dominic_2005 Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 Evening. Although there is still a lot I need to get for this, there are still things I can be getting on with. Such as making holes in a beautifully molded and crafted hull. Time to crack out the Dremmel! Thankfully, the plastic is really thick, and the areas that are indented where the windows are is really thin. As an added bonus, the thing frame in the middle of each window is the full thickness, so will be pretty strong. Holding up to the light, you can see how thin the windows actually are: It doesn't actually take very much to sand it through, but leaving the frames perfectly intact! There will of course be a little tidying up to do afterwards... Although it seems like a daunting task, it goes pretty quick. Much better than having to drill 4 holes in each window and cutting with a blade anyway. So I will leave you with my progress so far. I won't be in any rush to complete this task, as I have several weeks, maybe months before I have everything else I need. Thanks D 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 On 13/11/2017 at 22:14, BluesModeller said: I have the Haynes Manual for the QM2 if you need to know anything. I actually do. Where are the navigation (red & green) lamps located? I can't see them anywhere in any image. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankerman Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 At the forward end of the the two hull pieces at the level of the promenade deck are two openings and the red "Cunard" decals No.37 are placed forward of these openings. Between the letter D on the port side, the letter C on the starboard side and the openings a rectangle is moulded, these are the navigation light housings and will be black in colour. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 18 minutes ago, Tankerman said: At the forward end of the the two hull pieces at the level of the promenade deck are two openings and the red "Cunard" decals No.37 are placed forward of these openings. Between the letter D on the port side, the letter C on the starboard side and the openings a rectangle is moulded, these are the navigation light housings and will be black in colour. Chris Great thanks. I've seen those moldings on the kit. That makes it really easy to light as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nocoolname Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Watching this with great interest. I've just managed to get the kit from that well known auction place and will be looking to light it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 51 minutes ago, Nocoolname said: Watching this with great interest. I've just managed to get the kit from that well known auction place and will be looking to light it. No pressure then lol Hope you are not eager to start yours? Might be a few more months before I can even get everything I need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nocoolname Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 20 minutes ago, dominic_2005 said: No pressure then lol Hope you are not eager to start yours? Might be a few more months before I can even get everything I need No worries. I have a couple of others in the queue first and my build speed is verrrry slooooooowwwwww.... but I also want to light mine eventually so will be watching how you get on and looking for tips. Good luck!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Good afternoon I think I have finally finalised how I am going to light this. And it's completely different from the way I originally had in mind. Instead of (being lazy) and making use of pre-wired, pre-resistored LEDs and wiring each LED directly to the power source. I will instead wire them in series chains of 2 or 3 mostly, with the odd single LED where there is no alternative. Aside from being the correct way of doing it, it also gives me great redundancy, as if 1 LED should fail, it's not going to take the rest of them with it, as I had happen with my Aida Luna. (All the time I've been planning this, I was desperately trying to come up with a way of accessing everything after it's all put together, but I just cannot think of a way without compromising the finished look.) And over all, it works out cheaper too, another bonus lol During my planning, I've made (and tested) several schematics for my wiring. I will break everything up into 5 layers of LEDs, depending on where they sit within the ship vertically, and each layer into 2 halves, to help with the amp load. Which by the way, according to my calculations, sits at around 2.5A, so I need to re-think my power supply as the one I had in mind wouldn't handle it. (1A). Somewhere into my plans, I will incorporate a fuse, (which will go under the stand for access), as soon as I work out whether the value of fuse I need should be the same as each circuit (Approx 1/2 Amp) or the total value of all the circuits (Approx 2.5 Amp). Thanks D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 Good afternoon. I've further revised my electrical plans, taking into account better ways of wiring, directing light, etc. I've also drawn up my plans into slightly more accurate schematics, with some personal changes to make it easier for me to read and remember. My total price still to spend, including paints and detail kits etc, is around £280 eeeek! You will probably have to click on the images for them to be legible. (Any LED marked "Driver" will be used to drive fibre optics. I have left some scope to add further LEDs as I go, which is most likely to happen. Thanks D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markie Smizzle Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 On 11/14/2017 at 8:06 PM, dominic_2005 said: The kit itself finally arrived today, which was a relief as it was a private listing and I was starting to have concerns. The box was a bit battered, but the listing did mention that. Not to worry, I am not building a box lol. As is always the case with this kit, it was well packed. Nothing looks like it had ever been opened so will have been fairly well preserved, aside from the obligatory broken stairs on the main deck piece. Don't think any of the kits I've had of this ship have been intact, usually something is damaged. Clean break so simple fix though. I know you guys have probably seen pics of the contents a thousand times before, but well, here they are again. Thanks D Hi nice work with your QM2. I had the same problem with a broken staircase, but mine was on the top deck. Are you have painting or Airbrushing yours? I am airbrushing mine, and I didn't realise how much masking was involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 Hiya Markie. I will be airbrushing the majority of this yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 27, 2020 Author Share Posted September 27, 2020 (edited) Helloooo. I finally decided to get round to doing this, although I have completely scrubbed all my previous plans, in favour of LED strips for the bulk of the lighting. I also invested in the newer release of this kit that includes the PE and wooden decks. My first job was to sort out a power source. My rough calculations for this told me I was going to be pulling a lot of amps, around 5-7amps, give or take. I needed a 3v power source. The first problem there is most mains power supplies that offer 3v are low amps, 2amps was the highest I was able to find. My solution was a 12v Laptop-style power supply that provided upto 10amps. I only needed 3v so I needed some way of getting that down to 3v and I didn't fancy the idea of daisy chaining resistors to do so. Instead, I used a high-amp voltage reducer, one that could handle the amps but still give me a steady reliable 3v. The next problem was the module being too big for the stand, so I had to modify the stand to give a greater clearance. Easy enough using styrene tubes and some adhesive pads, all fixed in place using a glue gun, along with the socket, switch and later, a power LED. (For my own troubleshooting purposes if needed). This was actually a practice run as I now had two copies of this kit, great for getting things right. And the completed layout before fixing in place: Now was just a case of getting everything sprayed up and finished... And finally a quick test of the ships hull in place... I am actually much further along with this, but instead of creating one big post I will break it down into seperate ones, more soon... Edited September 27, 2020 by dominic_2005 Hit Submit too soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 27, 2020 Author Share Posted September 27, 2020 Hello again. Next step with this is to get the basic hull assembled, initial lights fitted and light proofed. As you can see, there was a lot of light proofing that needed to be done. I did this with a combination of automotive black spray and aluminium tape, which doubled up for diffusing/evening the spread of the LED strips. Which incidently, were warm white along the majority of the hull, and bright white for the bow section. The stern will get done later on. Now I could start on the external painting. To start with the anti-fowl paint at the bottom, and whilst doing this I also drilled out and fitted the nav lamps. Then I finished the rest of the hull. I didn't use the decal for the red/white waterline marking, instead masked and airbrushed everything... Next task will be the external flood lights along the hull just under the Promenade deck. Back soon. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 Good Morning Next I started added the external flood lights. I used some really tiny SMD LED's. They are uni-directional so worked great for flood lights. The caveat is they are very delicate and on their own, looked out of place. I ad libbed this by using some evergreen strip to make sort of a housing cover for them. Later I will do the same for the "Cunard" name lamps. Next I started on the first deck, the sten and "Minnows Pool". To start with there was some light bleed from the fibre optics I didn't account for, and dealing with this was difficult without ripping out all of the optics in place: I eventually got there though. Once I was happy, it got fitted into the hull and connected to the rest of the loom. The Promenade deck is dry fitted at this point and not yet light proofed. Finally for this section, I added the PE rails, almost all of them, still a few to do later. Next post will be about the bow section, and fitted the Prom deck into position. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 Hi again, last post to bring you upto date. Started on the bow section, and breakwater. I also added the breakwater lights using fibre optics, along with two inward facing deck lamps And finally got the Promenade deck fitted into place on the hull: Better light proofing was done after these photo's were taken, they will be on a subsequent post. Back soon 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesModeller Posted September 30, 2020 Share Posted September 30, 2020 Lovely, lovely Dominic! I now have two of these in the stash including the Platinum Edition. How did you find the wood deck? Did you fit it straight onto the plastic? Probably start one in the New Year but I’m still tempted to start my 1/400 Aida first. Watching with interest! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 14 minutes ago, BluesModeller said: Lovely, lovely Dominic! I now have two of these in the stash including the Platinum Edition. How did you find the wood deck? Did you fit it straight onto the plastic? Probably start one in the New Year but I’m still tempted to start my 1/400 Aida first. Watching with interest! Hiya. To be honest, I am slightly underwhelmed by the deck. It's made by Pontos so I expected good things. However... It is very, VERY thin. Even the slightest colouration on the plastic will show through something terrible. (That said, it would give you the opportunity to change the hue of the deck slightly if so desired, by painting the plastic below in a given colour. You could darken it (for a wet look?) by painting the plastic a dark brown. I think some experimentation would be needed for that though. The other side of it, also due to it being very thin, is sections break quite easily, especially around the edging, where the laser cutting is strongest. That said it's quite easy to work with and stick any stray sections back in place without too much issue. The Aida is a gorgeous kit. And looks amazing when lit... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 Good evening. Made a little more progress with this. I started adding the PE railings to the stern decks. There seems to be a gap at the top of the stair railings, they were made too short at the top. Next was what I have started to call the party deck. Not sure it's official designation but it always appears to have some sort of disco going on in any media I've seen, so I am trying to repliacte that. On the rear of the main pool there is one of those illuminated dance floors. Bit of a strange place to put one if you ask me but there we go. I tried to replicate that by embedding 3 small SMD LED's, and allowing them to shine through the plastic. The result is quite good. However, I didn't want them just white. I wanted a purple/blue hue. There was a few ways of doing this. In the end I simply added a small amount of Tamiya Clear Red and Blue to the SMD's. The result is pretty close... \ Next, I will start adding the fibre optics for the pool lights once I have got the painting done and deck added. Thanks for stopping by 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Cracking stuff! Coming on beautifully! I've found that once you start playing with LEDs and Fibre Optic lighting it starts to become a bit addictive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 Yeh it does. I've had to stop myself a few times. Do you really need to add iluminated fire exit signs... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesModeller Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Not convinced about the big red lips on the Aida but otherwise a stunning ship. The kit looks great and looks amazing lit up as you have shown. Your QM2 will look fantastic! wouldn’t mind lighting up a model but I’ll experiment on a cheaper / smaller kit first as I’m likely to mess it up. that wood deck is surprisingly thin. Glad to hear it’s easy to workout with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) Good morning On 02/10/2020 at 15:07, BluesModeller said: Not convinced about the big red lips on the Aida but otherwise a stunning ship. The kit looks great and looks amazing lit up as you have shown. Your QM2 will look fantastic! wouldn’t mind lighting up a model but I’ll experiment on a cheaper / smaller kit first as I’m likely to mess it up. that wood deck is surprisingly thin. Glad to hear it’s easy to workout with. I was dudious about the cartoony decals the first time I built that kit, but you know what, when it's in place with everything else, it just seems to "fit". Can't imagine it without them. Made some progress on what I am calling the party deck. I've not light proofed the upper deck yet, or added the fibres for the pool lights, but its coming along nicely. I still need to add some more lighting to the deck itself. The Violet LED's I had planned on using are too weak at 3v to be effective for this...so I either need to put some kind of step up module in (which means putting the entire build on hold) or come up with an alternative... Edited May 23, 2021 by dominic_2005 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 Gidday Dominic, this is very impressive, but I can't imagine what all the lights do to the bridge crew's night vision. 😎 This will look stunning when completed. Regards, Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 4 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said: Gidday Dominic, this is very impressive, but I can't imagine what all the lights do to the bridge crew's night vision. 😎 This will look stunning when completed. Regards, Jeff. Agree with Jeff that this is seriously impressive stuff although for me the highlight is the water effect in the lit swimming pool in #39. That is so realistic. We were on a P&O cruise liner last year and out cabin was one deck below and immediately abaft the bridge. To be honest, the view forward was as dark as I would expect it to be in a warship 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominic_2005 Posted May 22, 2021 Author Share Posted May 22, 2021 Hello folks. Just checking in. I haven't abandoned this, just popped it on a hiatus as it was starting to bog me down. I do plan on resuming work on this in the near future though. See you soon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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