nid_dabeille: bee (jack shrunk)
Honey and Bee ([personal profile] nid_dabeille) wrote2009-05-09 09:17 pm

mini great cabin

Structurally, the miniature great cabin is finished!  Only structurally, mind.  It is also furnished and somewhat adorned and fully electrified, but I'm sure it will always be a work in progress.  It will never be officially FINISHED, of course.  And while I'm still working on the sick bay below, I'll have to keep unplugging it and taking all the furniture and accessories out so I can move it around, so I haven't even really had a chance to lay out all the little things - sextant, books, bicorn, sheet music, maps...  I did do a mini photo shoot though, with some of the things in place.  So take a peek!




Last time I updated, I had just finished making the little cabinets and glazing the windows.  So here are the cabinets in situ, the last time I had the back of the cabin open.  It took a lot of guts to finally glue the window and stern locker into place.  Now I'll never be able to reach into the back of the cabin again.  *sniff*



And here is the cabin in its completeness.  All the molding and structural details in place.




The cabinets are comfortably nestled in their space.


And here it is furnished.


A peek through the windows from the back.  That's the decanter that [livejournal.com profile] alto2  gave me!


And here it is with the lights on (and a peek at the sick bay with lights too.)


That lovely decanter again, plus my flintlock pistol.  And behind is the Sophia candelabra, which I forgot to mention.  I wired it for candles, and oh my goodness, it nearly drove me insane.


You see, this is what it looked like before:


And I thought, "Oh, I'll just stick some candles in it, and wire it up, and it will be great!  Right?"  Wrong!  Argh, if you want an electrified candelabra, fellow miniaturists, please, save yourself and just buy an electrified candelabra!  Not many things in miniatures drive me insane, but this was one of them.  (I think the other is installing hinges.)

It looks pretty nice from the front, right?


Here's the back where all the wires are hiding.  (HIDING WIRES!  Not easy!  Also, see how the candles are kind of hovering above the cups instead of sitting in them?  That's because the wires only come out of the BOTTOM of the candles.  They should make alternative candles where the wires come out of the side, just a little above the base, so if someone wants to stick candles in an existing candlestick it won't be so hard.  They should also make shiny wires.


I wrapped silver wire around the candelabra to hold the electrical wires in place so they wouldn't be floating everywhere.  My electrical wires must be contained and subtle.  I don't like sticky-outy electrical wires.  You can also see that I cut it just short enough to plug in exactly where I wanted, so there wouldn't be excess wire hanging out.  Also, since I was using two different bulbs, I had two different sets of wires.  But where they meet in the middle of the candelabra, I spliced them together with clear/yellowish heat shrink tubes.  Also, I painted the wires to be more subtle - gray on the candelabra, black on the lead, and white at the point where it hangs down in front of the white stern locker and plugs into the wall.  But most of that is hidden by the little table anyway, when viewed from most angles.

Wrappy wires:


Never again!!!

By the way, the candles, bulbs, wires, heat shrink tubes, plug, and eyelets all come from Cir-kit Concepts, which really is quite awesome.  So does the hanging lamp and the spring-loaded eyelets that hold it up

Edit:  Here's a picture to give a sense of scale, for those not familiar with 1:12.  Awwww, remember when my baby looked like this?


linked at [livejournal.com profile] little_world  and [livejournal.com profile] doll_houses .  Oh all right, and [livejournal.com profile] hms_surprise  and [livejournal.com profile] perfect_duet  and [livejournal.com profile] anything_aos and the Gunroom, because lots of comments make me happy.

[identity profile] watergal.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous!! I am in awe of all of it, but especially the perfection of the lighting effect.

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I love the effects of the lights too. Lights really are wonderful!

[identity profile] rexluscus.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Whoa, that is really impressive!

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I love playing with it. :D

[identity profile] sarlania.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
OMG that is so gorgeous! I love it. You are so talented! Love, love, love the lightening effects.

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! :D

[identity profile] akamarykate.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
This is just incredible. I'm in awe of your craftsmanship (craftswomanship? :).

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much!
ozfille: (Default)

[personal profile] ozfille 2009-05-10 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
Like Stephen you are a lynx, so sharp eyed, nothing gets past you. Did you use frames from the film for the reconstruction of the lockers and cabinets of Jack's cabin?

I so admire your skill and certainly your patience in producing this magnificent miniature model. Looking forward to shots of Stephen's sick bay.

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! (Haha, that's from the discussion about cannonades! I just love that little exchange between Jack and Stephen. XD )

Yes, I certainly used many many many countless frames from the film. For the locker, the cabinets, the ceilings, the floor, the walls, the windows, the lighting, various furniture and accessories. (Even though I couldn't reproduce the furniture exactly, I certainly took inspiration from what they had in the movie.)

Sick bay is slow and uncertain right now, but I'm currently concentrating on the dispensary. It's hard deciding what goes with the dispensary and what goes with the sick bay, so I think it will be a default where the sick bay gets the dispensary's leftovers.

[identity profile] sammistarr.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
That is absolutely beautiful and amazingly fantastic! I think my mouth was actually hanging open in awe XD.

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, thank you! :D

[identity profile] lordmoufmouf.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
WOW! That is stunning! I'm sitting here at my computer like a stunned fish. How much of the interior did you buy vs build yourself?

[identity profile] strainconductor.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
...THIS IS UTTERLY AMAZING. I have not enough words to describe how much my heart fluttered upon seeing this, seeing your pics of your progress got me excited, seeing it to this level is mind blowing.

WOW!!

[identity profile] mcsweeneyfiend.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
love.

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Stunned fish! Thank you!

Well, I built the whole interior by myself (paneling, windows, ceiling beams etc.), but I bought moldings and little strips of wood and things like that. I made all the furniture, some from kits and some from scratch, and I adapted the cello and violin, basically took them apart and remade them. If you click on the tag aubrey-maturin miniatures (http://grace-poppy.livejournal.com/tag/aubrey-maturin+miniatures) you can see the whole process.

:D

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Wow!!! Well thank you so much!!!

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

[identity profile] lucythedragon.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
:D These are so awesome! I especially love all the steps you've taken to give it such wonderful interior lighting. Just amazing. I just wish I could have it for me own!

[identity profile] xel1980.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 08:48 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, my Gods, this is just amazing!!! <3

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 08:51 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] grace-poppy.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 08:51 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

[identity profile] tootsiemuppet.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my word, that is just GORGEOUS. I cannot even begin to describe the level of awe I'm feeling right now.

[identity profile] tealight-rookie.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 09:56 am (UTC)(link)
Even though I know very little about age of sail stuff, I always get insanely excited when I see that you've posted miniatures stuff. I love it! You should compile a book!

[identity profile] gairid.livejournal.com 2009-05-10 12:36 pm (UTC)(link)
How utterly marvelous!

Page 1 of 3