No Lines

 

Fort George

 

Out

 

For the first time in a long time...

Live

 

Amati 1/10th Scale Bleriot XI, Part 1

This box is huge!

Instructions in Italian! This should be fun...

Find all the posts for this project here.
 

Simon Says

 

Oil Finish

 The finish looks better than I expected.

Reopen

 

Olive

 Olive likes to play receptionist.

After...

 

Free House in Disuse

 

Snow

 

Strut

 

Christmas

 

Snow Day

 

Harlan

 

Mobius 1/32 Scale Model Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Part 8

I spent a lot of time on the paint. Painting, sanding, painting, sanding, again and again, down to 12000 grit. It still isn't perfect. But the worst flaws are on the under side. After awhile I just didn't want to continue. Getting a really good paint finish it incredibly difficult.

But polished and waxed it ended up pretty good.

You can read by those headlights!

I think I spent way too much money on this thing for what it is, with all those extra lights, add-ons and what not. But the result is really nice. I do wish the kit had more parts and more detail. There's a lot of potential. Then again, Wingnut Wings it's not (and what is?).

Read though all the posts on this project here, see the entire album of photos here. There's a lot more photos.

Mobius 1/32 Scale Model Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Part 7

Just before sealing up the hull, I made a display stand. I planed to hold the model on the stand using string magnets. So after the stand, which includes magnets, was built, I put the lower half of model on the stand and place magnets inside. The magnets of course jump to the magnets below in the stand and so are perfect placed. I then just covered them with canopy cement.

Also in this photo you can see that I used cheap thimbles for the headlights, the same thimbles that hold the engine lights. For the headlights I installed super bright, flashlight style, LEDs. The thimbles work perfectly.

Now the display stand...

I glued magnets in the ends of these posts and cover them with felt.

Tape over the ends of the posts temporarily...

Read though all the posts on this project here, see the entire album of photos here!

Mobius 1/32 Scale Model Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Part 6

This wraps up the major assembly. Amazingly all the lighting works.

Next up, painting the hull.

Read though all the posts on this project here!

Mobius 1/32 Scale Model Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Part 5

The kit included a hallway for the rear of area. This area was never shown in the show, so there are other interpretations out there of the back area. I like the corridor though. I put in a ceiling light and it looks pretty good.

In this photo you can see the on/off clicker micro switch for the model's lighting. I put it in the wall like a light switch. It can be reached with a finger through the door in the rear between the engines.

 

I took a break from the model at this point and thought long and hard about power. I wanted to come up with some way to use rechargeable batteries, but I really wanted to be able to change the batteries when they stopped working.

The lower hull include inside detail for door that open for landing gear. A landing gear add-on set was once available for this kit I guess. I thought about cutting one hatch open to access batteries.

But there's just not a lot of room in there. I'd have to customize the battery pack and recharge circuit. In the end I decided that I just wasn't confident in my electronics enough to pull that off with a reliable result. I settled for a micro USB port in the bottom to power the lights.

I also really wanted to make it turn off and on via a remote control. A wireless relay is no problem, but unfortunately the floor lighting uses a different voltage than the other LEDs, as does the circuit board for the reactor effect. Again, it figured it was just too complicated. I could probably do it, but would it just explode one day? Someone with a little more electronic experience could do it.

Read though all the posts on this project here!

Mobius 1/32 Scale Model Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Part 4

For the engines I used a cluster of read and orange solid and flickering LEDs. I bought these super cheap thimbles on Amazon that fit perfectly inside the plastic housing supplied for each engine. These created a textured and freflective surface inside, while also completely blocking light.

Still phots and even video don't really capture the effect. It turned out quite well I think.

Wiring and lighting, lighting and wiring, one wall at a time...

Read though all the posts on this project here!