MTH latest release of Twin stack sets.....anyone got them yet?

@A. Wells posted:

@jini5 - I got those lights today.  They are fantastic and very bright.  They do need some type of reflector/diffuser.  I actually have them pointed toward the ceiling to help diffuse the light.  Two is really all I need in the "office" and three would probably blind me.  All the containers take on more realistic color tones with these lights as well.  I'll work on getting some type of reflector for them this week.

Anthony

Anthony, I have had those Barrinas in my garage for about 6 months now. I have the 8 footers. They are in my opinion take on a slight bluish color due to the fact these are 5000k in color. Not yet sold on using them for the train room. I have been installing wafer led discs through the house when remodeling. These are 4000k in color (still daylight but more white). I am thinking 4000k is what I am leaning to for the train room. That said, I think you get used to whatever you install. I would bet the blue on those csx containers look really bright blue under your Barrina lights. BTW why do you need a diffuser? Those Barrinas (assuming you purchased the ones from Amazon in your previous post) have a  "V" shaped built in diffuser. That "V" shaped diffuser should  have a downward throw of light.

Anthony, went back and reread your post about installing your lights. Now I am assuming those are too bright since you have them upside down pointed at the ceiling. Are you looking for something to wrap around the fixture to dim it down? Are those dimmable (dont remember when iI installed mine in the garage) .

@RailRide posted:

I'll have to look at them again once I get back from work. My example did not have any ribbons around the cars--hence my opinion that there should have been. I haven't fully removed any of the cars from the styrofoam cavities as of this writing, but I suspect the AB box was always this way since unusually tight packaging is something I've seen here and there with MTH. I didn't notice any loose pieces within the bags, however.

I don't imagine the molds for the foam have changed, but the 'tightness' of the outer box could vary from production run to production run--or even within one, especially if manual assembly is involved in gluing the box together.

---PCJ

I did not have any gold ribbons with my 5 car set or with my (2) 2 car sets. Wonder why some get ribbons and others don't????/

@jini5 posted:

Anthony, went back and reread your post about installing your lights. Now I am assuming those are too bright since you have them upside down pointed at the ceiling. Are you looking for something to wrap around the fixture to dim it down? Are those dimmable (dont remember when iI installed mine in the garage) .

There are two main reason why they are upside.  1) When my eye catches the LEDs in the tube, I find it jarring.  It almost hurts my eyes.  Even upside down, I still can see the LEDs, so I'm going to need something to shield my vision.  2) The ceiling helps diffuse the light through out the room.  I find the coolness you mentioned to be very subtle.  If I mix them with my GE grow lights (white-white-red), the coolness vanishes and I would say I get more of a 4500k.  I'll check on the dimmability tomorrow.

One issue with so much white light is that it gives a very sterile illumination to the layout, which looks great for Intermodal but not so great for everything else.  So what I'm thinking is using angled incandescent bulbs (yellow to orange spectral range, medium wattage) to highlight the layout to give both shadow and more of a daylight feel.  I'm also hoping this helps with the flicker (which I unfortunately can see).

It's so ironic that you installed the same lights in your garage.  What do they say about great minds?  Lol.

A

Anthony, that is kinda funny about the lights we both bought. I am just hoping they dont stripe the paint on my vehicles since they are so bright.

@A. Wells posted:

I got mine today.  Lot of small loose and broken parts on the fine detail of the A and B units.  Most of the hand rail posts on the ends are bent as well.  Haven't looked at the CDE units just yet.  I'll try to post pics shortly.

Anthony

Anthony, not sure yo know or not but those handrails are available now on MTH's parts site. I just got 4 of them in the mail today. Didnt need them but thought I better have some laying around. Also bought a few extra drawbars (MTH calls them truck mounts I believe) in case I break one. I have had previous releases of these twin stacks shipped to me with broken drawbars. You may not get the color you want but a little Badger modelflex railroad color and an airbrush will take care of that. Thought you might like to know.

@jini5 posted:

Anthony, not sure yo know or not but those handrails are available now on MTH's parts site. I just got 4 of them in the mail today. Didnt need them but thought I better have some laying around. Also bought a few extra drawbars (MTH calls them truck mounts I believe) in case I break one. I have had previous releases of these twin stacks shipped to me with broken drawbars. You may not get the color you want but a little Badger modelflex railroad color and an airbrush will take care of that. Thought you might like to know.

Yes, I bought two, one was extra and now I'm regretting not buying a small handful of them!!!  I also bought some other parts to fix other items that I have received from MTH that have arrived with broken parts.  Did they not have yellow drawbars/truck mounts?  FYI: My airbrush ability needs serious work.

As far as lighting goes, I thought about experimenting with colored transparent sheets and incandescent "spot" lights to see how they affect items on a layout.

Anthony

@jini5 posted:

I did not have any gold ribbons with my 5 car set or with my (2) 2 car sets. Wonder why some get ribbons and others don't????/

I'm not certain why. If they weren't in previous runs, it may have been a local decision that was applied after some part of the production run was packaged, or perhaps they ran short. But this is just speculation on my part. So far only one respondent has mentioned theirs having them, so.....

---PCJ

No ribbons here.

@jini5 - Check these out: (https://smile.amazon.com/LEDEN...ghting/dp/B07NRMX43G)

@A. Wells posted:

@jini5 - Check these out: (https://smile.amazon.com/LEDEN...ghting/dp/B07NRMX43G)

Anthony, I used something like that as an undercabinet lighting in my kitchen. That was back in 2017 and the system I bought was very pricey. I had to order rigid strips with powerpacks. What you showed comes on a roll which I think is really nice. Probably easier to work with. Not too sure how you could use those for overhead lighting. Alot of LED fixtures are now coming standard with color options (K numbers). I had to order my cabinet lighting for 4000K in color which is what I wanted all along.

About the ribbons.......No big deal either way.....Don't really need them anyway.......But I thought I would see what else I had. Here's some pics of my 5 car sets of previous runs. All with ribbons. I guess MTH is cutting corners wherever they can. Again, no big deal to ME. Anyone reading this post, let's see some pics of your sets.

@jini5 - Did you notice the temperature (K) of those LEDs was adjustable? I'm going to buy those and roll of neutral white for play.