Stains and Flourescent lights

[Younger]

Question for the group. For years I have used variations of the india ink/alcohol mixture, as well as Silverwood and other commercial stains to represent unpainted wood. The effects are as desired when treated, but I notice that after a while under flourescent lights the wood gets lighter and lighter, until it looks untreated. Anybody else noticed this, and come up with a solution to the problem, or should I be using another technique. TIA
-Younger

[DaKra]

Flourescent lights put out more UV than incandescents, UV light tends to be harsher on dyes.   I believe you can purchase a UV filter, which might help.  Personally I prefer incandescents, they more resemble sunlight, and can be dimmed nicely.

   

[Seattle Dave]

I have noted the same thing as Younger, but my model room is lit by incandescents, and still stains and washes fade out over time.  No solutions from me either, sorry.

[lab-dad]

I think the solution is to keep building new models!
May be this is why so many railroads get torn down after being finished?
Sorry I am of no help either.
-Marty

[marc_reusser]

Jerry,

Maybe try using acrylic washes like Doug Ramos does....or "working wet" with acrylics like Per Olav Lund does.

I have for the most part moved away from the silverwood (and was never a fan of the IA)....as I feel the acrylics give you a far better range of color and and hue, and the finish is more opaque...thus resulting in a more realistic appearance Iespecially once you get into the 1/32 stuff you're doing). I belive the acrylics will give you more lasting color permanance......plus its more fun stuff to buy.

Why not see if Doug will do a small cliinic/demo at the next meet.

M

[finescalerr]

Marc beat me to that suggestion. It seems to be about the only alternative. -- Russ

[Younger]

Thanks, guys, I'll see if I can get some info from Doug.
-Younger

[finescalerr]

Unless I'm mistaken, Doug's info, step-by-step, is in the current Narrow Gauge Annual. -- Russ

[shropshire lad]

Unless I'm mistaken, Doug's info, step-by-step, is in the current Narrow Gauge Annual. -- Russ

     Well , if you don't know for sure , who can we ask to get confirmation that it is ?

[finescalerr]

Nick, go stand in the corner. -- ssuR

[davidkilby]

I have flourescent lights in my workshop where I have a large 1:20.3 diorama I have been building for a few years.  I used Silverwood in a couple of places and noticed after one year the wood almost bleached out.  I re-coated with Silverwood again and by year two, almost the same result.  I never thought about the cause being attributed to the lighting. Inever really liked the results of Silverwood or black ink/alcohol dyes mostly because there is no color variation.  I'm glad i did all of my other wood treatments with acrylic paints.  This winter I plan to work with oil based washes and see if i get better results.

David

[mad gerald]

I only made the observation, that these special energy saving fluorescent illuminants/bulbs let stained parts of a modell appear in quite a different (greenish) colour compared to daylight, while taking photos of it ...

BTW: I'm not trying to be more Catholic than the Pope or a nitpicker, but I'm curious if "flourescent" is the american spelling of "fluorescent" ... or in this case simply a misspelling ...  

[finescalerr]

It is a misspelling.

Fluorescent bulbs come in different color temperatures. By choosing, for example, 9300K bulbs you should see no "green" tint.

Russ

[marc_reusser]

Isn't true color (or as close to natural light) somewhere around 5000-5300K?

Gerald,
When shooting photos in flouresc. you can get rid of any discoloration/tint, by manually pre-setting your "white balance" on the camera.

[Ray Dunakin]

I think that as more people switch to fluorescents, by choice or by mandate, they're going to discover a lot of things in their homes becoming faded or damaged by UV.