I'm just starting the build soon as well. I will be interested in adding LED's to mine also. I'll let you know if I find anything through my research as far as historically accurate lighting. I'm planning on fudging it a little regardless, I just want it to look awesome! (Not that it won't be awesome even unlit!)

Hi Mike, great to hear you've started your journey with this build and hope we get the chance to follow your progress... .. I would think most of the lanterns during that period would have been hand held and simply moved around and suspended from the joists etc wherever they were needed, very few would have been permanant fixtures. I believe Karl toyed around with lighting his gunports with low level LED's installed on the sides of the ribs in front of the dummy gun supports, to produce a flickering glow in the ports themselves. He didn't move any further forward other than installing the led's for test purposes. May be worth having a look through the early stages of his diary too... Hope this helps..

Regards

Alan

Thank you to highdobb, Marty Ingram, Gandale and Gibbo for your insights and tips. Since this is my first ship, I hope you'll follow me and advise me on the build. I am hoping to start a build log soon. I just picked up an oak stair tread to mount the ship on. Right now I'm figuring out how I'll run my wires from the ship to the base. I hope to be able to show how I'm going to do it soon. Along with LED lighting, I'm thinking about adding sound and inserting a speaker into the ship (water lapping, sails flapping, gulls crying and officers giving orders). I've added scale sound to my model railroad and it really does make a difference - it is well worth the extra effort, in my opinion.

I've been thinking long and hard about how I'm going to add sound and lighting to my Sovereign of the Seas. I have finally decided to use 4 lighting circuits - 2 toward the bow, and 2 toward the stern. I will use 3 speakers for sound. The largest speaker will be in the center of the ship and two smaller ones will be mounted forward and aft and higher (one in the gallery and one in the forecastle). The sound and light board, along with the amplifier will be mounted under the display table. The first thing I had to decide was how to run the wires to the inside of the ship. I decided to use the threaded pipe that comes in lamps and I re-threaded it to add T-nuts. I cut out an area on the spine of the ship and reinforced it to accommodate the T-nus. I found some polished brass tubing that fit over the threaded pipe. I haven't determined a final length for the pipes yet.

Very interesting Mike and looks like a good solution for lights and sound, will be following with interest.... .. As it looks as if you're not using a build jig you'll need to be extra careful to ensure the keel stays absolutely straight and true, especially during the early planking phase..... ..

Regards

Alan

Hi MIke,
I found the perfect clip of sailors talking for your ship!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EfW9znJYjw

Carl

@ Gandale - Thank you - I will definitely be building a jig before I start planking. I hadn't thought that far, but can see that it is going to be important to have that.

@davetwin - Ha! I can barely post pictures, a video is way beyond my capabilities. I'm an old guy and not very computer literate.

@darbyvet - Great video - I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for the suggestion :), but to be honest, I have a dear friend who owns Fantasonics Engineering. His name is Jim Wells and he's an ex-Disney audio engineer and is truly a wizard and genius at creating scale sound scenes. His website is www.fantasonics.com. He's done such an amazing job with my railroad, The Grand Funk Line, and my HO slot car track, the Transylvania Gran Prix, that I wouldn't want to have anyone else create sound and lighting effects for my projects.

I plan to light the gallery and the massive lantern on top. The windows are small on the gallery but I think the light will still show through the grating. Right now I'm thinking about lighting below deck where the two grates are, so some light comes through the floor there. And, I'd like to have one of the sailor's holding a lighted lantern. If anyone else knows of somewhere on the ship that should be lit, please let me know.

Hey Mike do you think your friend could make me some sound effects for my Jupiter train build? That would be really cool.