The Nautilus Part 3: More Cutting
Slow progress as of late. Honestly it’s just been too damn cold to do any building, so I’ve been focusing more on writing. I’ve forced myself to eek out a little progress on Nautilus ever few days, though, and since most of it has been in the hack/cut/destroy department, I’ve made a little headway.
I’m definitely lighting the model. I picked up some LED tape, which is exactly what it sounds like: adhesive backed tape with an LED approximately every three-eights of an inch. It comes in a 20-foot roll, and you can light the entire thing with a 9-volt battery. It’s marked every two inches or so where it can be cut to make custom lengths without having to do any soldering.
Since I’m lighting the model, and I want to be able to see the interior I put so much work into, I’m making one of the bay windows and one of the bridge hatches removable.
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- To view the interior of the bridge, the sections marked in red have to be removed.
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- Ten minutes and a Dremel burr bit later, cutting is complete. The edges aren’t exactly pristine, but the bridge hatch covers it.
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- The bay window for the lounge is flush sanded to remove the mounting lip, so it can be removed and replaced once the model is finished.
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- The original kit part on the right shows the flange and the mounting pegs. On the left is the sanded part, with the thin flange left after sanding.
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- Two sections of LED tape. It won’t take much more than these two pieces for what I have in mind. Simple, but (hopefully) effective for this build.
