Bill97

They look great Daniel.

Warm white LED lights installed on the port side lower deck which will eventually shine out through the port holes. I used two separate circuits so I could display with some lights on, some off, or all on. This will more keeping with what it might look like at night. I made deck sections to separate the lower and middle decks so light from one deck will not shine through the port hole on the deck above or below.

I noticed it has been about 3 weeks since my last update. Never fear I have not given up on this beautiful model. However I have spent time going backwards. I came to the conclusion that I really was not pleased with the installation of my lighting for the lower deck port holes. After Daniel expressed his concern with the circuit distribution little plastic clip things I was using I started feeling less confident in them. I therefore purchased and installed bus bars. I think I will be more confident in them and even considering putting a drop of solder at each screw to prevent ever coming loose inside the hull. Next I realized when I drilled all the holes in pieces that make up the hull (forget nauticle name) before gluing it all together I drilled them too close to the outside edge. When u started running all the wiring I had no place to put my LED light supports. So I just decided to pull out all the wiring and start over. Fortunately I have an 18 inch long small hole drill bit I was able to start at the bow and stern to drill all the way through close to the center of the ship. Now I am running the wiring through these new holes which leaves plenty of room for the LED supports. I have just done the lowest deck so far. The middle and top decks are still to follow. You can see in my photos how crowded the wiring is in the middle deck. I also decided to go with two lights in the wider sections of the ship to get better light uniformity.

Daniel I too did not like what I thought OcCre provided for the wheels at the helm. I see later in the instructions that those wheels are intended to be used on the area with the clear top on the structure that sits on the fire control structure. However since I am going to have the helm open so I can see inside it I did want more authentic wheels. I found these. They are a slight larger than I hoped for but will fit. I purchased 4 as in the actual ship but may only to use 3. I too am struggling with if to put the windows in or not.

Thanks Daniel. I would expect that now you have the hull planked you are limited to what you can do additionally with electric?

Ok Daniel next question. You really have my curiosity up now. Reading back through your build (for the 100th time maybe 😊) I see you have the 3 main deck “houses” positioned on the deck and lit with your LEDs before you started planking the hull. Later in your build you show planking and the deck covered with the blue painters tape. It is obvious the “houses” are not under the tape. So should I conclude you temporarily set the “houses” in place and wired them and then later disconnected them from their circuit so you could take them off the deck?

Same with me Marc on the 3D printing. My 13 year old grandson has one and can do things I marvel at.

Good morning Marc. What I was referring to is this paragraph in your post above: I’m working on deck furniture. A considerable amount of time was spent, as always, on de-plasticizing the appearance of these parts; flash removal, in-filling of injection mould marks,softening of sharp edges, and general detailing. From that I was thinking maybe you 3D printed all new parts instead of working on the kit supplied parts. So with that thought in mind I just wondered how you set up the 3D printer. Understand all the life trials you are dealing with right now my friend. I battle the old high cholesterol as well (my doctor finally put me on a statin). I had to smile when I read about your paint issue. Just today I needed to use a bit of black enamel. I have a number of those little bottles of different colors. It had been a while and the lid was very much stuck. I thought my crescent wrench will fit around this square little bottle perfectly and then I can turn the lid with my pliers. BAD IDEA!! The lid did not turn. However the bottle did and broke right in the middle dispensing black enamel in places I wish it had not. Fortunately none got on my model.

Oh Daniel I thought you were 3D printing all new pieces not modifying what came with the kit. I know very little about 3D printmaking but am thinking you have to program the printer to make the piece you want, either an already made program or design your own. Is that correct?

Marc as long as you keep working at it we will continue to check in. Are you needing to come up with the CAD for the pieces or can you find CAD software already available? Hope my question makes since.

Alright Daniel. So my quest begins. I ordered the new wheels. Going with 4. Thanks again Bill

Yes Ian you are correct on the heat shrink tubing. I am using that product extensively on my newer soldered connections. Before I was fully knowledgeable of it I had a number of connections already soldered. For those I found a liquid rubber product I can just paint on a soldered connection. When it dries it forms a rubber coating to protect. Many many soldered LEDs to go in 4 separate circuits. Thanks Kevin. It did in fact take a bunch of plank cutting. The electric lighting really is not extremely difficult. Once you learn the basics and if you have a great tutor like I had in Daniel.

Yes Ian I am. I am tackling the OcCre Amerigo Vespucci with some artistic privileges venturing outside the box. I am also doing an extensive lighting plan I hope works out. Here is the link if you want ant to take a peek. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/38262-amerigo-vespucci-by-bill97-occre-1-100/ Bill

Looking great Ian. Had to do a little searching to find what you were into now. This is battle cruiser is a new direction do you.

Hey JeffT, you helped me before and I always appreciate it. Next time there is an update to the index would you include my OcCre Amerigo Vespucci build? Thanks in advance for all you do. Bill https://modelshipworld.com/topic/38262-amerigo-vespucci-by-bill97-occre-1-100/

Beautiful job Daniel on the bowsprit netting. More for me to try to use as reference. Daniel I am working on the helm and referring to your work here as well. As you are aware the OcCre instructions are very limited as to what to do with the inside, even if I just wanted to follow the basic instructions. As you mentioned the included wheels are kind of sad and I know I will need to do something differently there. The instructions don’t even show how to mount them if I were to have wanted. But were there any parts included in the kit you did use to make parts B and C in the photo? Or did you purchase and or fabricate the entire mechanism?

Been a bit since my last update. Have been working on the issue I described above. I noticed I was not getting a uniform level of light from the port holes on the deck structures if I had the LED bulbs mounted vertical. I am also using 5mm lights. I have 8 holes in the fire control room including port holes and holes at the top of doors. So I really wanted to mount a LED at each hole. It is a bit of a snug area. The wiring for the outside down lights is also I closed in here. After a number of iterations I finally got what I wanted. I am using 5mm warm white lights for the interior of the deck structures and will use this same LED for the port holes on the two decks. The deck lights are 3mm white bulbs.

Daniel I made an interesting discovery. LED lights are brighter viewed from the top rather than the side. I researched this a little and found it is definitely true. This will add a degree of complexity to my lighting plan if I want uniform brightness. My plan for the side portholes is to mount the LEDs horizontally close to where the port hole will be. This will give maximum brightness through the port hole. However for the deck structure interior lights, that will be on the same circuit(s) using diodes, my plan was to mount them vertical in the deck inside the structures. This plan results in dimmer light shining through the windows and portholes compared to what eventually will shine through the hull portholes. So if I want uniform brightness I will need to mount them horizontal as well

Daniel I made an interesting discovery. LED lights are brighter viewed from the top rather than the side. I researched this a little and found it is definitely true. This will add a degree of complexity to my lighting plan if I want uniform brightness. My plan for the side portholes is to mount the LEDs horizontally close to where the port hole will be. This will give maximum brightness through the port hole. However for the deck structure interior lights, that will be on the same circuit(s) using diodes, my plan was to mount them vertical in the deck inside the structures. This plan results in dimmer light shining through the windows and portholes compared to what eventually will shine through the hull portholes. So if I want uniform brightness I will need to mount them horizontal as well.

Thank you Daniel. I will give it a look.

Daniel I spend a lot of time perusing your build to get inspiration and ideas. I am curious, maybe fascinated, by this floor. What did you do to make it? Looks so similar to the original on the ship.

Finished the planking of the three deck sections. Many will call me crazy for doing it but as you can see I did a herringbone pattern using 3mm x 6mm planks laid in opposite direction on the port and starboard sides. I also laid contrasting walnut planks down the center and outlining the edge of the decks. This is obviously not authentic but I want to venture outside the box on this build. The fore and aft deck sections are dry fitted at this point. A little more work to do below deck before I put them permanently in place. After I glue them in place I will add a coat of black paint followed by an additional coat of white paint to the underside. This will hopefully prevent light bleed through the thin deck from the LED below deck lighting I have planned.

For my plan to light my Amerigo Vespucci I had an issue I needed to figure out. I am running two separate circuits for all the port hole lights on the two lower decks. I want some on, some off, or all on. I think this will give a more true display. However I have or will have interior lights in the deck structures (map room, fire control room, helm, etc. I want the lights in these structures to come on with either of the port hole circuits, not just one or the other. With Daniel’s guidance I discovered diodes in my elementary electrical skills. These little guys are perfect I making this circuit(s) plan work perfectly. Photo is just my test of how they work. The diodes are the little black cylinder shaped guys

Daniel after reading your comment about OR with diodes I did some research, purchased some, and did a little test circuit. It works great. Thanks for the advice.

Ok Daniel here is another curiosity I wonder if you experienced. I have installed and provided current to the 6 LEDs inside the structures on the main deck (stern end well, fire control room, and the two rooms on the side). These lights are on the same circuit as the deck lights on the outside if the structures. I think this is the same way you wired them. All 4 of these structures have port holes or holes in the doors. When the lights are on the exterior lights visually over power any light coming from the port holes. Basically my eyes can’t adjust to seeing both. I could put the interior lights on these structures, as well as the future structures A,B,C on a separate circuit but realistically I don’t think you would have the interior lights on and the exterior lights off. I am just scratching my head as to seeing light shine out the port holes on the deck structures. How is it on your’s? I am reading about the diode idea for OR and think what I would like to do is set up my circuits to have all the deck structure interior lights come on with either port hole circuit. Somewhat similar to what you talked about above for structure B, but for all the interior lights. Watching YouTube videos to try to understand how it is wired. Still confused.