Project to Tackle-RMS Titanic

Ha ha, Steve. But no, you are right, I did get them done. Whadda ya think?

Nice and where did you find them, looks great.  The ones from Pontos are great looking as well, but the price, plus ship makes, them very exspensive too me!  Looking forward to more of the build.

Question.......crane booms, do you not have these as PE, much closer to scale and alot clearner in look!

Rick from NC

Actually, they are modified lamp pulls from Home Depot. They weren't more than $10 bucks for three of them.

I am actually not sure if I have PE for the crane booms. I will have to check. The kit has so far been very detailed, so I would be surprised if Academy looked that over.

modelsheek91

Ha ha, Steve. But no, you are right, I did get them done. Whadda ya think?

Those look amazing.  Well done

So, I have started to plan how I am going to do the model. I just found out yesterday that in order to attach the wood deck, several raised details have to be cut off.

Is there a good way to go about doing this cleanly, and so that the pieces are salvaged to be re-attached.

Second, should I go ahead and attach the wood deck before attaching thins like the vent pipes and bollards?

Shipshape

Nice and where did you find them, looks great.  The ones from Pontos are great looking as well, but the price, plus ship makes, them very exspensive too me!  Looking forward to more of the build.

Question.......crane booms, do you not have these as PE, much closer to scale and alot clearner in look!

Rick from NC

Yes, I will be using the PE-they are MUCH nicer. I am also going to attempt to rig the cranes-is it worth it, or is it scale-wise incorrect?

I used my sprue cutter and then a file to remove the molded on benches and a few other details. There's no need to save them because they're going to be replaced with PE parts. The wooden decks need to be added fairly earlier in the build because so many other parts will be installed over them. Be sure that any painting is done prior to attaching parts to the wood. The wood pieces look intimidating but actually install with ease.

Another thought or two. Many of the deck pieces have precut places where you need to remove material so it can fit around molded in places on the plastic. Be sure to do this prior to removing the decking from it's backer sheet. These openings will greatly aid it the correct placement of the deck. I had zero issues getting the pieces properly placed. A few of the wood pieces are so large I was concerned it would cause problems so I cut them in half along a line between deck planks. This makes the cut all but invisible after they're installed. When you start doing it you'll see what I mean.

When removing the molded on benches there are a few that will leave a hole in the deck. Don't be alarmed because this will disappear once the wood is added.

Rigging the cranes is actually easy and worth the effort because they're so prominently seen.

Any recommendations as to what would be the best material to rig the cranes with? Nylon thread is probably too thick. Is stretched sprue the best, or can anyone recommend something better?

I used some thin fishing line I had from a previous build. You can buy it for next to nothing at Wal-Mart.

I've been using grey fly-tying thread for all of my cranes and ship rigging. It's dirt cheap, you get a ton of it on a small spool and you can pretty much find it at any decent sporting-goods store. I recommend a 6/0 or an 8/0 size. The brand I've been using is called UNI-Thread.

Matt

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to get some soon!

I think have come to a tough decision. I will not try to hurriedly finish this kit for the deadline in February (of 2015). That would just put too much stress on me, and I want to enjoy the build, not rush through it. I will build it at my own pace, and not worry about getting it done.

In another topic, I am going attempt to light it up. This will hail a new accomplishment when (or if) I can pull it off. I have, too this point, never lit a kit up. Boy, do I pick a tough beginning...

modelsheek91

I think have come to a tough decision. I will not try to hurriedly finish this kit for the deadline in February (of 2015). That would just put too much stress on me, and I want to enjoy the build, not rush through it. I will build it at my own pace, and not worry about getting it done.

Good decision; this is, for most of us, a hobby. Too many other things in life have "must be done" deadlines.  

modelsheek91

I another topic, I am going attempt to light it up. This will hail a new accomplishment when (or if) I can pull it off. I have, too this point, never lit a kit up. Boy, do I pick a tough beginning...

Are you out of your knoodle? have you lost all your sense?  Doing what you want to on your own model- trying something new and different !?  you are too cheeky by half......

p.s. I'll be looking forward to your progress and accomplishments as they come

Hello from across the pond Modelsheek, I too have this in the stash, great kit. The fly-tying thread is Uni-Caenis and extremely thin but looks excellent in use. A lot of modelers also use EZ line too which I believe is slightly elastic.

If you do intend lighting her up, now is the time to start thinking about laying down some paint inside the hull and decks as this will help stop light bleeding through and making the whole model 'glow'. I use bare metal foil as much as possible. Usually the kind on a roll for heating and air con ducting.

Discount stores sell LED flashlights which have multiple LEDs and can be stripped down to produce lighting circuits at low cost.

Hope this helps. Glad you chose to avoid building this to a deadline, it is too much model for only a few months work. You should be looking at least a year to do this justice. There are good instructions with the kit that tell you what needs painting before you lay the deck too.

Look forward to following your build.

Super nice build!

So, in preparation for lighting this beast up, I have begun the process of drilling out the hull's portholes. It is a bigger job than I first thought! I finished the job up, only to have someone tell me that I should drill out AT LEAST 75% of the holes (not the roughly 30% that I did). Grrrr.

Maybe I should get that Archimedes drill which will make the job a breeze....

So, I have glued together my deck crane base (whoooooohoooo!) Looking at the model as a whole, that really does not seem like a big deal. 

Some pieces to be used later. Finials in the background. Still unsure what colour to paint those parts that fit onto the hull on the finials (a pale gray in the picture). I have primed them to be ready, but now I have to decide: dark blue or dark grey, or neither and pick black.

Ok, I need to pick everyone's brains. There is a run of portholes (?) on both side of the hull. I have not seen any pictures where there is light coming through them. What are these holes?

Those are actually mooring points for when the ship was tied up. I made the mistake of drilling them out, thinking they were portholes. Found out differently after the hole was drilled and the deck was in place. All of the "holes" along that line of the hull are mooring points (don't know what the nautical term actually is).

If you were to REALLY go for realism you would cut a really small piece of wire and glue it horizontally across the opening and feather it into the hull on either side of the hole. There were a couple more that are located further down toward the waterline but they are mixed in with the portholes. I just let those go. The detail is so small, I don't think anyone viewing my model will notice.

Matt

Those finials look really good. I always model on a temporary base, and I also like the base to be longer than the ship to protect it.

Wood decks if they have self stick cant be glued with anything else. The biggest buckling problem I've encountered is when they dont really fit and you try to force them down. That'll always backfire. But if you test-trim-test before sticking them on, they should be fine.

I also bought this same kit 2 years ago because I was disappointed with their 1998 "completely retooled" issue, particularly the thick, out-of-scale railings, stairs, etc. Those parts were nicely replaced by PE in this Centenary Edition. Yes, I agree with Modelsheek91 that it's a shame to tear up the bags and start on the kit because it's beautifully presented by Academy -- that I feel it's better left untouched and displayed as is!

If I were to decide to remove mine from storage and start building this, I might not use the wood decks because it'll raise the floor to a few millimeters too high. I guess it's best to sand the plastic wood decks before applying the overlays.

The reason why I gave up on my first Titanic more than 10 years ago is because it was a difficult build because I still didn't have a rotary tool, an airbrush, etc. Now I'm well-equipped to tackle on my 2nd kit.

The wood decks in this kit are so paper-thin. I don't believe it would change the height of the decks in any noticeable way.

Glad to hear that -- I haven't touched the contents of the box yet so I didn't know the wood is very thin. But seeing your photos makes me want to start on my kit. Looking forward to more pics!