King of the Mississippi by Philg88 - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Scale 1:80 - with internal and navigation LED lighting

[Philg88]

It's about 25 years since I last built a model ship so time for a new one, or in actual fact two - I will be doing a concurrent build of Billing Boats' HMS Victory 1:75 scale - this will be covered in a separate build log.

 

OK, back to the plot ... My plan is to have yellow LED lighting in the buildings on all three decks and in the pilot house  then red/green navigation lights at the prow. Power comes from a 9V battery concealed in a plinth I build from MDF and standard moulding. The wiring comes up through a pillar from the plinth, passes through the hull and 1st deck then connects to a distribution board in the boiler room on the 1st deck. I calculated that a 100 Ohm resistor will handle 4 x 2.2V/20Ma LEDS and with these in parallel the distribution board supports up to 20 LEDs (5 x 4). I have tested it with 16 LEDs (14yellow, 1 red, 1 green) and it works fine so 20 should be no problem.

 

Now some pics, I need to figure out how to post these with individual commentaries but for now the descriptions are in the file names.

 

[Philg88]

This is the power distribution board in the boiler room (see previous post) and details on how I did the treenailing. The ends of the cocktail sticks were stained with walnut to give more contrast, inserted into pre-drilled 0.7 mm diameter holes with a dab of white glue then snipped off level with the deck.

[Philg88]

Nothing fancy inside the plinth - just the battery, a switch and the power feed that goes up to the hull. The side pulls off for battery access and is secured with magnetic strip to avoid the need for screws or a catch of some sort. Also a picture of the trenails - I like the dyed toothpick method, more work but I think it gives better definition than using a pen/pencil to simulate.

 

.

[Philg88]

Alas, hit a bit of a speed bump today when fitting what AL call the "sternpost". The prow needed complete reshaping to fit it, which damaged the planking. I've spent hours stripping the planks back as far as I dare as  I only have 370 mm of African Walnut left to reinstate them once the sternpost and keel are fitted. I could blame the instructions, which say to plank the hull before fitting the sternpost, but I really should know better based on experience.

 

[Keith_W]

Whoops, little speed bump there. Your repair looks fine, and i'm sure nobody will think of looking down there. Keep up the good work.

[Philg88]

Thanks KeithW,

 

I've replanked one side ... another three hours or so and the other one will be done ... a lot of extra work but that's all part of the challenge. Pics to follow.

[Philg88]

OK, back on track. Prow issue resolved so next will be the rubbing fenders and the engine/boiler room. Here are a couple of before and after pics of the repair plus the hull mounted on its plinth. The on/off switch is hidden in the shadow underneath the hull, which is deliberate.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

Mounted on the plinth:

Edited February 21, 2015 by Philg88

[Philg88]

Here is a pic of my Wallace and Gromit inspired Plank-o-Bend (with a nod to Ron McCarthy and his book Building Plank on Frame Ship Models where I first saw the idea). Just an empty can and a candle really-it works really well once you get the hang of it. The trick seems to be to "roll" the plank across the hot surface whilst applying forward pressure. The knurled handle of a craft knife seems the ideal tool for the pushing, but the can gets red hot so mind your fingers if you try this!

 

Plank-o-Bend

 

 

Bow rubbing fender curved using this method

 

 

 

 

[Snoepert]

Hi Philg88,

Enjoying your build. I believe this one will be my next project after Hmb Endeavour and the Sovereign of the Seas.

So it will be a good guide for when I start.

Snoepert

[Philg88]

Hi there Snoepert and glad to hear you're enjoying the build. It's certainly a bit different from the period ships that I've built in the past but nevertheless immensely enjoyable. The only two things I'd warn about so far are: 1) check that the 1st deck slots are in the right place for the buildings as they don't line up "out of the box". 2) Do the necessary preparation on the hull/knightheads to accommodate the "sternpost" before planking the hull.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited February 22, 2015 by Philg88

[Philg88]

Work is in progress on the 1st deck buildings with no major show stoppers. I used contact adhesive throughout (except to fix the stabling boxes where I used white glue) and managed to avoid getting any on the face of the planks by applying very sparingly. One observation though, the AL parts list is wrong as it lists the stabling box ends (part no 37) as 4mm long and as far as I can see these have to be 7mm to fit. The passengers have arrived from Germany (cost around 11 euros including shipping), they now need their bases ground off and a shiny paint job ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2015 by Philg88

[Philg88]

All the doors and their frames/furniture on the first deck are now fitted. To get the diamond panes on the glass I first drew a stencil on 5mm squared paper:

 

 

then traced over the diagonal lines with a craft knife freehand. I then dabbed some black acrylic into the score marks and wiped off quickly (with a dry rag to avoid diluting the paint). Finally, the panes were glued to the doors using Revell Contacto Clear, which doesn't attack the acetate and dries clear.

 

[Philg88]

With the equine passengers on board (their feet are drilled and pinned to the deck to hold them in position) the first deck is finished apart from gluing it in position. Before I do that I need to install some trunking for the wiring, which will be easier to do before gluing and will keep things neat and out of sight. With the boiler room (double doors), I found it was easier to preassemble the hinges before attaching them to the doors/frames. A tiny drop of silver solder on the end of the hinge pins will stop them falling out when the model is turned upside down as it inevitably will be at some point. I've also uploaded a schematic that shows where the LEDs are/will be positioned.

 

Edited March 5, 2015 by Philg88

[Philg88]

Using black nylon darning thread as caulking on the second deck is time consuming to say the least but I'm pleased with the results so far. I never liked the "pencil on one edge" method-it lacks definition and consistency as well as being a pain to shift the graphite if it gets into the grain on a plank face. Before sanding the deck I intend to paint over the thread with clear matt varnish to fix it firmly in position and to prevent it fraying on contact with emery paper. Based on current results, this will be my default method of caulking in future. I also tried using black cartridge paper glued to one edge of each plank but the results weren't as good as with the thread.

 

 

[Philg88]

I added some strips of 1x1 mm painted styrene round the bottom of the first deck buildings. I think it looks neater and defines the deck connection better. I suspect that in real life, steam boat builders would have used such a trim - with the deck probably wet most of the time the ends of bare planks would soon succumb to rot. The horse also seems to approve, although it's hard to tell from his expression  .
 

 

[Philg88]

While waiting for the glue to dry on the second deck planking I moved on to making the curved front and back sections of the second deck. To bend the plywood I used a vegetable steamer (replaced with a new one in the kitchen so that my carrots don't taste of plywood). Works well but 3-4 minutes is enough to avoid delaminating the plywood - which is incredibly flimsy anyway being only 2 mm thick. I didn't use the internal bulkeads (part no 71)  as they would interfere with the lighting. They're not really necessary anyway but make the gluing easier I suppose. Also found out that there is a problem with the alignment of the smoke stacks - either poor design or bad laser cutting on Al's part. 'Twill have to be fixed ...

 

 

 

 

 

And finally the 1st deck LEDs in action ...

 

[shihawk]

Thought i ,d pay you a visit . Lighting effects look great , never was any good at electrics myself !!

[Philg88]

Hi Boyd,

 

Welcome! The lighting is based on a really simple circuit which needs only a 9v battery, LEDs in your choice of colours and one 100 ohm resistor per four LEDs wired in parallel.

 

As far as the Victory is concened, the challenge there is going to be how to hide the wiring (particularly to the lantern on the main mast) but I have a few ideas up my sleeve.

[Philg88]

I planked the semicircular ends of the staterooms in 1 mm walnut, partly because I had some nylon shoe mending thread, which has a rectangular profile and is 1mm "deep" the same as the planks. Looks OK I think and will be hard to see. The .25 mm thread used on the second deck also works well - no trenails for this one as I am adhering rigidly to the instructions.

I think there is an optical illusion created by the high contrast black lines as it makes the planks look different colours according to their orientation ... weird!

 

 

[Philg88]

State room bulkhead LEDs installed.

 

 

I added an extra wall to mask the main wiring junction on this deck. The trunking down the centre will carry the LEDs for this deck.

 

 

This is my creation for use in ceiling lights with LEDs mounted on 5 x 5 mm styrene trunking. Sections can then be "welded" together after soldering using polystyrene cement to hide the wires.

 

 

Paddlewheel supports also cut and installed.

 

[Keith_W]

Very nice, can't wait to see it lit up! How about indulging us in a preview?  

[Philg88]

Thanks Keith. Much as I'd like to fire up the lighting, alas only the first deck boiler room is fully commissioned on the LED front (there is a pic further up the page). The way the circuit is designed means that each subset of four LEDs has to be complete to operate  and they're scattered around the place (e.g. the front 2nd deck bulkheads are on the same circuit as the navigation lights). That means that until I get a fair bit further this will have to remain a "dark" build.

[Philg88]

Stable light now complete and inserted in the false roof support running between the engine and boiler rooms. Now have to wait for the replacement windows for the 2nd deck staterooms to arrive - the first lot were 10mm too high! A mistake on the web site listing apparently.

[Philg88]

While waiting for the windows I jumped forward a bit to get the wire for the navigation lamps up through the smoke stacks. As I couldn't find an 187mm long drill anywhere    I cut each one into three sections and then drilled from each end on the drill press. Once the wires were through, I glued the stacks back together with contact adhesive. Oh, and to get the rings on a fair bit of sanding is required-either the dowel is too big or the rings are too small. Poor design in my view.

The windows arrived and they are still too big so the state room pre-cut holes need some enlargement - 2mm off the top and bottom and about half a mm off each side. It will take a while to do but on the bright side, the supplied shutters will now be too small, which is great news because they're horribly ugly and I never wanted to use them in the first place. Pictures on the Internet show that there were plenty of real steamboats without shutters, so there's my justification for dumping them.

 

[Philg88]

Slowly progressing with the new windows for the second deck staterooms.

 

Meanwhile, I hope I can remember where all these wires go once the deck is glued on  ...

 

Paddle wheel painting also in progress ...

[Philg88]

It was a lot of fiddly work to enlarge the holes for the windows then paint and glaze them but I think it was worth the effort. Now that the deck will be very noticeale through the windows I'm thinking of planking it - at the moment it's just ply painted yellow.

 

[Philg88]

Some scattered progress while I wait for the rest of the replacement windows for the 2nd deck staterooms.

 

As the floor will now be visible through the glazed windows, I fitted a floor laid using wood shamelessly stolen from the HMS Victory (which will now be planked with lime)

Smokestack alignment problem fixed by moving the holes in the 3rd deck back by 3mm

Paddlewheel assembled and fitted

[clearway]

looking great there- bit different from the mighty Vic! Have you thought about copper "dolls house tape" for running lighting conduits?

Keith

[Philg88]

Actually, I'm thinking of using slug tape for the Victory's coppering. I saw it on Ebay - cheap as chips and looks like it will do the job. It would of course work for the lighting conductors too.

[Philg88]

The stairs are so far proving the trickiest part of this build. I made a jig with a hole the same depth as the straight section of the stairs to make the spiral bit easier. Then I used 3 bits of 1mm thick plasticard glued together to bump up the height on each step, which was offset by 2mm against the top of the previous one.