Cape Otway lighthouse.

[MRC]

Well done! I'm following your rail work with keen interest. The Crowdy Head and Marjaniemi arrived monday evening, both have a similar rail. It's good to have someone going as vanguard (sorry, bad joke). Locking around I find out that C. Otway have a impressive 1st order lens!

[darter]

G'Day MRC, Mate, I love bad jokes. Keep em coming.

Glad you have your models in hand and ready to go.

These Shipyard kits are brilliant.

Crowdy and North Reef are next on my list to buy. ( along with a dozen others )

As I have already said, if the stanchions were longer and slotted down through holes in the balcony it would be so much better.

Simple to make new longer ones and cut square holes in the balcony except the stanchions have a fancy top, too small to cut out nicely, and so the replacements would have to be plain.

However, the way in which I did mine turned out OK in the end, just pains taking.
And I shall do it the same way on the others I intend building if modifying is not a satisfactory alternative.

There is one thing I will do differently though.
The deck top is thick card with a thin card laminated to it. The thin one has the locating marks for the lantern and stanchions.
Next time I will first cut out the stanchion location marks so as the stanchions glue directly to the thicker card, it will make them stronger for threading the wire.

That magnificent 1st order Fresnel lens presents a new problem.
How on earth does a non artist like me paint something like that so as it looks even half decent?
I tried to find a photo that I could print and wrap it around the lens but I have not yet found anything.
So I'll do the best paint job I can but I'll see if I can leave it removable in case I find a photo in the future.

On the real lighthouse, not many people see the lens as it faces out to sea.

The domes are painted and sanded and the lantern base is ready for paint.
The brackets that support the walkway are superb as is the walkway itself, thank you for L/C.
As expected, the assembly and fit was excellent.`

I just did some measuring, comparing and calculating because I wanted some figures for it and the door seemed too tall for 1/72nd.
By my estimates this model is 1/61.5th scale and not 1/72nd.
Not that it matters because at 1/72nd it is wrong for OO railway which is 1/76th
and at 1/72nd, which is military model scale, I don't think it saw too much war action.
Happy with what it is, perhaps I'll rescale some card personages, google time.

Clive

[MRC]

You see, I'm living in the swedish "capital of puns" (translation may be a barrier) . The rails are as good as perfect to me.
Never talk with me about light stations, lenses, technics etc. Believe me, you haven't the time...
I've done some maths, trigs etc. on the Cape's lens based on pictures and docs (judging on the fundament, looks like a Chance Brothers one. I have their publication "A few notes on modern lighthouses" ). I'll later do a pattern with ms paint on a pc.
Ms paint give a pixelate pattern, a cad do the work better but now I have not the possibility to get my hands on Rhino3d as I had a few years ago.
The 1st pics is the measure for the real item in mm (sorry, I'm born and bred "metric", I do not dare go in feet and inches!), the other is my latest work with Utö's lens, as a reference.
't was devilish to put together the two valves.
P.S. I cannot attach the pictures right, clicking although if I click on them, they open separately and not upside down.
As a second thought, You people are in the Down under...So the matter is solved ☺

[darter]

Well MRC my friend, You post the pictures upside down but by the time I open them way down here, they appear right side up. Or is it that the maps are wrong and we are really on top?
Nah, We are on the bottom and do you know why? Because of the extra weight of all the Volvos you keep sending us. We got enough, no more.

You have done an absolutely superb job building your lens, it is excellent, as is the rest of the lighthouse. You do great work.

No longer do I have the time nor the inclination to go to such intricate detail.
In the past I was always detailing, hydraulic pipes, wiring, small hoses etc etc and I spent so much time doing things that people would never see that I lost track of the model itself.

So with my limited time available I have returned to being simplistic and building more "out of the box" and limiting myself to correcting obvious inaccuracies and adding minor detail.

However, try as I might, I just can't do a reasonable paint job of my lens, it looks rubbish, I'm not much of an artist.

Last night I built the lantern.
I glued the frames to the clear plastic sheet with kittifix and when dry cut them out.
Firstly I stuck them to the base ring and each other and once all were on I laminated the 3 top plates together and glued that on.
The bottom one is slightly smaller and fits inside the window frames whilst the other two sit on top.
Then I painted it, fiddly doing the frames but it helped fill any small gaps and added extra strength to the joins.

I also made a new top to replace the incorrect one in the kit.

More tonight.

Clive.

[MRC]

Yes, those cars maybe a major gravitational problem...
Here comes the lens, print it "as it is. Nothing like "change/adapt to paper format etc.
If You print on a transparency (viewfoil) is better. There are viewfoils for inkjet and for laserjet. Make sure you buy the right foil for your printer. Personally I prefer the laserjet's, they are smooter and a tad more transparent than the inkjet foil (I haven't a laser printer, I "borrow" at my office's work) Do not use a laser's foil in a inkjet printer, it'll come out from it appallingly smeared (believe me, I tried!).
I don't think you can use the file here (cannot load the original bitmap), I'm afraid it'll be off scale and of inferior quality. Send me a Pm with some epost adress and I'll attach the original file (yes you have the right to be suspicios about unknown people sending files... Well I'm not much of a computer-wise wizard...I can barely pronounce the word malware )
The file is a "quick and dyrt" let me know if in print doesn't look good, I suspect that I put the prism's lines too near each other to be good in a printed version.
I almost forgot, you need to do a ring diameter 12mm for the upper prisms panel and the all apparatus have a diam. 26mm.

[darter]

My attempt at painting the paper Fresnel lens to look anywhere near realistic is a dismal failure.
It looks more like the head of some demented robot with 360 degree vision from a SIFI cartoon.
The photos are so as you may all get a laugh too.

MRC, my knight in shining armor from Sweden has galloped to my rescue on his trusty keyboard with a wonderful lens that I can print on transparent film.

Thank you so much.

I have never printed on transparent film before, better not throw out the painted one yet eh.

I've been trying to keep this as close as possible to an all paper model but sometimes one must deviate out of necessity.

One other solution would have been to use grey printed lantern windows and then I would not have needed to be bothered with a lens at all.

Had I done that then the only non paper components would be the railing.

I think I'd rather clear windows and a lens.
Don't think I'll get the 95% paper.

Clive.

[MRC]

-MRC, my knight in shining armor from Sweden...-
Yes, I'm like the "brave Sir Robin" in the Python's Holy Grail 😊
Paper, or not paper? My approach is a pragmatic one, my background is scratch building and is a bit like bush-living: anything goes 😊 Many years ago I did a model of a steam tug -quite large scale: 1:25. I filled the coal boxes with lightly glued, black sprayed cat litter (unused!).

Printing on those films is nothing to be afraid of, only be sure to aquire the right sort for your printer inkjet or laserjet. Be aware that transparencys for inkjet have a printing side... and that's all folks!

I'e found errors in the panels and I've redone it, tomorrow I'll print it and put it togheter, just to be sure... I don't want to mail a "dud".
The assembly is not so complicated as it looks, I'm sure, a good picture of the glued lens is enough to understand how the arrays are put togheter, of course, well chosen explanating words will follow...

Blast it! You are well aquainted with electrics on paper as your prize-winner shows well done!

I glanced at the Bruny and Maatsuyker, even those have the "Trinity house" ventilator. I wonder where Shipyard got the ball from... ?
Check the diameter of the pedestal, because this lens "want" the same as the real: 25.5 mm (1:72 scale) . Lesser than this, the pedestal fall inside the array.
A few picture of the real lens follow here

[darter]

I eagerly await your email and the lens brave Sir Knight and I sincerely hope your mother was not a hamster nor did your father smell of elderberries.

I'm ok with electrics, switches and motors etc and I can do almost anything. But electronics, well, I'm like an empty headed animal food trough wiper when it comes to electronics.

Glad to meet another Pythonite.

The ball that Shipyard came up with I reckon is from the Split Head light as the towers are so similar.
As I said before, if the designer had photos of both the Cape Otway and the Split point light houses, because they are so similar it would not be unreasonable to assume that they were photos of the same L/H taken at different times. eg:-Early and late.

This is my replacement Trinity House lid.

Clive.

[MRC]

Check your box you'll find two files. There is a .bmp wich is the better quality one, but you need to zoom at a 140% (I had a rough time with MSpaint, is almost impossible to obtain the exact scale dimension without tinkering with the zoom function in the printer, previously I had access to Rhyno3D... Sadly not anymore) the other i a .pdf (lesser quality, but it doesn't require an image zooming.
Here comes some pictures of the finished lens. Is a quick 'n dirt work done with plain paper, only to demostrate how the parts are put together. The ring on the top is a simplified one: the real one on the Cape is made of two concentric collars: the outer in bronze, wich is part of the lens frame and the inner, made of steel (a rusty one!) is the holder for the unmounted chimey to the early oil lamp. The ring is 12mm diameter.
To the gluing: I prefere to glue those transparent films with the UHU, CAglue if comes outside the bond leave horrible milky stains... Surly You do not need my advise about gluing... probably little Vegemite from the household's pantry will do the job 😊

By the by, I'm amazed that You understand my "homemade" English...

I've never realized that the Trinity's ventilator have a rail around, it's good to know...

[darter]

Fina bilder, upp och ned igen??? Eller ar det mig???

Svensk humor ja. Hahahaha.

My rendition of what appear to lightning conductor rings.

I'm just working from a photo.

Anyway, who will know if I'm wrong?

Thanks Marco for the lens pictures.

That will be tomorrows build, time permitting.

Clive