Orange filter, or not?

[oenckie]

Hi all,

 

Is there a site or general rule that I can use to see if I should add the orange filter when adding Kato interior lighting?

 

The filter is to be used for indirect lighting, but how to know of a specific train has that, or not...

 

Regards,

 

Marco

[Kiha66]

I've found it helpful to google the car type in particular, and look at images of the interior and how the car should look from the exterior.  Using google translate can help, or sometimes the Japanese Wikipedia article will have useful pictures.  Usually an interior shot will let you see what sort of lighting was used, if it is bare florescent bulbs you may want to omit the filter, while a more subdued or defused lighting means you may want to add it.  There is no hard rule, as the color and molding of the interior also influences how the light is perceived in the model.  I usually paint my floors and seats if I plan on using lighting kits, as the glare and reflection makes the lights look the color of the molded plastic more than the filter affects them.  You can always install the light one car with the filter and one without, and just go with what you think looks better.

[Khaul]

The orange filter works well in getaden type of trains.

[Das Steinkopf]

The orange filter would be for emulating the glow that you would get from incandescent light globes and as Khaul said would be perfect for Getaden type units, for modern units you would want something that has either a white or very pale blue tinge to it to emulate the florescent tubes. 

[Khaul]

Blueish Tomic lights in a 103

 

Warm Kato lights with orange filter.

 

Warm Kato lights without orange filter.

[Yavianice]

I look at youtube videos or pictures to determine which type of color (bright white, indirect white, yellow) fits best with which train. In practice I have not used the yellow filter for any train except my Orient Express and the Genbi shinkansen (which is bright yellow in car 1)

[JR 500系]

As a rule of Thumb, MOST tourist or joyful trains uses warm orange lighting, and almost all Green carriages uses Warm Orange lighting.... 

 

again, youtube is your best friend here to determine... get a video that is photographed at night to carefully see the color of the interior cabin....