Heat Build-up.... Showcase bulbs and fluorescents throw the most heat. If you leave enough space between inside and outside box, or drill air holes, you shouldn't have a problem. Most roomboxes are not airtight and usually the lights aren't on for an extended time period.

Roberta in Wisconsin

Flickering fire light: There have been questions recently on SS about flickering lights for a fireplace or stove. I just bought a Fire Flames Effect Unit http://www.grandadsplayroom.com/page9.htm from Grandads Playroom and it works great. It is a tiny circuit board with four tiny bulbs attached to wires. It fits easily into my fireplace behind the logs. I attached the wires to a miniature Cir-Kit plug and then into the Cir-Kit outlet that is attached to my tape wire. My unit now plugs in just like a lamp. It has a wonderful random flicker and it does not effect the rest of the lights in the house. Only the fireplace flickers. The other lights do not. It was inexpensive and delivery was very prompt. Also, the Bettses were very helpful in answering my questions via email about connecting the unit. Look for the unit under Accessories on their website.

Mary in Virginia

Ceiling Light: My favorite budget hint: I  made a ceiling light by using a clear faucet handle "button", 1" in diameter, with pretty facets.  The sides are designed to pop into the top of a faucet out of sight, so had to be covered. I did that by wrapping a strip of embossed foil from the edge of a greeting card around the outer rim, but ribbon or a strip of veneer are other possibilities.  I glued the fixture over a grain of wheat bulb (rated for 12 volt - be sure to verify!) coming down through a small hole in the ceiling. Its wires are soldered to the tapes under the carpet above, and so when the bulb goes out it will be easily replaced.  Works great and costs less than $2.50 per light, including the bulb.  Hey, it's not a chandelier for the royal palace, but it's a fair representation of the typical light in a bedroom of the last 60 years or more, and I'm quite pleased with it as my first effort in lighting. If the dolls look up they will see a "C" (for "cold"), but I'm hoping they will conclude it's just a logo of some kind. Without sticking my head all the way in I could not see the "C" (which is not painted on, just embossed in the center).  The "H" and arrow design will also be put to use sometime, all from the same package at the local hardware store.  If your hardware store doesn't have the grain of wheat bulbs, check with an electronics outlet.

Rosalind in Houston, TX

Flickering Stove Bulb: HBS has a 12V red/orange colored bulb that flickers without causing other lights on the same transformer to flicker. A true wonder. Click link to see... http://www.miniatures.com/hbs/global/Index.owp?TOPCATEGORY=shopping&SUBCATEGORY=products&INNERPAGE=/hbs/global/shopping/ProductDetail.owp&PRODUCTSKU=2120

Sally Cook-Thomas

Basic wiring: Cir-Kit wiring kits include instructions for beginners.  Cir-Kit also has an introduction to wiring video.   You can pick one up at your local miniatures store, or check if NAME has one in their video library that you could borrow name@miniatures.org   (317) 571-8094).   Of course, it is better to watch it   and then practice with a teacher, but at least you have other options if that isn't possible.

Tammy in Virginia

Strip lights: Dee's handles the strip lights--they are called Aura Lights and are wonderful for mini rooms.  They are regular 110 volt lights and come in brass, chrome, white, or black.  They are also available in other lengths.  I put them in all my roomboxes.  If you can't find them locally, drop me a line as I keep them in stock most of the time. They aren't really cheap but are well worth the money and they are rated for 4500 hours! OldPuebloM@aol.com

Dottie in Tucson

Lit candles on Christmas trees : way long years ago, I did one of these - a tree with lit candles. I used strings of 1 1/2 volt bulbs - the really tiny ones, and strung each one through some plastic white tubing (candle part) with a gold sequin on the bottom for a cup. Now, I don't recall how many bulbs to a string - and you don't need a lot of these for the lights to be very effective. Consult with a Cir-Kit catalog for instructions - they sell all kinds of bulbs and know how many to run on a string and what wattage transformer to use - ( you can run several strings of these small bulbs from a medium size transformer -as well as other fixtures. (just remember this is "series" lighting, and if one goes out they all are dark).

Phyl in Kentucky

Wonderful looking fluorescent lights - sadly they are fairly "not cheap" http://www.members.shaw.ca/ptuckerr/lightsintro.html

Sandra in Wellington, New Zealand

Good stuff: http://www.hitechnic stuff.com/products.htm Lego has an electronic wonderment of sensors and lights...Lego size, for those who need something to make something else work. The lights embedded into a Lego brick in different colors could make a lit walkway or ultra modern something. Go look and lets see what this group can invent.

Laurie Sisson

Transformers: [I went to our local Radio Shack in search of a 6 volt DC 500mA AC/DC

Adaptor for my miniature bar. It would allow me to use electric current to light the bar, rather than batteries. However, Radio Shack had only 6 V 800mA and 6V 1000mA. Using a higher voltage or higher mA adaptor will damage my little bar. So I didn't buy one.]

Either of those transformers will work fine. Excess (too high) a voltage will shorten the life of electrical devices, but having extra current available (amperage) will not really matter. The 800mA is the maximum that the transformer is capable of providing, but it will only supply the amount required by the bar. This will make the transformer a little less efficient, and you may waste a nickel's worth of electricity a month, but it won't really damage the bar.

Having said all that, now let me contradict myself. If you use a greatly overrated transformer,(like a 40 watt transformer with 1 or 2 bulbs) you may create a power spike at power up. This can shorten your devices life.

Tom Kari

AC/DC Adaptor: With regard to ac/dc adaptors, it is not the current that you have to watch, but the voltage. The current is just a measurement of how much power the adaptor can deliver. The 1000 mA one can drive twice as many light bulbs as the 500 mA one and so would be alright to operate with a system only requiring 500 mA.

It's the voltage that can do the damage. So a 9 V adaptor would quickly see off your lights. However, the converse is also true. By reducing the voltage the light intensity is reduced but the life of the bulb is extended. If you have a variable voltage adaptor, try setting it to 4.5 V. Your miniature people may not be able to see to read so much, but it can give a more romantic look to the scene.

Neil Helsby

Books: The only book I found to be extremely worthwhile was the paper one from Cir-Kit that gives instructions for tapewiring. I found that invaluable to start wiring. I'm sure others on this list will know good books on making things and I think it's Earth and Tree that has a very good book selection.

Carol

Question:  You asked when the large eyelets go through to the other side of the wall what do you do.

Answer:  The large outlets are used in connection with the plugs on lamps and outlet boxes.   If they protrude on the other side (in 1/8" size walls) I just file them off.

Dolores

Color matching: Mary Lynne: "For some reason, the paint I chose for my woodwork (which I very carefully matched to the leather wing chair) does not match the wing chair at all in the picture." Here is some information that might be of use. First, it may be the film that you use that causes colors not to match. Secondly, it may be the light.

Daylight is comprised of all colors of the spectrum mixed together. If you have ever moved to the window in a department store to appraise the "true" color of a garment or other object, it is probably because you don't trust the electric light...and that's probably wise. Many electric lights do not emit all the colors (wavelengths) and are not full spectrum like daylight. Consequently, they will not render object color well if they are not emitting that color. To put it simply, color is how you light it.

Incandescent light is great with reds, but weaker with blues. Some fluorescent lights render colors poorly and some newer types are excellent. Other lighting systems, like you see in warehouse type stores (example: Home Depot) may have what is called HID light sources. Most of them don't render colors well, although there are some high color rendering types available. Lastly, sometimes colors match under one type of light source but not another. They are called metameric pairs.

Many people think a great deal about color, but may not consider the lighting. Based on the information above, designers know that blue color schemes, illuminated solely by incandescent lighting- no daylighting or other lighting added- will not be as vibrant as seen in daylighting and some other types of light bulbs. The blues will "gray down".

I want to put attractive lighting fixtures in my lights in my dollhouse, but I also expect to have a (very) soft wash of light from outside the house, from a narrow flood light- not too much light that it washes out the mini lights inside. Not only will it allow us to see the details inside, it will help to illuminate areas where I have used dark finishes and colors.

Kathy from Tustin

Remote control lighting: (As for a remote control lighting system, I have three URLs for you to try: http://www.smallworldproducts.com  http://www.light-fantasia.com/frameset.htm  http://www.lutron.com/  )          

The LUTRON systems are not designed specifically for minis, but for life-size houses. They do control/dim low voltage, 12V lighting systems, however. They are expensive, but one of the best in the world. This is what we will be using in our dh because we are in the lighting industry. If you are not familiar with lighting, you may find their products too confusing- you may want to use one of the other companies than Jonathan mentioned.

Kathy from Tustin

Flame Bulbs: [I have 4 Cir-Kit (KC 1010-4) 12V Flame Tip Gor Bulbs (w/8" white wires - 50 ma) that I intended to use for the torches.   In a catalog I notice that another flame bulb (40 ma) was recommended to be used with a candle body socket to create fixtures with easily replaceable bulbs.  Should I have candle body sockets also?   Do I have bulbs that will work or should I scrap them for this project and use something else?   What size transformer do I need if my display only has these 4 torches?]

These bulbs are fine.   They require a transformer of at least 4 bulbs times .050 amps times 12 volts equals   2.4 watts

Tom & Kari

Tiny Outlets: After several months of sleuthing, after Jonathon asked the innocent question "is there an alternative to those big, clunky outlet plugs" I can finally claim success.   The Cir-Kit Tiny Outlets and Plugs are well-worth the time and effort to install.   I have the first set now installed on a lamp in the bedroom of the San Franciscan and show it in the "Odds and Ends" Album on my Photo-Trail Website.   Eventually, they will be in all my electrified dollhouses.   I wish I'd known about them ten years ago when I first started building dollhouses.

I can see why many people like the huge, clunky plugs since they are a breeze to work with, but the time and effort spent learning how to install and activate the tiny plugs and outlets, to me, is well worth the effort.   They are barely noticeable.

Dolores

Working Clocks: Someone was asking about working grandfather clocks. Try Small Time: http://www.small-time.com/

Colin Bird

Lit candles on Christmas trees : way long years ago, I did one of these - a tree with lit candles. I used strings of 1 1/2 volt bulbs - the really tiny ones, and strung each one through some plastic white tubing (candle part) with a gold sequin on the bottom for a cup. Now, I don't recall how many bulbs to a string - and you don't need a lot of these for the lights to be very effective. Consult with a Cir-Kit catalog for instructions - they sell all kinds of bulbs and know how many to run on a string and what wattage transformer to use - ( you can run several strings of these small bulbs from a medium size transformer -as well as other fixtures. (just remember this is "series" lighting, and if one goes out they all are dark).

Phyl in Kentucky

Battery Lights: I used three in my Christmas house two outside trees and lights around the door I hid one under wood pile one as heating unit and one just inside door behind fire place as you look at Christmas room you don't see it....remember to place them where you can replace batteries... They really burn a long time.....I got my at hobby lobby in the Christmas village scene

Linda in Texas