.

The lighting in all three of these Menard's structures is a bit on the harsh side. IMO, they should be using warm white, instead of cool white LED's. Many guys have commented on the York Hotel lighting being unrealistic. If you check out the posts on that topic, you will find many suggestions.

No, there is no built-in way of dimming the LED's. Also, you can see that the windows are not see through.

Overall, I really like the Watkins. Mine is a toy train layout, so I don't get into trying to make toy train stuff "real." This building fit nicely into that corner. All I had to do was build a platform for it against the former shelving and the refrigerator behind it. It also fit nicely against the trolley station, which was there a few years before the Menard's stuff.

Jerry