What a better way to liven up your model of the Titanic than to light her up as she was 85 years ago on the night she went down. I havn't actually done this myself yet, mainly because I didn't think about it until I had my model finished. I may actually buy another one in the future to do this. Although I havn't done FO's, I have done as much research as I could do to put this page together. If you don't find what your looking for here, try http://www.CultTVman.com/. This is one of the best resources for lighting up your models.

I have heard that the best way to light up Titanic is to use the FO sets that come with the new Star Trek models(about $40). If the cost is too much for you, I have heard that these FO sets can be bought separately, check your local hobby store. The sets that come in the Trek kits also come with the drill, batteries, and swith. I can only asume that the set bought separately also comes with these things.

"The drill bit was about the size of a machianical
pencil lead, about .62 mm I guess. It wore out
real fast though, only enough for 60 holes"

The following is from www.CultTVman.com to eplain how to install basic FO's...

Drill the appropriate size holes in the kit where you want the lighting to show through. For fibers that will ultimately be flush with the surface of the model, leave about an eighth inch of fiber sticking out of the hole above the surface of the kit. Use a rubber cement type of glue or small pieces of tubing to bundle the fibers and hold them in place. Rubber cement doesn't melt plastic the way normal model cement does, so it won't interrupt the "road" light will have to travel through the fiber optic strand. Construct the rest of the kit, taking care not to accidentally paint the end of the fibers that will remain near the light source. It doesn't matter if you get paint on the strand, so long as the tip remains clean. Likewise, don't worry about the end of the fiber sticking out of the surface of the model, Just paint as usual. When construction is completed, carefully snip the ends of the fibers from the surface of the kit.

If your having trouble with the electronics of the project check out this page from www.CultTVman.com for the best information.

Paint the inside of the hull Enamel White so light is bounced around from every angle !

Drill two holes on the bottom of the hull for the bulbs. Make sure to make the holes big enough to remove and insert the bulbs easily. This will make it easy to replace the bulbs should they ever burn out.

I used two 6.5 Volt .25 Amp bulbs with a 12V .50 Amp transformer. These are connected in series so the voltage and amperage is shared by both bulbs. The bulbs are passed through the two Gold and clear plastic hull supports that came in the kit The clear plastic ones have to be drilled !

The light dispersal is suprisingly even because the hull interior is reflective. I didn't use a fiber on every porthole but I think it looks better this way. It gives the model a certain depth when you can actually look through the portholes !

Make sure you cut out the main deck so light can get to the other decks as you continue the build.

I placed fiber optics on every hole on walls and basically anywhere it would look good but primarily next to windows and doorways.

As you install boatdecks etc.. keep in mind what light is going where and where your going to pass your fibers !

I've included a couple more scans of how I cut the main deck and how the light shows through !

Experiment with various lighting effects but just make sure when you commit to cutting your decks that the lighting effect is what you want .

Feel free to contact me if you need more info !