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Comments
Interesting discovery using the bare LED's and sad you had to rework everything. I thought the original arrangement was elegantly simple and would look a bit like the old very common bulkhead fittings, but sadly not so. Anyway, I also like your use of the shades under the canopy.
The lighting really makes the difference in the model. Well done.
Steve
The lighting looks great. The placement really accents the building. I like the stereomicroscope too. The last time I used one was in graduate school and had no idea they are as inexpensive now compared to then. Much better than a 3rd hand. By the way I talked to Tim a Engineering and he said you could take the metal lamp minus wiring and light and clean it with acetone to get the pain to stick as oils from your hands will make the pain not stick as well. Great job.
Jim
Paul
Steve and Bryan, thank you. Jim, I discovered with my initial attempt to put paint on the lamp shades that is wasn't sticking. I bath both sides in alcohol now and that works. I bought a mega order from tim that included all sizes of lamp shades, tubing, wire, LEDs kits, tool, etc., etc, etc . . . From that stock I found what he calls a 24" size for the work you saw photographed. The scope makes it all possible for me. Lastly, I need next to get atoll to hold the soldering iron and let me then guide it. No matter how I try to stabilize my hand against a firm object, it still isn't steady enough.
Hopefully I won't have to play with that tiny stuff for awhile. When I return next week I plan to stand the walls. Hurrah . . .
Till then I'm on the high desert in eastern Oregon kicking a couple of faulty USCG differential GPS transmitters.
Respectfully,
John
Karl.A
Was your tower photo taken in the Columbia irrigation area or has there been enough spring rain to green up the desert? If the latter, any wild flowers?
Dave
I've been back for a week and making mini steps. I look at the giant shows of progress that most of you document and I will probably never approach them, partly because I enjoy doing a little at a time then taking some photos and coming in here to post.
I had left all the large doors off because I wondered about leaving some open to show illuminated interiors. I have decided against that now and think I'll simply illuminate the exterior areas around the doors as previously shown. Accordingly, I put the large doors in place.
I reviewed Joel, Paul and Marty's photos to get myself spun up on wall attachment. Then, I did a test fit on the two pairs of initial two wall join ups and when I was satisfied with how to square and how to compress and support the joints I did the attachment with 60 minute epoxy so I would have extra time to make adjustments. That did not work out - the epoxy just wicked into the pressed board so I had to redo them a day later with my wood glue. I think I was told earlier that white glue allows more work time than my yellow Titebond so I should get some of that.
The corner bracing & squaring stock is temporarily sitting in place as a double check on the corner angles. They fit perfectly. The alcohol bottle is assuring I am square to the flat surface below.
I double checked the instructions in the manual and the photos in the manual to assure correctness of how the upper planks stand somewhat proud in relation to the corner strip.
Now I shall allow it all to dry overnight.
Next, I am instructed to install the four corner pressed board rectangles to assure squareness and add rigidity. I intend to not place the lower two pieces flush with the bottom of the walls as instructed but rather to elevate them by perhaps a quarter of an inch. Doing so will give me room to put come copper tape on their lower side to which I can solder the various LED circuit wires. By doing that I will have a firm attachment point for all the hair thin wires and an easy place to make external connections to feed power when the building is mounted. Has anyone who has built this a reason why doing so will get me in trouble later on?
Thank you for looking in. If I am missing anything, please bring my attention to it.
Respectfully,
John
Dave
Keep it coming!
Marty
Karl.A
The wall attachments worked out satisfactorily with the four corner rectangles fitting perfectly. In my case I have no need for additional building stiffening. While testing the lighting I have pretty much determined that I will not use the internal black diagonal that Brett recommends. Omitting it gives me a bit of a mix internally of the various LED's and I can see faint illumination in all the windows. I put small pieces of aluminum duct tape in a couple of places prior to affixing LED's to prevent light wicking into the wood walls or showing through the roof.
Nothing new here that you haven't seen already.
The weeks major nitty gritty was completing the internal wiring with the pesky hair size conductors. I came up with the scheme shown below to transition from the 38 gauge wire to the real world. The small wires are connected from the rear into the outermost end of the copper tapes - one tape for positive and the adjacent for negative polarity. At the time of permanently placing the building on its foundation, I'll wire the inner ends of the tapes to their power source. The reason for the length of the tapes is so that I can solder diorama site wiring at a distance from the 38 gauge wires and not melt the solder at the other end causing the tiny wires to become unattached.
I am going out of town for a week so will have no further progress to show until returning.
Respectfully,
John
I like your solution with the neat labeling for connecting the LED's.
Safe travels!
Dave
I like the use of the copper tape to transition AWG sizes. Did you run the 38 AWG directly to it or did you run them along the walls? I assume there is a system to the polarities, maybe labelling +/- to avoid a grey moment. Did you consider some form of strain relief? Will the FET or resistors be attached below the diorama in a similar method or is there a PCB for it.
Keep the pictures coming.
Marty
Marty, the wiring was not engineered, so to speak. I did not have a plan on how to get it out of the building that was organized. At the last minute I got the tape idea from the lighthouse build on RR. The wires run helter skelter in the building because of that. Now if I did a version 2.0 I'd make it look pretty - but then, I plan to permanently seal the structure. I used blobs of glue and Scotch tape to secure the wires in critical places such as when they leave the .018 tubing. I was concerned about burrs and about accidentally yanking the wires at right angles and cutting it. So, bottom line is I believe they are secure near their respective LED's but otherwise hap-hazard.
Yes, the top tape is + in every instance. I may mark them as you suggest.
Prior to attaching the cupola, I plan to solder connecting wires to the inboard end of each copper tape. I bought the tape from Amazon. They had a broad selection of width and length. I had no problem with the adhesive after soldering.
Respectfully,
John
When I return from my trip, I am ready to attach the roof card - the center beam is in place now.
I am concerned that when the cupola is attached it will be awkward to invert the building for glueing the main roof rafters and the dormer rafters in place.
Please comment on these modifications to Brother Brett's instructions:
(Brett, are you there?)
1. As soon as the main roof card is attached I propose installing its rafters. No dormers in place yet. That gives me a flat roof surface to lay on the work bench while I fit rafters.
2. Next, I propose attaching the dormers and putting their roof rafters in place followed by their floor rafters. I can be careful not to damage the dormers when I lay the whole building on the roof again.
3. I feel that anything that has to be done with the building inverted should be done with only the main roof card in place.
4. Am I missing anything else that could more easily be accomplished while I can safely lay the building on its roof?
From those of you who have done this, kindly opine.
Respectfully,
John
Reading ahead in your own experiences with THE SHIPYARD I concluded it has been expressed that there was a challenge protecting the completed roof when it was time to turn the building over and attach rafter tails. No one expressed concern when I made the post above this one, so I endeavored to attach all the rafter tails now before the shingles and the cupola are attached. It looked like drudge so I dragged my feet but settled in yesterday and today and knocked it out.
I offered the roof to each small dormer, determined its essential position then glued it in place. After the glue dried I attached the rafter tails, edge rafter and trim.
I cut and attached all the rafter ends - 32 or 36 of them. With nothing on the roof to protect it was easy though tedious.
I still have some rafter ends to color but the task is compete. Now I can attach the dormers to the building and get on with shingling.
Please forgive me Brett for deviating from your excellent instructions. I hope I haven't made a mistake in doing so.
Respectfully,
John
I find the rafter tails so tricky to get perfectly straight and even spaced, but you seemed to have done it well. The shingling of the roofs deserves a lot of time to get it right, so getting the rafter tails done will let you concentrate on the roofing. Take your time and plan ahead and the roofing will turnout as perfect.
Keep the updates coming!
Marty
Looks mighty fine. Love this point where things really start coming together. Pleasure to follow John. Your overall wood finish and color looks great. Ken
I'm looking forward to the shingling after this . . . again, please bear with me on the small steps of progress. Out again for another week - more beer money.
Respectfully,
John
The build is great. I really like the wall coloring. Very nice and clean wiring. Are the wiring blocks from engineering too? What is the electrical gadget on the above picture above the door? The lighting takes time for sure but I bet you are happy you did it. It will really add to this wonderful build you are doing. Keep up the great work.
Jim
It appears we are both on here at the same time!
The wiring is attached to copper tape with adhesive backing that I bought on Amazon. I intentionally used long pieces so that I could put the hair size wire on one end and not have it come loose when I solder the connecting wire to the other end. The tape is attached to the normal bottom pressed board rectangular pieces that are in the kit. As you can see, I did not glue them in flush with the bottom of the building as instructed. So far, no hate mail from Brett.
I made a mega order from Ngineering of everything I could imagine I'd ever wish to have - so that I wouldn't have to keep going back for little pieces. That included all sizes of their overhead lamp reflectors or whatever they are called. The three round pieces, one above each large door are the afore mentioned reflectors, painted white, with a "warm" micro LED imbedded. Earlier in this thread I think there is a picture of them illuminated.
Doing the lighting was a challenge. It ate up a GREAT deal of time. I am very happy to be beyond it and the rafter tails . . . .
Respectfully,
John
I left the shingles attached to their cluster to make handling easier for coloring. I have them under compression now to flatten them.
How bad is the coloring and the blotching? I dabbed and tried different brushes.
The dormer attachment had no surprises and the fit was as expected.
I am leaving town again on Saturday morning for eight days - need to earn some money to send to Brett for Foss . . . .
Respectfully,
John
Shingles...hmm...if I were doing it, I'd go back over them and get mild varied but consistent coverage. Looks like much of the original material color is showing with a bit harsh transitions. I'd then give a dry coating of chalk, say 408.3 to even out and dull the colors. Looks like you already have a good bit of 704.5 (grey). The second row, second card in from the left looks to me like more the coverage you'd want. But hey...my shingles on Duluth gave me problems and still not thrilled with the results so no expert advise here just what I'd try......Ken