The Modeler's Forum

I have left a space on the harbour of "Norge" for a lighthouse. I am going to attempt to scratch this famous norwegian lighthouse.It is located just outside to entrance to Trondheim. The body of the lighthouse is some 57ft high. It is in reality located on a man made platform out to sea. However I will place it on my dock and because I do not want it to overpower the scene I am going to reduce it to about 80% of it's scale size.
Mike

I thought hard and long what material to use. After a few false starts, I have decided on thin card. The lighthouse is an octagon with eight faces. I have cut a piece of card to the right size and then scribed carefully each wall.

The model will need a base. So I have cut a base using a 45 degree angle to form the octagon. I then use 8 small pices of scale wood cut an inch long to aid construction.
Mike

There are several windows on each wall with the middle one the most prominent. I have found a window in the Tichy range that is close to size. After careful measuring I proceeded to cut out holes in the walls for the windows.
Mike

I'll definitely be following this.

Thanks for following Curt. I'm learning as I go along. The thought processes are certainly better than crossword puzzles for me............ :D Mike

Continuing...........
I am trying to source the windows by altering existing items to the right shape and size. I have altered the mullions on these little windows (left). I have made a roof that will support the roof panels and light shed.
Mike

That is a great looking lighthouse , can't wait to see what you can achieve.

I agree can't wait..........Dennis

I will be watching (and learning).

Jim

Thanks Jan, Dennis and Jim for watching.................no pressure then!
Mike :)

What an interesting structure.  I can see why you want to replicate it.

Jeff

Mike,

Interesting build, I'm following along as well. Great start.

Tom  ;D

Mike,

Count me in too.  I love lighthouses.   8)

Thanks Jeff, Tom and Bob for your support.
The window openings for the main walls have been carefully cut out...................
Mike

Moving on.............the lighthouse has a fairly complicated roofline. I had previously made a octagon like the base for the top. I am using spare card to make the formers for the roof.

These were then glued to the roof lines. I have omitted two for now as there is a square hut below the actual light that needs to be allowed for. The roof panels can then be cut individually to fit.

Mike

Hey Mike:

Looking good. I'm following along with interest.

Karl

Thanks Karl.
Moving on.................I need to construct the little shed. Working from photographs and using a calculator to gauge the measurements, I cut three pieces of card as templates for my wood. Having rummaged around I found some suitable off-cuts and cut the shape of walls required.
Mike

When cutting out the window space on such a small wall I used masking tape on the reverse of the part to avoid splitting the wood.
Mike

The little shed has been painted and a roof added to support the light platform. A hole has been made for the cable for the flashing light unit to pass through the building.
Mike

Nice work Mike!  that looks to be a fun roof line to get all the cuts right.

Thanks Darryl, yes the roof is not as easy as some. I have cut my roof panels prior to shingling. The smaller panels were cut to go each side of the shed.
Mike

Here are the individual roofs duly shingled in Grey Fishscale shingles.................
Mike

It has been a day of snakes rather than ladders............I was not happy about the height of the shed. So I started again with that item. The roof has been shingled.
Mike

looking very good............

It's nice to see the old fashioned, common or garden card in a scratchbuild.  Not fashionable these days but a tremendous, pretty well free material source and easy to work with.

I added the new shed to the roof. It is more to scale being a little lower than before. I substituted the cardboard walls for thin plasticard. I had to cut out the windows again hmm. I have started to superglue the walls to the ground former. A long way to go but I'm starting to get there. A lot of trial and error but I'm only going to make this once and I want to make it as perfect as I can. The top is not glued in yet but I needed to check the look............

Mike

Thanks Dennis and Barry for your kind comments.Mike  :)

Looks awesome Mike.

Mike


It's looking good.  I'm enjoying following along.

a bit late to the party Mike, but I'll be looking in.....neat lighthouse.  :)

Thanks Curt, John and Gregory, it is much appreciated.............
Working on the light area. I found an acrylic bottle cap the right scale size. I removed the black roof and cut a new one around the cap and then added the new black roof as a surround. To the cap I added some red masking tape as in the pictures there appears to be red baffles inside the light housing. I then measured the roof and angle of the light housing roof. I cut eight card formers and glued them on top...............
Mike

WOW, beautiful job on a very small and many pieces part.

Thanks very much Curt.
Mike

Moving on...............I tried to cover the roof on the light with eight pieces of angled card. Using an Olfa cutter I scribed several card circles which I then cut into eigths. After the sixth attempt I gave up trying. Instead I used some DAS clay to form the roof cap filling in between the card formers. The metal addition was found in an box full of FSM castings.

I added wood coffee stirrers to the inside walls of the plasticard body of the lighthouse. This aids the glueing in of the windows..............
Mike

Prototype and model..................
Mike

Continuing...............I added the led light to the structure. In order for it to remain within the building and not slip out of alignment I hot glued the wires to the base of the lighthouse. The led light flashs every six seconds.

Around the base I added some thick double sided tape to represent the stone walls. I deliberately weathered this by removing the paper from the tape and touching it at various places before spraying with paint.
Mike

Very nice indeed!!


Jerry

Thanks Jerry, it is much appreciated.
I added some half round strip styrene to the top of the walls just under the roofline.
Mike

Great job Mike. Can you do a short video with the flashing light?

Superb Mike , that will look great on the layout.

Thanks Curt omce it is on the layout I will try and get Mrs C to do a video, She is smarter than me.........

Hey Mike:

WOW111 you don't mess around. Really coming along very nicely.

Karl

Jan I think it will, The layout had a really good reaction at it's first show, so the lighthouse  will be icing on the cake or is that donut?
Mike

Thanks Karl it is almost there..........................

The lighthouse sitting on quay on Norge.................
Mike

Wow, You did a fantastic job Mike...........Dennis

Thanks Dennis. Whilst not a video here are a series of pictures demonstrating the six second flash.................
Mike

Great , great , great , makes me want to visit Norway again.

Nice work on the lighthouse, Mike.  Looks great.

Jeff

Mike,

Well done, very well done.

Tom  ;D

I like how the lighthouse is 'to scale' with the rest of the layout.  It really looks good!


dave

Excellent Mike.

Quote from: Janbouli on October 19, 2019, 01:09:57 PM
Great , great , great , makes me want to visit Norway again.

Thanks Jan, yes I think it captures some of the charm of Norway.
Mike

Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on October 19, 2019, 02:20:58 PM
Nice work on the lighthouse, Mike.  Looks great.

Jeff

Thanks Dr Jeff your comments are much appreciated.
Mike

Quote from: ACL1504 on October 19, 2019, 03:39:49 PM
Mike,

Well done, very well done.

Tom  ;D

Thanks Tom I really enjoyed trying to capture the spirit of the building.
Mike

Quote from: deemery on October 19, 2019, 04:22:45 PM
I like how the lighthouse is 'to scale' with the rest of the layout.  It really looks good!


dave

Thanks Dave. Somewhere in the build process I mislaid my scale rule but I think it is faithfully to scale and it certainly balances the tower building on the extreme left of the layout.
Mike

Quote from: PRR Modeler on October 19, 2019, 06:40:44 PM
Excellent Mike.

Thanks mate as always for your support.
Mike