RMS Titanic

Hi everyone

I have fallen in love with the Titanic. I have joined the Titanic research society and acquired over 15 books on the subject and am continuing to learn more about her every day.

To this end, I have started scratch building this beautiful ship. There are no kits available bigger than 1:350 scale and as I wanted to build a larger one, the only way is to scratch build one. There are very limited drawings on this ship as the originals were retained by Harland & Wolff, and some were destroyed (in shame!). There are some partial model drawings around along with plenty of pictures so I was able to get most part details all together in my build book. This is updated every time new information comes in..

I have started my build at 1:175 scale, which produces a model around Five and a half foot long.

Here is a quick run through of the build along with some of the errors, which had to be corrected. I am trying to represent the actual ship as she sailed on her maiden voyage.


First we started by cutting out the frames. The dimensions were estimated from various pictures as were most of what you are about to see.










This was then planked.

A lot of filler was used as we wanted a smooth surface to cover with plating.





The rudder was made out of brass.








The motors were lined up and fittings arranged.





The major wood structures were cut to shape and some paper funnels placed on top. (just for the fun of it)

Sheep's guts comes to mind




The deck houses and buildings were first of all cut out of plywood. The intention being to cover this with a plastic wall.





The propeller shafts had to be laid in with filler.





All three upper decks sized up for effect






The funnels were made out of MacDonalds coffee stirrers and plywood.

More top deck buildings were made




The Wing Bridge was then started. Please note .. this was built three more times as improvements came along.





The famous Roof glass over the Grand staircase was attempted.





Masts cut to size






Guess who

Kenny,

Brilliant...Keep the photos coming please

Thanks Barry. I'm having fun here I can tell you. I'm cherry picking the the photos as I don't want to show up my bad workmanship too much.
(you sitting out of the sun as well)



I'm not saying they were tiny but I've lost a few on the floor already.





Next it was sand the hull and prime it.








This was then covered in filler






This was smoothed down and hundreds of small pieces of 0.7mm plastic were cut as plates and glued on. The layout is as per titanic hull was built.

This job was done three times to get it right and cost a fortune in plastic sheeting and super glue.





One month later .........
The sides were Butt joined and small strips covered the gaps

It was then the turn of the insides, where we started on the battery box.




Then we went back and re did the hull with thinner strips.





Finally with all the large 'stuff' fitted inside it was time to seal down the first deck

(deck C .. the Promenade deck)






Beginning to take shape










The funnels were covered in plastic which has been riveted with a nail by hand.

The funnels were cut to their correct lengths and designed to rise in height from number one to number three, whilst number four was slightly lower. (as per the real ones)






Oh No !! it's the builder





The funnels were under-coated





The height of the funnels were reduced as new information came in.

WINDOW time

There are over 600 windows to cut out on the Titanic. Some are square. Some are round and some are elliptical.

What I needed was a jig to 'punch them out' so I made the following from steel and fitted it to the pillar drill. This was switched off and just used as a 'Fly press'












Here's the first three strips laid across the bulwarks





The 4.5mm window holes were drilled starting with a small hole to keep them in line.

The then thought about planking the deck.

Various methods were considered and tried, starting with printed card.






The main decks smoothed out






Plating was riveted






and applied to the hull







and under-coated





All primed and ready for top coat

The funnels were coloured by mixing paints until we got the the shade we wanted.

No-one really knows the true colour as there is no record.



For the Hull we used a Black silk spray paint





This was masked off and a red was sprayed on top, which made for a darker shade of red.












The rudder was completed

Back up on deck was more work to be done. It's getting to be smaller parts now








We then got on with covering the deck houses





And wallpapering the Cafe Parisienne






and adding a few special design windows. This deck will be coved by the side windows and only on view if you squint inside the windows. Should keep the rivet counters amused.

Cor blimey Ken, rather you than me with those windows mate Still got 200+ slots to cut in the Type 7 sub...

Looking great, did that clearfix work in the end?

I agree with you. Loads of windows in line can be monotonous, but it was very satisfying to punch them out.

In fact I got several out of line (after the first 100) and had to re-do the whole sheet three times. Hence my previous comments about repeating myself on this build.




Trying out the fake planking. This did not prove to be a success and was replaced by later modifications.









More parts were fitted to the 'lift off' top section


The staircase ceiling glass





Funnel vents for air into the cabins





More flooring





Then we started on the Bow

As you may have noticed, the decking is now Veneered. We used Box wood veneer at £10 a sheet and got through three sheets before we learnt how to cut it without fraying the edges


















The hatches were made from solid wood






Coming together quite nicely now so I'll close for a while

brilliant, kenny.

just to tell you though that if you are ever flush, there is a kit [ well a semi kit really] available from the states..rare and expensive.....it is at 1;144 scale and costs a massive £1400 to import from the states....then you have to buy the plans from a chap in germany called robert hahn and they cost another £250 quid.
i bought a complete semi kit about 6 years ago off ebay at a bargain price,. but never got round to building, but my god it was absolutely stunning.
the thing that put me off was the bickering in the titanic model association website, wnen people were litterally counting rivets on plates and saying perfectly good models were wrong in so many details....mainly american subscribers, i'm sorry to say....

but i love your model...just superb, and a real credit to you.
neil.

Wonderful job Ken.

Now all you need is someone to carry and launch it for you, then someone to salvage it
.

Fantastic build there Kenny,keep it up.

Brilliant Job there Kenny,
On tv at moment,a series of people recreating parts of the real Titanic,what an exclusive ship,so sad it did'nt last very long
Mark

nhp651 wrote:

brilliant, kenny.

just to tell you though that if you are ever flush, there is a kit [ well a semi kit really] available from the states..rare and expensive.....it is at 1;144 scale and costs a massive £1400 to import from the states....then you have to buy the plans from a chap in germany called robert hahn and they cost another £250 quid.
i bought a complete semi kit about 6 years ago off ebay at a bargain price,. but never got round to building, but my god it was absolutely stunning.
the thing that put me off was the bickering in the titanic model association website, wnen people were litterally counting rivets on plates and saying perfectly good models were wrong in so many details....mainly american subscribers, i'm sorry to say....

but i love your model...just superb, and a real credit to you.
neil.

Hi Neil

Yes, I've witnessed all of the above and sit on the sidelines. I have learnt an awful lot since joining but also had loads of info which helped me in this quest.

Thank you for the kind comments. I'm at the nice stage now with the fitting out. (the best part of any build) Loads more to come.


Ken

DickyD wrote:

Wonderful job Ken.

Now all you need is someone to carry and launch it for you, then someone to salvage it
.

Thanks Dicky. It was quite a challenge eh !!

I'm hoping Steamboat Phil will be on hand to rescue her like he did with Aziz.

cpt jack sparrow wrote:

Fantastic build there Kenny,keep it up.

Thanks Jack. Glad you like it

Ken

Mark wrote:

Brilliant Job there Kenny,
On tv at moment,a series of people recreating parts of the real Titanic,what an exclusive ship,so sad it didn't last very long
Mark

Thanks Mark. Yes I know the series. It was hard engineering in those days. All for a four day boat trip.

If you type " Titanic" into 'You Tube' it comes up with everything you could wish to know, and even stuff you didn't. There are quite a few History channel films (over one and a half hours each) which I have been watching and learning. I have all the know photographs of her so far. New ones come to light rarely.

The quest goes on and on, especially as next year will be the Hundredth anniversary of her sinking (so kindly brought up by my good friend DickyD) I even have the passenger list and have come up with a namesake. That made me shudder, I can tell you.

Mine will not be a sinking version as it will be fitted with lights/sound/motors/computer/smoke. I'm throwing everything into her that I can afford.

Yesterday I completed the lifeboats. There were only 18 so it only took a few days. Details to follow in the Blog


Cheers

Ken

The next project was the Cranes. There are eight cranes on board Titanic for loading goods into the holds.

My first attempt was as follows.










It wasn't until paint time that I realised I'd only built Six cranes. As I wasn't happy with the design, they were scrapped and eight new ones built.

The lifeboats were carved from solid wood and painted white.






While the paint was drying I made an access cover for the rudder mechanism.

On the Bow there is little crane to load the third Anchor in case of emergency.





The forward hatches were painted and glued in place





B deck was glued to C deck permanently. thus hiding the wallpapered cafe underneath.





The centre anchor was made and fitted into the bow section for effect. We have to paint the side walls yet.






A new section was fitted to the bow bulwarks as the previous pieces were damaged

The centre anchor is fitted along with the new cranes











Oh No !! it's me again. ( I'm only there to show the scale of the model)

wonderful build a credit to your efforts

Thank you GWA84. Much appreciated.



Here she is with most of the attachments fitted








On to the notorious Lifeboats.

There were 16 on the upper deck and two collapsables on the Bridge roof.





I'm not sure about the Red ropes. A bit garish so I might paint them white all over.



Davits have been made and fitted to lifeboats in blocks of four and placed on deck.









Those two lovers are back to check over the new boat. I think they like the new railings from a train set (N gauge ...what luck I could cut them to size)







Well that's the build to date. It's taken Six months so far but there is more to do before we finish.

Thank you for reading

Ken

Excellent and a good insight to the build, thanks for sharing.

Mat

I am really looking forward to watching her sink!!! Oops I mean sail.....

That's absolutely fantastic! Really impressed! Keep the pics coming.

Footski wrote:

I am really looking forward to watching her sink!!! Oops I mean sail.....

Thank you Guys.

Barry, Enclosed picture of the 520 holes in the hull





You might get your wish if I can't find a way of glazing them. I'm working on several ideas at the moment, but whichever way i choose, is going to be labour intensive. With these knees, I am down to working only 4 hours a day now

Regards

Ken

What a brilliant model Ken, how I envy you lads the skills that you have. Congratulations I look forward to seeing the finished model.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

I've bought some Humbrol Clear fix to fill the port holes so there's something new for me to try. Hammering in the small plastic glazing pieces didn't work out very well as they fell into the boat

I'll let you know how I get on.

Ken

Nice build Ken, particularly like the idea of making a punch for the windows, will bear it in mind for the future.

Alan

Very nice build log Ken. and a very nice result. I think it's great to see that you make so many parts only of wood. It shows what a marvelous material timber is
Keep going the good work.
we wait in anticipation.
Ole

top notch matey...... i love it.
neil.

Thank you for your comments..

More of the blog when I can

Ken

Kenny I have just been catching up on the new forum and found your build.
A lovely job but rather you than me with all those windows/portholes
I found it bad enough doing about 80 ports on my destroyer.
Very nice.

Geoff

Hi Geoff, thanks for that. Here's a picture of the filled portholes.

Unfortunately, it turned out NOT to be water proof so it all had to be removed. I'm presently looking into using epoxy, so that's the next challenge.






regards

ken

Leaving the problem of the portholes aside, I have been decorating the decks. I find this is the best part of any build as you then have something to show the good lady.

I have secured the lifeboats and started on the railings. Luckily the model rail gauge "N" is about the same size so I've used their model fences. These had to hacked about and cut to size, but it's still better than trying to make them.


Funnel 1




Funnel 4



I forgot to add that the deck edges were fitted with 'T' shape extruded plastic to cover the joins and provide a secure base for the fences.



The white upper hull has been tidied up and now awaits the glazing.






Ken

Joined this forum yesterday.

What a fascinating project and congratulations on the build.

Looking forward to seeing the images of the completed project.

Cheers,

Adrian

Thank you Adrian and welcome to the Forum. It's a nice place to be.

On with the build. The last few days have been spent going miniature. It seems quite a change from cutting 3 fooy lengths of timber.

I have fitted more of the railings around her.






I then re-vamped the 2nd class passenger entrance and this is the third version.




Now it was time to make the compass platform. This second compass was fitted on the original ship away from magnetic interference.

This took two attempts as it was only 10mm square and 8mm high. the legs kept falling of so I had to drill location holes for them. The legs then protruded through the base so a floor had to be made to cover them up.

Here's a few shots of the ship at present.









I thought I'd take a picture of her to simulate a pasenger's view of the ship from the quay side.

An overall picture if the progress to date.

Looking good Ken.

Mat

Cheers Matt. There's still stuff to do.

The props are out because the engines go in tomorrow.

Ken

a bonny looking ship indeed....always had a soft spot for that old girl and her sisters.........my favorite was the britanic with her large capacity boat derricks........would this be the next on your list, kenny...nice white hull and green stripes.....luvly jubbly

Oh no !! I thought the Britannic was top heavy in the lifeboat derricks department.

The way is now open for you to fulfil your dream.


ken

Heheheh that was a good one Ken. Now you've really played the ball.
Keep up the good log Ken.
A joy to watch.
Ole