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[Brian60]

Next day a dark surface coat was added and then a stiff clean brush dragged across the surface to achieve the 'streaky' effect. Once sealed in with gloss varnish it will hopefully convey the effect of laminate wood. The consoles are in these pictures for effect, they are not yet glued in to place.

[Brian60]

So on to painting the internal superstructure. I took a liberty here and painted the front end pale blue. But having looked at it for a day and now seeing the photo's I think I'm going to change it to white.

[Brian60]

So the last three photos for this week, just more views of the bridge from various angles. The blue really does look odd, so don't expect it to stay in later photo's! I have also painted up two heavily modded figures to act as bridge crew, these really make the bridge come alive.

This coming week will get the glass added and the inward leaning part of the superstructure all round the top edge of the walls (hopefully)

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

A lot of work there Brian.  Looks very nice.  Yes indeed, get rid of the blue.  What does the original ship have ?

Regarding the filament wiring, do you have any pictures please. I'm surprised they don't produce enough light to penetrate a screen.  I thought they were blinding when viewed 'end on'.

ken

[Brian60]

The original has what could be described as dove grey Ken, mid way between light blue and grey. They do produce enough light end on, but the fibre optic comes in from the bottom not the back (they don't like to bend, especially tight bends!) I even cut the tip off at 45 degrees to get a broader angle of light.

[Netleyned]

Good thinking bringing the fire monitor plumbing up the
starboard funnel uptake. You will be able to take a feed to the
flushing loo you will be installing 

Ref the backlighting for the monitors I think
Uni has posted a method on here somewhere.

Ned

[hama]

Am I the only one that think the blue colour looks right??
Anyway, really enjoy seeing this build!
Hama

[Brian60]

Never thought of that Ned! Hmmmm maybe I could just I have all day without swimbo tomorrow, I'll sit down and see if I can redo the monitors I wanted lit. I have also given the blue a second coat and it is staying!

[Brian60]

Well not a lot of progress this week. I have finished the superstructure. It now has its 'inward' leaning wall added around the walls that were already there. I have a rough blank roof cut, that is dropped on to the superstructure for the photo's.

I could not get the fibre optics to work in the bridge consoles, nothing to do with the led system I had worked out, but the fibres themselves, they were not true fibre optic but just strands of plastic, as I needed to get a 20mm radius in some of them, instead of bending, the plastic developed fracture lines across the circumference of the radii which emitted the light in bands along the radii.

[Brian60]

I'm not saying I couldn't achieve it, just that it was a diminishing return as far as adding to the aesthetics of the finished build. Now the roof is on they would not be very noticeable unless of course you were peering through the bridge windows with a magnifying glass!

So for the next couple of day I have to add external paint around the window openings, I'm adding the glass to the internal walls, I'm going to use double sided carpet tape for this rather than glue. The glue would just affect the internal paint so I'm giving double sided tape a go. Then the 'lid' can be glued down and attention to the rest of the bridge top deck, funnels etc. Then detailing the whole superstructure with what is required.

Unfortunately at the end of the week we have to visit the homeland to keep the Spanish authorities happy ( you can't be here for more than 180 days without becoming a Spanish resident) although many don't bother we prefer to comply with the law. So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be around the forum but I can't update this build until we return.

[ballastanksian]

Enjoy your break back in Blighty and I look forward to seeing your progress once you return. I think you underestimate the amount of work you cactually did in making the details and trying out lighting techniques, the detail is wonderful and adds much to the model even under a roof.

[ovl]

Wasn't on the forum since awhile (too much work)


Your ship looks just wonderfull, a super job !!
congrats,

[Brian60]

Thanks guys for the compliments.

I am remaking the control desks at the moment. It seems I was overthinking the lighting by using fibre optics, On another forum, a post dating back to 2009 I saw how Umi had done a similar trick. I am now going to try her method, hopefully it will be successful and I will have lighted desks, I'll posts details once I have tried it, but as above, its going to be 3 weeks or so before I post photo's.

[Capt Podge]

Brian - I take my hat off to you. Your attention to detail shows how familiar you are with your subject. I must now hold my hands up and plead "Guilty" to not having even looked at this build until just yesterday.
 
However, having read through the whole lot to date, I am pleased to say I didn't miss out on this one. There's loads of ideas, techniques and setbacks (and how you have overcome them), all of which will be useful in future.
 
I'll be paying attention to the rest of this build - that's a certainty. 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.
 
 
 

[Netleyned]

Just for info Brian.
Boyes have extended their range of modelling goodies.

Ned

[Brian60]

Brian - I take my hat off to you. Your attention to detail shows how familiar you are with your subject. I must now hold my hands up and plead "Guilty" to not having even looked at this build until just yesterday.
 
However, having read through the whole lot to date, I am pleased to say I didn't miss out on this one. There's loads of ideas, techniques and setbacks (and how you have overcome them), all of which will be useful in future.
 
I'll be paying attention to the rest of this build - that's a certainty. 
 
Regards,
 
Ray.

Glad you enjoyed the read Ray. I must say I can;t wait to get back to the build but I still have another 10 days before we head back to Spain.

Just for info Brian.
Boyes have extended their range of modelling goodies.

Ned

Cheers for that Ned. I'm calling in at Maplins tomorrow, there is a Boyes along Hessle Road a bit further up so I'll see what they have - I do need some more Humbrol and a couple more 20g bottles of superglue.

[Brian60]

OK Guys I am back in Spain and progress can resume!

There will be more build pics by the end of the weekend but for now I will show you what I have brought back from the UK to add to my electronics for this craft. Some have been seen before but I've assembled them all on the desk so I can run through what there is and what they will do.......

Starting top right and moving down,

2 allegdedly self priming water pump ( I already had a third and it doesn't!) One for the fire monitors and the second is for the coolant disharge outlets in the hull side. All boats discharge cooling water from the engines and other plant, so for the sake of a pump and some plumbing my model will have it too.

Next is the P94 dual esc from Action- all the main components are from that company.

The main power distribution board again from Action.

Across the bottom clockwise are two fuse boards, for the 4 driving motors, two main and a fore and aft thruster.

7 position switch- not from Action. This cycles a command signal from the transmitter, flick a tx switch and it turns on position 1 on this board, flick the switch a second time and it operates position two etc. Until reaching position 7 which then turns them all off again. Ideal for sub system work like lighting.

Then two 10amp relays, I'm thinking of using these on the thrusters, I'm not needing to finesse the thrusters via a esc, just on or off at a reduced voltage so the motors are not working flat out.

Moving upwards left side, twin relay switch from Action, this was for the thrusters but I'm not sure of the amperage of the relays- must read the intruction booklet!

An array of lever switches for end stop movement of various items, I got a bag of 25 from China for around 3 quid, far cheaper than any shop in the UK.

Then some pin connectors for the circuit board I am building.

Across the top, voltage regulators to pull down my 12 volts to 3.5 volts for the linear servos. I only need one, but as they were 90p each and I had a minimum order of £5 to deal with I thought having a couple extra is always useful for the future.

Next is a 556 twin timer chip, standard is a 555ic. I know I have a timer circuit in mind at the time of ordering but at the moment I can't remember what it was going to do!

Then 4 linear servos, these are to push/pull my aft deck towing pins up and down. Quite tiny they are for indoor quad copter use, but as I couldn't locate anything slightly larger these will suffice.

Down the centre is an Arduino board. This was going to look after all my onboard functions for me through some clever programming. It was superseded by the tiny PICaxe board below it, this does everything I wanted the arduino to do, but the best bit is, the person who gave me it for free also did all the programming and sent me a copy of it as a file as well. Can't get better than that! So the Arduino will go into my next build which I plan on having gps dynamic positioning on board

I didn't identify the toggle switch, this is a momentary type to add to my TX and of course a multi plug/socket which will make the connections from superstructure to hull. Also in the photo is bag of LED's, 1.2mm ultra brights, cost me an arm and a leg, well about 3 quid for the bagfull from a workshop in Beverley on the outskirts of Hull. These I'll keep quiet about for now until I have them assembled and hopefully I might be able to sell some of the finished article!

Also missing from the photo's are a plethora of diodes, resistors and capacitors to help me build my circuit board. Stay tuned for the electrical side of the build coming in a couple of weeks.

But in the meantime it's back to building the superstructure, update at the weekend. Bye for now.

[ballastanksian]

Crikey Brian, that is a veritable stealth ship worth of gizmology! No wonder you forgot what some of the bits are for, I worry about my boat electrics,, and I have a fifth of what you have to nail together there

Still, it should all give you a dynamic model with pumps and illuminations.

[Brian60]

Trouble is Ian I am rapidly losing interest in this build. Some things haven't gone right with it lately and its been offputting.

Having already amassed quite a bit of data in the way of plans and parts for my next two builds I am raring to get going on those! This will be finished first though. This is the stage where you want to rush things and get it finished, its controlling that urge to limit future cockups.

[ballastanksian]

Pace yourself as she is a lovely model and will be a credit to you once complete. I can see it now sailing about wherever you sail your ships in Spain:O)

[oldflyer2]

Glad to see you back at it Brian. It looks like you put your time in England to good use.

Tom

[Brian60]

I think I chose my words wrongly Ian, what I was trying to convey is that having two other builds in my head and on paper I am chomping at the bit to get started on those, so this build is holding me up. But I don't want to cut corners with it yet still a lot to do on it!

Glad to see you back at it Brian. It looks like you put your time in England to good use.

Tom

I did Tom but not as you'd expect. Most of the electrical stuff was ordered online and sent to my father in laws house, so not much running around for that. Nope we went home for a break and ended up working the whole 10 days!

Our house in the UK which is empty and up for sale (fully furnished) we called round to check and found that a rain gutter above the bathroom window was blocked with leaves and other detritus- big damp patch on the internal wall ruining the decoration which was only done in April! So we had to sort that out and then our son who had been lodging with his gramps, decided to move into an apartment. So we spent most of the time moving his stuff in a small hatch back car while he was at work.

Glad to get back to Spain for the rest

[ballastanksian]

I bet! Bloomin gutters.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

WOW Uncle Brian.       You're gonna take some keeping up with.

If I side track for a brief moment, can I ask about the switcher please.  I have considered these but have not found out their exact operation.  I appreciate you can flick the switch through the connections but have not found out if they  'stay on' and then go off when the next in line is chosen, or do they stay on until the sequence is run through again.  ?

Looking forward to the next instalment.   

ken

     

[Brian60]

The 7 position switcher Ken was sourced from Hobby King. You change from one position to the next by using the far throw of your tx levers or one of the supplementary channels on it( like the switch dedicated to raising/lowering aircraft undercarriage) First flick switches on channel 1. Second turns on channel 2 etc etc. They all stay on until the last channel (7) and that turns them all off.

So 1 could turn on your lights, 2 could turn on the fire monitors, 3 could move the crane jib etc etc, but they will all still be working or on until you reach position 7 to turn them all off.It's worth noting that you don't have to use all the channels, you could use 1 and 2 skip the rest until 6 say, this is done simply by not connecting anything to the outputs.

This particular unit cost I think, about £7 so worth a punt even if its no good for what you need.