1/400 Academy Titanic build

Joined
Mar 31, 2020
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128
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Location
USA
This is my first ship build in many years. Usually its Aircraft and armor. But after visiting the cemetery where victims were interred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I became intrigued with Titanic's history. I’ve been working on this Titanic in my spare time, which does not amount to much, for almost a year. I chose to detail and light this kit as a learning project. Didn’t think about the size of the project until I was knee-deep into it. Here are a few pics of my project thus far. Quite a bit of work to go.

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A very good start of your building log - I will follow your log with interest
 
This is my first ship build in many years. Usually its Aircraft and armor. But after visiting the cemetery where victims were interred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I became intrigued with Titanic's history. I’ve been working on this Titanic in my spare time, which does not amount to much, for almost a year. I chose to detail and light this kit as a learning project. Didn’t think about the size of the project until I was knee-deep into it. Here are a few pics of my project thus far. Quite a bit of work to go.

Hallo @AER3393
we wish you all the Best and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Enjoy your day
Birthday-Cake
Hope to see an update on your Titanic
 
Yes. All sidelights (portholes ) were hand drilled. I do not recommend using a Dremel as it can result in uneven rows. Plus it goes quickly once you get going. At some point I lost count as to how many portholes there were.
I used the TRMA sidelight diagrams and Art Braunschweiger’s 1/350 chart on drill bit sizes, converted to 1/400 scale, for the appropriate sidelight sizing. I’ve attached the diagrams and size chart in this post.
I used clear acetate strips to give all sidelights the glass effect, adding colored overlays in different colors to simulate cabins with drawn curtains or blacked out portholes for unoccupied spaces.
Titanic model.net is a great site for inspiring one to add greater detail to the kit.
I’m sure you know this; the lighting on titanic was very dim compared with today’s lighting. I went with warm white LEDs and dimmed them further with light filtering film. Which also helped disperse the light more evenly.
 

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Looking great so far! I'm also following the sidelight diagrams for correcting my 1/200 Titanic Trumpeter kit.

Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks. I’m no rivet counter but I have researched this subject and am glad to share what I’ve found, it’s great to see that the 1/200 scale kit has revived interest in Titanic
. Coincidentally, I have recently visited one of the Titanic exhibits. Here is a shot of a 1st class window frame and a section of 401’s hull that were recovered from the debris field. The left side of the hull portion has cutouts for sidelights.
 

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Thanks. I’m no rivet counter but I have researched this subject and am glad to share what I’ve found, it’s great to see that the 1/200 scale kit has revived interest in Titanic
. Coincidentally, I have recently visited one of the Titanic exhibits. Here is a shot of a 1st class window frame and a section of 401’s hull that were recovered from the debris field. The left side of the hull portion has cutouts for sidelights.
 
It has been awhile since I’ve posted any of the progress on my build. It has been slow going as this started out as a learning project in rigging, lighting and PE. Lots of PE!!!
Besides drilling out al sidelights and removing all window mullions, replacing them with PE, I’ve run all LEDs and F/O strands filtering all to affect lighting more accurate to the lighting of the era. 1619924073827.jpeg
Adding more details I’ve been scratch building as I go along. For instance, the aft well deck crane bases were inaccurate so I fabricated new ones as well as the poop deck skylights.1619921910174.jpeg1619923762496.jpegI applied a red oak veneer to the top of the base and added brass pedestals. The base is wired for an AC/DC adapter.
I’ve glued all upper decks and deckhouses into one component. 1619923535928.jpeg Some detailing to the bridge and it should be ready to glue all decking to the hull. Then the fun begins with the remaining PE and detailing the decks and rigging.
 

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Hi!

Do you make your own PE from scratch? I’m eyeing the poop deck skylights in your May 1st post in particular. If so, it’d be great to hear a bit more about how you do it :)
 
The kit’s skylights were completely out of scale, so I scratch built the skylights out of thin brass sheet stock. The hatches on the skylight roofs were made from stock styrene, although, in retrospect I could have used hatches from GMM’s or Tom’s PE sets.
Just remember to drill out the portholes prior to bending. And if lightning you will need to drill a hole in the deck where skylights canard placed.
 
As for most of the photoetch, I purchased a PE and resin kit from Flyhawk, which is quite extensive and well detailed, as well as PE frets from Toms and Gold Medal. Unfortunately, due to my work schedule and other commitments, I realized that quality of my efforts to finish her was suffering so I have not worked on this kit for some time. I do highly recommend building a “dry dock” to protect your work and help with fine part placement and rigging later on. I will be glad to help you any way I can.
 
Thanks so much for the reply!

It’s funny, I never thought of using brass sheet stock. I can see how it could be easier than styrene for certain tasks. Long thin runs like railing toppers comes to mind (I tried this with thinnest available styrene, and they wanted to curl up).

I bought a fairly random sampling of thicknesses/sizes from [major online retailer] to experiment.

Thanks again!
 
After a year-long hiatus in my Titanic build, mostly due to work, family and other obligations, I have finally returned to finish the project. My first issue was that many of the soldered joints on the light’s wiring had come apart. They had literally eroded. My only conclusion was that I had soldiered them (about 3 years ago) at a temperature that was too high. Perhaps it was a good thing I put this kit on hold last year, otherwise the lights would be inoperable. I’ve since repaired all joints. Next issue was joining the deck/ superstructure subassembly to the hull. All was going well, when suddenly realized I had forgotten to set two securing blocks underside for the aftermarket masts and had to de-bond the hull/ deck assembly. Ultimately, that caused a less than satisfactory outcome when reassembled. Since that mishap, things are rolling along nicely. I’ve installed the 30 ladders and scratch built most of the 35 doors that went on the decks. I’m currently working on placing the remaining deck hardware. The Flyhawk A/M set has a lot of photoetch left to bend and a good amount of resin parts to add to the kit.
In retrospect, back in 2019, I was not properly prepared to start a project this complicated. But the project has taught me much. I look at mistakes as lessons learned and things to improve upon. Improving your skills and having fun is really what this hobby is all about.
Images to follow.
 
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