Quoddy Head Lighthouse by Srodbro - BlueJacket Shipcrafters

[Srodbro]

Not sure if I’m posting in the right place, but if moderator wants it elsewhere, please move it.
Close to two years ago, I purchased from Blue Jacket their West Quoddy Head Lighthouse Kit. At that time it had been discontinued for several years, but I persuaded the good folks there to cobble together a kit from whatever parts they had available. I’m finally getting around to starting the project. 
 

Around the time I purchased the kit, I was able to find on these forums a build log that someone wrote on this kit. It had details about the electronic flashing light accessory. Unfortunately, the components I received from Blue  Jacket have no instructions for this accessory. 
 

I am wondering if anyone out there might know of the log I am searching for (I’ve done several searches of the forums without success) and can give guidance. 

 

Thanks. 

 

[mtaylor]

Here's the search I used...   https://modelshipworld.com/search/?q=lighthouse&type=forums_topic&search_and_or=and&search_in=titles&sortby=relevancy

 

Builds of lighthouses have been far and few between.

[Srodbro]

Yeah, thanks mtaylor. Tried that search without success. 
 

I’ll probably start a build log on this lighthouse project. .... is this the right place for it?

[mtaylor]

Indeed it is the right place.  Just add your posts for the build to this topic.

[popeye the sailor]

another lighthouse project.........now I don't feel alone anymore     there doesn't seem to be an adjustment screw to regulate the flashes,  so it may be preset.   following along  

[Srodbro]

I debated with myself about completing this build log and procrastinated long enough that I came to the conclusion that I owed it to those who follow and who have shown enough interest to comment that I need to complete a build log for this. I spend a lot of time looking at other’s logs, and am disappointed when they just die without finishing. I learn so much from others. So, there seems a bit of obligation outstanding on my part. 
 

So, on the theory that we learn from mistakes, and might also learn vicariously from the mistakes of others, I offer the following log of mistakes and disappointments ( but, take heart ... ultimately there is a happy ending). 
 

Lesson #1:  Big Things (big challenges) Come in Small Packages. 
I was very pleased with my two previous builds (semi-scratch USBrig Lawrence, aka Modelexpo Niagara [another build the log of which I must complete] and Dusek Gokstad ship). 

 

I thought I could have a pleasant little diversion with the lighthouse kit. Keep in mind that this “kit” was assembled for me at my request by the good folks at BlueJacket models from spare bits and pieces they had of a defunct kit they used to offer. So, any short-comings cannot be assigned to the manufacturer ... all the mistakes and frustration were of my own doing. 
 

The kit consisted of a wooden dowel, tapered, for the lower tower, a short wooden dowel for the upper tower, a cast metal roof, and laser etched brass for the light enclosure and vestibule building, and a couple of brass disks for the upper and lower decks. There was also a bit of electronics to activate the light (ultimately not used as I couldn’t figure out how to power it, and my decisions during construction eliminated the means of installing this feature).  
 

Simple, eh?  Stay tuned. 
 

Instarted with the lower tower dowel which was already tapered and sanded. I wanted to add a bit of texture to better represent the brickwork, so locked it into a drill, roughed the surface a bit with coarse sandpaper, and cut a few brick courses into it to better define the stripes. 

 

Lesson #2 - Painting stripes is not easy. 
The kit included some red tape to be used for stripes.  But, the width of the tape would have resulted in either non-uniform red-white stripes, or the wrong number of stripes. Also, because of the taper to the tower, getting the tape to conform was messy. In order to paint the alternating red and white candy stripes fairly uniformly, I found I couldn’t just utilize the drill rig . it spins too fast and had a slight wobble. I had to repurpose a jig from another build to hold the tapered base on an axle to evenly spin the dowel while holding a saturated paint brush. 

 

More to come.

 

[Srodbro]

Now things are getting funky. 
 

Lesson #3:  Soldering is a tricky skill. 
 

Two brass discs were furnished in the kit to serve as the deck above the lower tower, and below the light room. Several brass pins with loops, and some brass wire ( about 28 ga), were furnished to create railings around the perimeter of the two decks. Here I have soldered the stanchions to the brass deck. 

Clearly, I am using a torch. But, I couldn’t figure out how to solder the railing to the stanchions. Also, I thought that In soldering these pieces together the heat would compromise the already soldered joints at the deck. Also, I thought the railing wire was far too whimpy, maybe scaling to only about 1” diameter, which I thought was too small. 

I decided to try something else that didn’t involve soldering.  I’d wasted a brass disc, but fortunately found included in the kit a pair of wooden discs. 

I formed new stanchions out of 24 ga brass wire, and extended the portion under the deck to give a larger surface area to attach them to the wooden deck with CA. On the top side of the deck, I used spacers to help in clamping the railing to the stanchions. Figuring that a CA joint between the rail and stanchion wire wouldn’t hold up, I formed a ball joint from small wooden blocks to provide more glue surface. I figured I could file these down to look acceptable. 

Nah!  I didn’t like that how that turned out, either. 

Maybe I’ll go back to soldering. 
 

Lesson #4:  Soldering is REALLY tricky, requiring skills I don’t have ( yet). 
 

I thought the problem with soldering was being able to hold onto several pieces at once while also holding the solder and torch. This can’t require two people to do. 
So, I created a jig to hold the stanchions and rails ( I had discovered from photos that there are actually two rails at each level) in position while soldering. I had to determine the developed length of the deck perimeter and the spacing of the stanchions, then stapled the pieces to a board. I also used 18 ga copper wire, something I thought would be more robust. 


Shaped and cleaned up, it wasn’t too bad. 

 

But, the more robust copper wire looked just too thick, scaling to about 4” diameter, much too big. So, now that I thought I had a soldering technique, I’d try again with 20 ga brass wire. 

 

This really didn’t work as planned either ... I couldn’t figure out how to join the ends of the railings so I wrapped them in thread to simulate seizing. Also, I miscalculated the spacing of the stanchions on the upper deck, and ultimately had to cut another upper deck from pvc since I’d wasted the brass and wooden ones from the kit. But, the diameter of the stanchions and railings were finally right. 

 

But, I had had enough. This was going to have to do. Maybe a good coat of black paint would hide some of my sins. 
 

More to come. 

[popeye the sailor]

looks good........skills get better,  the more you use them     very nice.

[scalestuff]

I know that I am coming late to the game, but did you ever get the instructions for the Bluejacket Shipcrafters West Quoddy Head Light?

 

Glenn K Williams

North Hampton, NH USA