Hi folks, I've got some questions about lighting on warships

Another few projects I have pending or underway revolve around warship lighting. Primarily a LCS3 USS Fort Worth plastic model and DDG-82 USS Lassen from Proboat. A few more kits and projects are in the stash or build queue. I'm using an LCS4 photo for reference as that's the clearest I have found the lights.

Anyways, I've established that the hangar deck lighting is kind of a cyan/blue-green shade that's very tough to get LEDs to match (blue circled parts).

I keep on seeing these spotlight looking things by the flight deck and can't figure out what they're for or when/where/why they're used. Does anyone have any insights? They're circled in red. They look to alternate between green and amber

There's also a traffic lighting looking thing circled in orange (and on the corner in the circle that could be another light?) and 2 red lights up top circled in purple.

Original photo is here

https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/lcs/LCS-4_DAT/LCS-4-USS-Coronado-photo-041.jp

Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough... drawback is that it only works once...

For black smoke this is available for rc trucks to simulate rolling coal, it might work for a ship.

https://www.110rodshop.com/products/1-10-rod-shop-coalcaine-injection-simulator

So I had an idea... famous last words lol

I'm lazy and my attention span is comparable to a cricket on caffeine sometimes so I take several boats with me whenever I go sailing and switch between them. Problem is, when they're sitting they tend to drift with the wind so I have to switch back to drive it back to its parking spot wherever I left it. That leaves me with 2 options: pull the first boat from the water, or set it up with GPS to maintain position lock at the push of a button...

Well I love a challenge. The star of the show is a mini F4 wing flight controller. These are used for drones or UAVs but at $20 plus shipping it's worth a shot. I've flashed it with the Ardurover firmware. Using that, with a GPS module and a few other auxiliary parts the boat should be capable of autonomous waypoint missions or maintaining GPS lock in loiter mode. At least that's in theory. I tested it on a truck and it kinda works but I need to figure out arming and calibration.

My Radiomaster tx16s gives me an input for available flight modes. The plan is to use hold, loiter, auto, smartRTL, and manual modes. SmartRTL allows the boat to return to its original launch point by retracing its steps.

So I started with the new light updates. The mast was all white LEDs originally so I changed out 2 to red (I still need to file them flat) and changed the white between them to a different input line. A rear navigation light, towing light, and worklight were added to the stern side of the funnel. The navigation light is tied to the others on the superstructure, the red and white mast lights will be on according to the control mode along with the red flashing light and towing light. Oh and I need to find the file and reprint the radar housing and top spinny bar

Next up, I need to rethink the interior lights and spotlights on the wheelhouse. The interior light will be tied into the other interior lights and I might put the spotlights on a separate switch. I have a few remote switches I can probably use. Then some detailing

The water pump is a 12v windshield washer pump from amazon tied to an airplane ESC so I can dial up the flow. It worked in testing but now it doesn't want to behave so I'll have to do some diagnostics.

@chugalone100 I plan to run the new lighting off an arduino I'll put in the superstructure. The deck lights are controlled by a dial on PWM dimmer circuit I made from an attiny board and a mosfet board. Other lights should correspond to the drive mode. I'll elaborate on that shortly

After seeing Cash's excellent build on here I was inspired to actually do some research and make some updates to my proboat tug.

The initial build was done while this model was owned by a friend in 2022. I added deck lighting, interior lighting, working radar, and changed one of the mast lights to a blinking red (not accurate but it looks cool). I'll put the initial build photos here. The radar is a n20 gearbox with a 3d printed housing. Looks chunky but it got the job done.

More photos of the 2026 update to come soon

Looks great! I did some remodeling to mine but not to that extent, now I need to redo the mast and add some other details...

I have the same issue, galaxy S20 for reference. Telemetry viewer app has the same problem

I've also found this guide for twin throttles but cutting into the back of the radio like that kind of irks me. Not sure if the aforementioned version does that too.

I just mix it into my steering, unfortunately that takes up all 3 available mixes on the i6x. There is a way to convert it to opentx which I might try eventually.

http://wmunderway.mysite.com/cont/Twin%20Throttle%20for%20Flysky/Converting%20A%

https://github.com/OpenI6X/opentx/wiki/Flashing-&-Upgrading

Amphibious vehicles are an interesting idea, I've been hoping to eventually 3D print an Amphicar. The pond where I usually run doubles as a skating rink in the winter so it has some ramps that can work as boat ramps in the summer. I already use it for boat trailers but an Amphicar, LARC, DUKW, schwimmwagen, etc can just drive up. A LCAC would be a fun project too that can also work with the RC tank club

The initial point of this concept is to have a waterline model boat that can display as a waterline model but feel like sailing on dry land vs driving an amphibious car on land

I've been thinking about this idea for a while now, but haven't found a suitable candidate.

So about half of the scheduled events held by the local RC boat club are only static displays. They're good for promoting the hobby but I just want to run something. That gave me an idea.

If I made a waterline model I could mount an RC crawler or car chassis underneath and drive it around on land, giving me the chance to still run a boat during a static show.

Perferably that model would be fairly simple and stout, with a wider beam and maybe 2 feet long. To clear the chassis the freeboard would either need to be pretty tall or at least a narrow deck along the superstructure sides. Does anyone have any suggestions for subjects with available plans or 3d files?

This idea came through some of the boats that run on a river at my work. The river is solid with water effects and the boats are basically buses with fancy outfits

I'll cast another vote for the flysky i6x, for the price it's really hard to beat. There are 2 ways to adjust for throttle centring. The obvious way is to actually install a spring, which takes a few minutes and requires disassembling the radio and not letting the tiny spring fly away (serrated tweezers really help)

The other way is to use the throttle curve function, map it to a switch and set UP to 50-100 and DOWN to 50-0. I think of this like the gas pedal and gearshift in an automatic car. Throttle stick down is zero, up is full and the switch determines direction. This could work if one still wanted to use the transmitter for aircraft as well

Radiomaster is my go-to at the moment, very powerful for the price but the learning curve for edgetx/opentx is a cliff. The newer radios have an externally accessible grubscrew to adjust the ginbal springs. My Tx16s mk1 didn't have that so it got a new gimbal from a mk2 so I can switch between boats/trucks and aircraft with a 1.5mm hex

I've shared this photo with Ron privately but as Alessandro said about routing wires to a resistor board, here's how I handled the LEDs on my Crockett mast. The outputs aren't bussed as I plan to eventually control them individually (anchor lights etc) but for now they're all connected to the BEC to look pretty on the water

This was my first attempt at 3D printing an RC boat. With plans to print a large navy ship I wanted to confirm that I could actually get a 3d printed boat running so I tried this file from Thingiverse. It still needs lights and paint but it runs surprisingly well. Power is from a 3s lipo and a brushless outrunner - pics in a later post. I'm planning to make an autonomous boat this year and this is a potential candidate

Printed from ASA and ABS filament on a Bambu X1 Carbon and glued together with acetone. Acetone dissolves ABS and ASA so it's also nice to dissolve the support scraps in a jar of acetone to make a filler putty.

You might notice the different colors on the suprtstructure, that's because it's just resting on top and can be knocked off and lost requiring a reprint

Does anyone have suggestions for a colour scheme?

I don't actually know how to use an led driver but have gotten comfortable with using resistors to control brightness. Is it fairly basic? Yes but it also works.

There is a TLC5940 kicking around my spares box, I need to learn how to use it. It would allow me to use more than the limited PWM outputs on any given microcontroller, my usual ATTiny85 gives me only 2 PWM outputs

Even when I use PWM on a mosfet for a remotely dimmable circuit I still assume it's like a regular circuit and set resistors to the maximum brightness then dial it back from there

Here's another Aliexpress boat, I got inspired after seeing another build on facebook. I don't have the skills to meet his build but I figured I'd give it a shot. For $20 CAD I couldn't say no. It's even smaller than the tiny 686 tug!

I gutted the electronics and replaced the receiver with a small all in one unit with dual esc and steering mixing built in. Due to the funky channel assignments on the board I had to use my Radiomaster MT12. The stock 100 mAh battery was replaced with a 250 mAh to enhance runtime and ballast.

I added mast and navigation lights, the mast lights are switchable between off, white, and red. The factory spotlight was retained and put on a switch along with the worklight. I might make a new spotlight eventually and I plan to redo some of the details as well.

It doesn't like large ponds or waves of any sort really but is fun in a water feature type pond or in Little Canada's Bay of Fundy display (when the tide doesn't leave me stranded)

Ron, those light setups look great!

I've also dimmed leds with a servo board and a small plane brushed esc (like 2A) can also work. Servo board is kind of a janky solution but in a pinch it can work. It's easiest if you have a programmable radio (I'm really liking the tx16s)

On the Horizon harbour tug I did the deck lights are dimmed from an Arduino on a mosfet. The code basically reads the servo signal from the receiver and maps it to a PWM output 0-255 then the mosfet handles the current. That gave me more control over how it behaved.

Eventually I'll program the crockett light functions but I've been too lazy and it needs more important things right now.

Usually my BEC is 3+ amps so I'm not concerned about LED current draw

I saw this little jetboat on Aliexpress and wondered what it might take to get it properly running. After seeing some breakdown videos on jetboats and modifying my Proboat PBR, I decided to give it a try. It's a decent 1s powered brushless jetboat but it lacks a decent control system and reverse. I gutted the control system and added a small 1s brushless esc/receiver unit for a micro plane. The reverse is controlled by a 9g servo, and the bucket is scaled down from a file meant for the Proboat PBR. It's run off a logical switch within Edgetx. When reverse throttle is applied the motor runs forward and the bucket drops automatically. I might change it to a 2s system and it still needs detailing and lights. I'm thinking about repainting it in Canadian Coast Guard markings