A very (embarrassed) late addition to how I built my Nautilus.

Once I assembled, constructed and refabricated the pieces to fit out and decorate the salon the next thing was a test to see how they fitted in the frame. once the test fit was done I painted the salon superstructure and then set about gluing in some of the furnishings.

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The next session involved more additions to be constructed. Although the feature of the salon movie set is Nemo’s pipe organ. However, for the model and the limited view through the large windows, the centerpiece would be the specimen table.

Once again I used the blueprints I had to design my miniature one-inch long version.

It was obvious I couldn’t get any glass that small to make the display case so I resorted to clear acetate, thin strips of styrene sheeting and rod. the top display shelf I filled with assorted colored jars from Scale models and inside the case (Spoiler alert) I used tiny pieces of kitty litter, yes it was clean. I also added large grains of sand, painted sponge and the loose sections of the rubber bushes model railway builders use. The gold latticework around the top shelf is more craft ribbon cut down and glued to clear sheeting.

The next phase required resizing some scanned images of Persian style rugs to print out and glue to the floor and then add the picture frames, completed bookcases, podium etc.

Something I realized during the test fittings was how much detail I could see through the windows. So I made the decision to add in Nemo’s aquariums and mini-laboratory. The aquariums were simply holes made in the plasticard sheet with a film of PVA glue spreads over them and stained when dry. Again I used small plastic jars and bottles, but the coiled rod and gauges I needed to build from scratch with the help of the blueprints.

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All that remained was adding the curtains and final wall sections. The three led strip which can be seen is what I used to light the salon once it was installed inside the model.

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