I don't know how I feel about my decision, but I grew tired of cutting the bevels by hand and decided to cheat by using a Dremel with a cylindrical sanding drum to shape the bevels instead. Oh boy, what an upgrade! I just had to give a small sand afterwards and be mindful of the Dremels rotation when nearing the edges (I learned this the hard way.
The downside to this method is it seems to roughen up the balsa more than expected and left a "fuzzy" texture. I used a very fine sandpaper to meditate the affect but nothing looks the same as actually cutting the wood. That being said, I could never get the consistency and even/level cuts as I did with the Dremel. Something for me to think about more for future builds I guess.
For context, the instructions stated that the inside/inboard sides of the frames can also be beveled and I opted to do so. One of the things I loved about this model was the exposed interior and wanted a realistic look. I didn't want that laser cut look on the exposed frames and so I took advantage of the beveling to remove the dark/burnt edges. This was time consuming, but worth it. The Dremel was a must in my opinion, otherwise I wouldn't have done this.
The instructions are clear in reminding me the exposed frames need bevels that are aesthetically pleasing (obviously) but say that the same should be done for the interior bevels if a small room is desirable (not as obvious, at least not to me.
This model having the open frame work and exposed frames, I decided to put in a miniature room that accurately shows the living bildge/storage for lobsters/catch that the Emma C. Berry had. I want to put in a small "lantern" in this room that will disguise an LED Diode. This will flicker, like a flame in a lantern, when the room the model is in goes dark. This will be driven by a light sensitive sensor and an esp32 to act as the brains. I will also have a 'lantern' someplace else, but can't decide on the location. Maybe on the ships deck? Maybe on the scaffolding next to exposed side of the hull?
I will have light coming out of the ship from two openings from inside the miniature room, the first from the exposed hull opening and the second from the exposed deck planking that opens the ceiling of the room. I am thinking that putting additional 'lanterns' in the deck or scaffolding would wash out the light coming from inside the ship and ruin the affect. Maybe putting a lantern on the opposite side of the ship, away from the opening, on the ground next to the ship? This could be near the bow to light up the ships name and trim work up there and would also make sense to provide light for the planking stacked on the ground.
I put a few reference pictures of others finished models in case people are not familiar with this model.
