Hi Garth.
Very nice work with the air brush.
Ian

Hi All,

I Started preparing the hull for lighting.
The LED’s for the lanterns will each require a resistor. It will be possible to make a small pc board and hide it behind the aft bulkhead, but I did not relish the idea of running (and keeping track of the polarity of all those tiny wires).

To simplify this, I stripped down some household wire and made two ‘Buzz Bars’ to connect the lanterns and resistors. It is about Ø1mm. I then cut slots into the top of the bulkheads to accommodate the wires. Once the wires were Superglued into the slots, I replaced a small piece of insulation on the ends – this indicates the polarity. I then soldered on the resistor opposite each lantern.

Next will be wiring the LED’s and making the lanterns.

Kind regards,
Garth

Nice work Garth, look forward to seeing them working.

Mark

I like the idea of a bus bar, will be interesting to see how it turns out

Hi Garth, hope you get it sorted!

Regards,
Phil W.

Hi All,
Finally the lower deck lanterns are fitted. Below is my description, please bear in mind that this is a work in progress and I think that my method requires some fine tuning.

I decided to light the lanterns using surface mounted LED’s. They fit comfortably inside the lanterns body. Unfortunately, I have used up all my thin wire that I used on the Victory’s lanterns and have had to use Armature wire instead.
The coating on the wire is extremely tough and has to be removed in order for the solder to stick. To do this, apply an open flame to the tip of the wire and the insulation burns away. Trim the end and apply the solder.
I stuck the LED’s to a piece of scrap styrene with double sided tape to hold them and tinned the ends. Hold the tinned end of the wire to the led and touch the soldering iron tip to the joint. Note: I cut one wire slightly shorter and soldered this to the Negative side of the LED. This just helps with the keeping track of the polarity during the installation.

I assembled the lantern bodies according to the instructions with the following exceptions: I used solder rather than superglue, I drilled a Ø1mm hole in the corner of the top for the wires and I decided not to fit the bottom plate, just to help spread the light.

Once the all the assemblies were complete, applied a small blob of silicone sealer and ‘glued’ the LED’s in place. This needs about 6 hours to dry.
Next I fitted the lanterns and soldered the wires to the ‘Buzz Bars’. Once all was installed I painted the wires matt black.

In hindsight:
The Armature wire is really hard to work with – I must find a suitable alternative.
If you follow my method – test the assemblies after every step, especially before the final solder. Its soul wrenching to have to remove a fitted lantern and trouble-shoot the connections.

I have noticed that some of the lanterns flicker when the model is bumped, but after spending about 14 hours on them, I really don’t feel like going back. Perhaps there will be some dead lanterns once the hull is complete; I’m just going to have to live with that!!!

Kind regards,
Garth

Really inspiring piece of work Garth, those lanterns look fab.....

Regards

Alan

Fantastic work Garth, those lanterns are a masterpiece. Your soldering skills are really showing their worth now. Just a quick question. Did you use coloured LED's, or did you lower the luminosity of them with the resistors?
Well done that man
Happy building
David

Hi Garth.
Great job on the lighting.
looks fantastic.
Ian

Excellent work on the lanterns.



Can only make for a superior finish to your model. WTG

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)