Lula by Keith Black - 1:120 Scale - 1870s Sternwheeler Supply Boat for Floating Pile Driver

[Glen McGuire]

11 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Once the Tennessee is done then I'd love to start on a diorama.

Wait a minute!  I thought a ship in bottle with penguins was next on your list!?!?  And I know just the guy that can carve you some awesome penguins.  Check out what @gsdpic did.  See post #18.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37836-friendship-sloop-by-gsdpic-bluejacket-shipcrafters-112/#comment-1091805

 

And your Lula is really coming together nicely.  Wonderful work, Keith!

Edited Saturday at 01:55 PM by Glen McGuire

[clearway]

Nice Keith- i take a couple of days away for the steam gala at Keighley and she has sprang forwards leaps and bounds.

 

Keith

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Keith. Are you going to leave those sidelight boxes white?

 

John

[Keith Black]

On 3/22/2025 at 9:54 AM, Glen McGuire said:

Wait a minute!  I thought a ship in bottle with penguins was next on your list!?!?  And I know just the guy that can carve you some awesome penguins.  Check out what @gsdpic did.  See post #18.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/37836-friendship-sloop-by-gsdpic-bluejacket-shipcrafters-112/#comment-1091805

 

And your Lula is really coming together nicely.  Wonderful work, Keith!

 Thank you, Glen. I'll leave SIB work to your capable hands and as far as penguins go........I'm back on the patch. 

 

21 hours ago, clearway said:

Nice Keith- i take a couple of days away for the steam gala at Keighley and she has sprang forwards leaps and bounds

 Thank you, Keith. I've managed to get some extra work time in on Lula lately. 

 

20 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Looking good, Keith. Are you going to leave those sidelight boxes white?

 Thank you, John. Yes, I'm leaving the light boards white because white paint reflects better according to Google AI.

 

 "Red light will appear brighter when reflected off white paint because white paint reflects all colors of light, including red, while red paint only reflects red light"

 

"Red paint contains pigments that selectively reflect red light and absorb other colors. When red light shines on red paint, the red paint reflects the red light back, but the amount of reflected light is less than that of white paint, as it doesn't reflect all wavelengths of light" 

 

"Green light will appear brighter when reflected off white paint because white paint reflects all wavelengths of light, including green, while green paint only reflects green light and absorbs others" 

 

 "Since white paint reflects all colors, including green, it will appear brighter when illuminated with green light compared to green paint, which only reflects green light"

 

 I've seen light boards left natural when hung in the shrouds, painted red and green, painted black, dark gray, and silver. But because of the above I went with white. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Keith Black

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for those quotes. Mark.  Traditionally, of course, the light boxes were painted red and green, and now they are usually painted black.

 

John

[MAGIC's Craig]

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 

 Thank you, John. Yes, I'm leaving the light boards white because white paint reflects better according to Google AI.

 

 "Red light will appear brighter when reflected off white paint because white paint reflects all colors of light, including red, while red paint only reflects red light"

 

"Red paint contains pigments that selectively reflect red light and absorb other colors. When red light shines on red paint, the red paint reflects the red light back, but the amount of reflected light is less than that of white paint, as it doesn't reflect all wavelengths of light" 

 

"Green light will appear brighter when reflected off white paint because white paint reflects all wavelengths of light, including green, while green paint only reflects green light and absorbs others" 

 

 "Since white paint reflects all colors, including green, it will appear brighter when illuminated with green light compared to green paint, which only reflects green light"

 

 I've seen light boards left natural when hung in the shrouds, painted red and green, painted black, dark gray, and silver. But because of the above I went with white. 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, one learns something everyday...I have sailed with many black and natural finished light boards, but not white. Perhaps they were finished thus to avoid excessive glare from light scatter when on deck.  (I note that it doesn't seem to help in fog or rain.) This use of white light boards, however, does make some sense and so I shall follow your logic with the light boards on TWILIGHT when I get to mounting them. Thanks again for the thorough research on all aspects of your model(s).

Craig

[Keith Black]

10 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Thanks for those quotes. Mark.  Traditionally, of course, the light boxes were painted red and green, and now they are usually painted black.

 John, thank you for questioning the light boards color. I also went with white light boards because of Lula's owners decision, with the exception of the black trim, to paint everything that didn't move white.

 

10 hours ago, MAGIC's Craig said:

Well, one learns something everyday...I have sailed with many black and natural finished light boards, but not white. Perhaps they were finished thus to avoid excessive glare from light scatter when on deck.  (I note that it doesn't seem to help in fog or rain.) This use of white light boards, however, does make some sense and so I shall follow your logic with the light boards on TWILIGHT when I get to mounting them. Thanks again for the thorough research on all aspects of your model(s).

 Thank you, Craig. I try to be accurate when building but sometimes I fail and that bothers me. Hopefully I'll continue to learn and each new project will be more accurate than the last.  

[Javelin]

Actually nowadays they are painted matt black by colreg regulation. 

The reason is that it shouldn't reflect the colour of the light at all, simply because the light would then be visible from unwanted angles (in case of sidelight that would be from angles too much astern).

That said, I believe that only came into use in 1970 or later, so for Lula I guess it's really up to you. 

 

In any case this thread is great to follow, so much detail on such a small model. She really looks the part!