Starting the build...my way

I'm starting off as the kit suggests with the main hull section. As I mentioned before this was in two halves which are kept rigid by three spacers to be fitted when you are ready to join them.

I have decided to make a small, well major alteration to the kit; the fitting of a lighting kit.

I will be making the lighting unit myself using what are known as "Grain of rice" LED bulbs. 

These things really are tiny and need to be handled with some care. I will be using a mixture of white and yellow to give a warm glow to the inside of the ship as fluorescent lighting did not exist in 1912 and I feel this combination will give the best feel when looking at the completed model. As such I will be painting the inside of the hull in an off-white colour eventually to help reflect the light inside.

In order to do this it will be necessary to drill out the portholes on each side of the hull. I have not counted them for the simple reason I don't want to know the scale of the task ahead! Needless to say to complete it took nearly four evenings work and had to be done in sections.

Using the pin vice I drilled out each porthole. Luckily there are only two different sized portholes on each side, the smaller ones are 0.9mm wide and the larger ones are 1.8mm. There are indentations on the sides marking the location of each porthole and the kit suggests just filling these with a dab of paint to suggest lighting. With the larger portholes I found it easier to keep the 0.9mm bit in the vice and drill a small pilot hole first before using the larger drill bit. A little more time consuming but well worth the effort in the end...

The first four holes are drilled. Held in front of a light source the effect is immediately apparent

                                       
Once completed, I think it looks much better and the internal lighting will compliment what is a very fine kit. I will admit that this is a very time consuming task and one not to be taken on lightly if you are thinking about this yourself. Many cups of tea were consumed in order that my sanity would remain


Next it was time to neaten up the whole process as there were cases where the portholes lined up with markers on the inside to support the decks later in the built. Where these parts had been drilled through, I filed them back using both the hand files and some fine grade sand paper so that later on the deck sections would still be able to sit flush. It was also necessary in some cased to drill from the rear outwards to neaten up the holes. Again, DO NOT rush this part of it, the time taken to make things look right now will pay off in the end as the model nears completion.