I use a cheap method of lighting it. I go to my local craft store...they sell (what the bag card calls) Craft & Floral 10 Light Set (for Christmas Ornaments). They are pictured below. It's a small black battery box that holds two AA batters and a little "knife" switch to turn it on. Ten little bulbs come off it attached to green wires. I guess they use these when wanting to light a boquet of flowers for weddings and stuff, or Christmas wreaths. They can be hard to find, so if not found in a craft store, maybe on the internet somewhere. Oh, and be careful, don't get the twinkling bulbs because they blink, unless that's what you want it to do, and they also come in colors. I used clear. But the bulbs are small, reminding me of the old "Wheat" bulbs that used to come with the Star Trek kits. I use these all the time to light my models. But I didn't use all ten. I canabalized this set and I only used five lights. I cut them all off the main block, leaving two leads long enough to wire to. I then built my seaview complete, leaving the bottom seperate from the top. I painted it flat white, then drilled two small holes on either side of the front bottom for the spot lights, and SLIGHTLY drilled out some of the front headlight from behind, so the tip of the bulb would fit in. I did the usual puttying and sanding and masking of windows and the lights on the very top. I covered the seams, then painted the whole thing in light sea gray. The huge base is a candy box I had (one of them french chocolates with the hazel nuts in the middle), I attached the bottom plate of the base to that, screwing it from underneath, driving screws through the batter box and up through the top. I also drilled a hole to allow for the wires to come thorugh the base and into the box (on the same side of the base the wires were going to come through from the seaview). I then put the botton to the base, lining it up to see where the little "mountain" hits the undreside of the seaview, and drilled through the mountain and the bottom. I then took some duct tape, cut it into about a half inch strip, and taped it along the top to make sure no light was going to come out of any gap I failed to fill. I put a drop of Zap glue on the back side of the hollowed out front light and pushed the front of the bulb into it, letting it set. I was going to paint it silver, but figured, nah, so it would add to the interior lighting. The same with the two spots. I put them in the holes, which fit snuggly, and put a drop of zap on both. I put one in the top section behind the clear plastic piece up there, and then laid one on the bottom section, about six inches from the window. Once all the bulbs were in place, I fed the lines out the hole I drilled earlier, fed them through the corresponding hole in the base, and zap glued the base to the seaview. I then placed the seaview on the base and zapped it there too. I fed the lines from the top part of the base through the hole I drilled eariler into the box and down. I put a bead of model cement along the bottom of the base and attached it. WHen dry, I tipped it to it's side, wired the five lights into the two leads I left earlier, used hot melt to insulate them and hold them together, put in the batteries and lit the seaview.
I still have my aurora reissue from the seventies, and I always wanted to light that, but I originally painted the back of the window to brighten it up back then. So I had plenty of years to think about it. I know it's lengthy, but I hope it helps. Any more questions, feel free to e-mail me. [email protected] |
