Linear tungsten fittings

[richard]

Hello

 

I am looking to quite quickly buy some linear tungsten light fittings (and bulbs) to go into a light box, these should be like striplights but taking tungsten bulbs, they need to be around 314mm long..

 

Anyone know a good source, can't find them anywhere :P

 

Richard

[Guest lightnix]

Stage Electrics do 305mm Architectural Tubes. Not cheap, though for some reason the "s14 pearl" ones are almost a third of the price as the "peg" ones. Click here for the relevant page on their site.

[gareth]

Unless the show's staying firmly in one place, I'd definitely not recommend peg-cap architecturals. They're a bugger to tour - they break if you so much as look at them in a funny way, and most local LX crews seem to have an incredible talent for smashing them, usually when putting them into (or taking them out of) the fitting.

 

If brightness is the issue, Richard, would two or three LinoLites side by side not give you enough 'poke'? Or is there a physical space issue?

[andy_s]

While I'd agree with Gareth that they require careful handling, I've used 1 metre architecturals in several touring productions with very few breakages. It's perhaps a bit of a pain, adding some time to every get-out, but take them out of the lightbox and transport them in the original package. They survived being trogged around UK in Luckings and Matthews trucks pretty well and even managed to get to Broadway by seafreight. I've generally used the ones with the oval pegs, not the round ones, and a peg at each end rather than the one central peg. Don't know if that makes them more robust when being plugged in...?

 

I like them because I prefer the light quality over linlites, and because of the peg-type mounting, you can put them together to make them appear like a continuous line of light. they also seem to dim quite nicely. The only issue I have had is the ones I've used have always had a very warm colour temp - I've not investigated whether they come in daylight versions. If you are mounting them in a lightbox, you can wrap them in colour correction - they run quite cool. If they are visible, the colour temp might be an issue.

[gareth]

While I'd agree with Gareth that they require careful handling, I've used 1 metre architecturals in several touring productions with very few breakages. It's perhaps a bit of a pain, adding some time to every get-out, but take them out of the lightbox and transport them in the original package. They survived being trogged around UK in Luckings and Matthews trucks pretty well and even managed to get to Broadway by seafreight. I've generally used the ones with the oval pegs, not the round ones, and a peg at each end rather than the one central peg. Don't know if that makes them more robust when being plugged in...?

I've never used the single-peg ones - only the ones with the peg at each end. I found them to be incredibly fragile, especially in the longer lengths. The bulk of the problem with architecturals and local crews comes with tours on which the touring electrician is only doing the relights at the beginning of the week, and then leaving the show with the locals - although there are many venues where the local guys are really good and will treat gear with care and respect, there are others where they're just focussed on tearing it all out and throwing it into the truck as fast as possible, with little regard for keeping things in one piece (the "it'll be someone else's problem on Monday" syndrome).

[wilcoxjnr]

Specialz do a neat version of these architectural tubes which clip together quite nicely.

 

Don't know if they'd be necessary in a lightbox, but they're perfect for those locations where standard architectural tubes are easily damaged.

 

Loz