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Sunlight and magnifying lamps

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Mike 84C

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Hi guys, didnt know wether to post this as its a ----take against myself! I do a lot of my modelling in the conservatory, good light, out of the way usual stuff. Windows have roller blinds, small desk under south facing window, got the picture? desk has a angle poise lamp with a magnifing glass. I went out on Sunday to Peterborough show, left blinds up so the cat was happy sleeping in the sun, conservatory got hot , lamp drooped, sun moved across the windows and focussed on the tender of one of my Bachmann Woolworths. They do melt! My only bit of luck was The tender is not a blob but a sort of creased side. And I hope I have recovered it with filler and lots of rubbing down, the other luck was it was"nt a Murphy Models version but one I got hold of to do a very heavy weathering exercise on. You all know what the moral of this tale is. So be carefull!! and stop laughing!! Now!!

Mike

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Hi guys, didnt know wether to post this as its a ----take against myself! I do a lot of my modelling in the conservatory, good light, out of the way usual stuff. Windows have roller blinds, small desk under south facing window, got the picture? desk has a angle poise lamp with a magnifing glass. I went out on Sunday to Peterborough show, left blinds up so the cat was happy sleeping in the sun, conservatory got hot , lamp drooped, sun moved across the windows and focussed on the tender of one of my Bachmann Woolworths. They do melt! My only bit of luck was The tender is not a blob but a sort of creased side. And I hope I have recovered it with filler and lots of rubbing down, the other luck was it was"nt a Murphy Models version but one I got hold of to do a very heavy weathering exercise on. You all know what the moral of this tale is. So be carefull!! and stop laughing!! Now!!

Mike

 

Not laughing at all Mike. That is a salutary lesson for us all. Glad damage was not too bad. We could have lost our home about 10 years ago due to low winter sun striking a ladies magnifying mirror on the window cill of our bathroom. It burnt a 1/2" deep gouge right across the wooden window frame. It the gouge line was burnt to a crisp. Thankfully there weren't any more flammable items on the window cill at the time or it could have caught fire!!! What was scary is it was only low winter sun which we normally wouldn't expect to be hot, but magnify those rays into one tiny concentrated area at just the right focal distance and ouch! Thanks for posting.

 

PS: Reminds me of my childhood when I setup a small Triang layout on a sun room table (birthday present). The hot sun ruined my two BR MkII coaches which partially melted and warped like bananas. I was not a happy bunny but learnt a lesson that day.

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It's certainly well worth mentioning. I know somebody who recently came home to find the house full of smoke. The daughter's magnifying make-up mirror had focussed the sun's rays onto a small spot on the wooden window frame and actually set light to it! It was a few minutes away from setting light to the curtains - and then....... As it was, it just burned a hole almost through to the outside and just needed filling when it had cooled down.

 

Some of these magnifying lights have a hinged shield above the lens, which will prevent this, and keep the lens fairly dust-free, too.

 

magnifying_lamp_black.jpg

 

..it's simple enough to make something, if yours hasn't..

 

 

This, rather larger, concave mirror has caused some problems, too - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675 .

 

 

When I lived in Cyprus, these solar cigarette lighters were a popular gimmick.

 

SKU069347a.JPG

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  • 4 months later...
  • 10 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Nearly happened to us 10 years ago when low winter sun hit a 'vanity magnifying mirror' inside the bathroom window and burned a 1/2" line in an arc through the wooden window frame. Thank God there was nothing more flammable between the mirror and the window frame like a towel, tissue box, etc, otherwise we could have lost the house. We were extremely fortunate. Needless to say the 'mirror' was dumped.

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  • 9 months later...
  • 1 month later...
On 9/20/2019 at 9:13 AM, PorkyP said:

Thanks for the heads up gents, the Mrs has been re arranging the rooms upstairs ( again!)  ... so bearing the above in mind I went up and did a quick 'safety inspection' and moved a couple of glass items etc with a dire warning to be aware in future ! 😉

Watch out for those ladies convex mirrors in Bathrooms. A disaster just waiting to happen. We were very luck 10 years ago. Needless to say the mirror is now kept in a cupboard all year round

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