1:400 Titanic Photo etched railings.

Hello Riffraff...

I am building the Titanic in the background of my Constitution build (for my daughter - she's a nut for Titanica stuff!)

After removing the molded railings, I added a thin styrene strip to the edge (bow and stern).  I will affix the PE railing to the INSIDE of this new edge later in the build:

Hope that is useful to you...

Please post pictures!

E Gale

I see. So I guess I have a followup question then and I'll use the pic above of the forcastle deck for example. At the back of the forcastle deck (the higher level) those side railings wrap around and across from one side of the bow to the other so to speak . There is a couple gates in this back railing where two sets of steps will go down to the lower deck area. Anyway my question is are you wraping the railing around the back corners, and by this I mean bending the railings to change their direction and go across? Because I think those railing are one piece and wrap around. Or will you cutting the railing at that the corners into two peices and glue them seperately. Thanks.

Riffraff -

I'm not all that experienced with PE yet, but I am concerned about the flex of these delicate railings as they experience temp changes over time.  I had it in mind to cut the pieces at those junctures to allow for some "expansion joints" instead of bending around the longer sections.

We should solicit thoughts from more experienced modelers...!

Thx

EG

So far as I know, brass and stainless steel photo-etched parts in themselves don't expand or contract in the weather.  But other parts of a model may - including parts that have photo-etched parts attached to them.  Some experienced modelers, for instance, prefer white glue (such as Aileen's quick drying) for attaching long runs of railings.  Apparently some people have had problems with superglue losing hold because it has problems with changes in the humidity.  (White glue doesn't really, permanently bond metals and non-porous plastics, but it will stick well enough for most modeling purposes.)

The bottom line seems to be that, because photo-etched parts haven't been around long, modelers are still learning about the fine points of using them.

The plastic and the metal are likely to have different temperature rates of expansion, but unless they are kept in a place of wide temperature variations that ordinarily is not much of a problem.  I like to use white glue to attach pe railings, which is a little flexible anyway, but I have never had any problems with railings popping loose.

Hi Riffraff,

New guy here. I've been lurking around on the site absorbing everything I can for a short time now...but now a subject has finally come up where I feel I can actually participate and give a little input.

I've been working on the 1/350 Minicraft Titanic going on 2 years now and am "regular" over on the Titanic-Model.com forum. I assume you are doing the Academy Anniversary Edition with the wood decks, etc. Every suggestion regarding using white glue for railing installation is spot on. It  gives you some working time to get them into position. Aleene's Tacky Glue is bullet-proof.

As to the proper position of the rails on the forecastle... they should be attached to the top edge of the hull, not to the decks. On the actual ship, there was a covered water-way that ran parallel between the hull and the decks (for drainage), which Force9 has reproduced nicely. Once he attaches the railings, it's gonna look nice. If his Titanic gets the same treatment as his Constitution, it will be one to marvel at.

I have both aftermarket sets of PE brass for Titanic (Gold Medal Models and Tom's Modelworks). The forecastle railings made by GMM are in 3 pieces (port, starboard and aft) so there's only one choice but to assemble them that way. There are other areas on the ship, though, where the railings stay one-piece and are bent multiple times (deckhouses for one). I guess it depends on how comfortable you are working with PE parts whether or not you do the rails in one piece or cut into several sections. I don't know how the kit's railings are set up, but it might be easier to do the aft railing (on the forecastle) as a separate piece.

One suggestion I'll give to you about the railings... DO THEM LAST (or next to last). Those things are so delicate, you stand the chance of damaging them if you stick 'em on now and then continue building on the ship.

Here's a link to the TRMA site where an Academy Anniversary Edition was built. It's very detailed, so you'll have plenty to read and look at:

titanic-model.com/.../dcboard.php

You'll need to patch the address together in your address bar to view it properly... sorry about that.

As you progress on you model, give us some pics! I love watching others build techniques on this ship. I always learn something new.

Sorry about the long post. Regards ...................... Matt

Yes my kit is the 1/400 Titanic, Academy Centenary Anniversay Edition 14202. It came with the wood deck and PE parts, plus I bought some more from Tom's. Anyway good info from all of you, and the link above has some great pics, thanks.

Sounds like I best glue the railings to the top of the hull/bow where I cut off the old ones off, but prior to that have the decks glued in place so the railings can wrap around and go across the decks. I will wait and do that late in the build so I don't damage them in the meantime. I do like Force9's idea, but not sure I could pull that off without making a mess of things. LOL

I was going to post a few pics of a Super Duty Catalina (Car)  I just completed (first model in 25 years), but couldn't figure out a way to do that on these forums. I only have them on my hard drive and there appears to be no way to upload them. I'm not to computer savvy.