Lighting for a ship

I would paint the inside with aluminum paint- probably a flat aluminum.  This does two things- it is extremely opaque, so it prevents the light from getting out anywhere except the holes.  Second, it scatters and mixes up the light inside to make the light at each hole more uniform.

As to a window material, there are several brands of window material.  I like Micro Scale the best.  Testors makes one too.  These will work fine.

Great info, thank you

Hi ;

 I don't know about that one , but mine is the big Minicraft one . I used Fibre - Optics on it one light source ( LED ) very bright . And all these strands to the portholes and bridge .Plus , I found out if you slightly heat the ends of the larger ones , the end gets rounded . Just like a lens .The lights in the bridge area as well . Total idea was to have a softly lighted T.V. Light .

   Now for yours , L.E.D.s on a specific package will work . I would paint the inside the hull Flat black .Then  silver . You're then good to go .

Well... plan to do a bunch of testing before the build gets too far. Light leaks could be around the deck to hull join, around any deck houses that perch over holes in the deck etc.

Be sure to paint the underside of the deck too. Don't want her to look like a Bikini Atoll test survivor.

Black cardboard is your friend. To the extent that you can control the lit chamber area, i'tll help a lot. Across the top. At each end. under any holes in the deck.

One common pitfall is a "see through" effect through the port holes. It is a good idea to put in a vertical piece of white board down the hull centerline, carefully made to fit right under the deck. Arrange your lighting to light it, not shine out.

This will prevent see through, plus the visible interior with be uniform and bright, not of your aluminum paint, a light diode or out the other side.

Also, any ship model has to address the issue of it's mounting base early in construction. A lot easier to do before the deck is glued on, and on a base it will be easier to build without snapping stuff off. While you are at it figure out how to get your wires into the hull. The best way is if you use a couple of short tubes as stanchions under the ship. 

I probably wouldn't bother with glazing, but if you do, as suggested, something tike Krystal Klear is pretty good, or white glue in a pinch. Again, test before you do the whole thing. Don't guess you'll want to drill out all of those ports a second time.

Good luck, nice project.

But I have a question. How do you plan to light the upper parts, above the deck?

GMorrison

But I have a question. How do you plan to light the upper parts, above the deck?

 

You might go poke around the office supply store to see if they have acetate sheets for overhead projectors.

These can be handy as glazing for portholes, as strips of the acetate can be set on the inised of the hull en masse.  Those can also be hit with Tamiya Clear Smoke or Blue or the like, as not all staterooms will have the lights on.

Acetate is also good for the insides of long deck houses on the upper decks, too.

The xmas lights are appealing as they are inexpensive and long lasting.  Only two issues with those, though. 

One is the light is a very blue-white, rather than a warm sort of white (which would be more prototypical with the Edison lamps that would have been on Titanic. 

Second problem is that they are line voltage, which means you have to be extra-careful with joints, splices and the like.  Bad joints at 110VAC equal heat, and plastic and heat do not get along well.

Probably worth browsing the model RR lighting stuff, and the Sci-Fi lightinh stuff to see the sool suff that is available.

Big liner hull makes a tepting place for battery packs.  But, that means having to figureout how to rig one of the superstructures to come loose so you can get in side.  Also, unattended batteries will leak.  This is never a nice cleanup.

This is where I linke using one of the screws that passes through the finial into the base as a positive, and another as the negative.  That means you can put a battery box, as replaceable battery box, in the base.  Or, you just get a connector for a 12VDC, 6VDC, or 3VDC "wall wart" transformer to plug into.

Sadly, there is not a Radio Shack on every corner chock full of cool bits for this.  But, there are plenty of places like Fry's and the Ilk who can supply all kinds of cool things.  Like motion sensors--which are really cool for only working when someone is around to see the effect (trust me, the cat will lose interest).

Mars ;

 The reason I mentioned the lens effect was I was looking for a way to simulate the spotlights on the stacks . This was the only place I had to use a separate light source .

I have been lighting a 1/350 Aircraft carrier.

First prime the inside with flat black. Use putty on internal seams. If you want to reflect the light inside, I would recomend using a flat bright silver. This allows the photons of light to diffuse and provide a uniform brightness in the holes.

You can get various size LED's here: http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html

These are easy to mount and low current. They even have AC adapters so you don't have to change batteries. The very small sizes and various colors make it very easy to mount and wire. They have a "warm white" to simulate the incadesent light used at the time.

Fiber optics is very easy to use. You can even make the external flood lights to shine on the stacks. You can get fiber optics from .25mm up to 3mm in thickness. I bought all mine from: http://thefiberopticstore.com/hscp/

You can even get a small red and small green LED to illuminate the navigation lights.

If you want to see some examples of LED and fiber optic lighting, My thread on the carrier is: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/175008.aspx

For a detailed post on using fiber optics see my lighting post here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/13/t/175940.aspx

As for windows, a sheet of clear acetate works wonders. Just go to any store and buy a cheap folder with a clear cover. This will provide a clear sheet that you can use for windows. When you get back to aircraft the clear sheet can be used to make HUD glass.

The best thing is if you use superglue to hold it in place, it does not fog up or craze like clear styrene.

Thanks for all of the  tips. Now I am better prepared