Just wanna post some pics of my Titanic for your comments. Hope you'd allow it here, coz strictly speaking this thing aint armor #:-)

FYI however, the Titanic's (twin)sister ship Brittanic was converted to a hospital ship during WWI. Though outwardly they looked the same (sans of course the markings), Brittanic's hull structure underwent a major refit to rectify the faults found on its ill-fated sister ship.


Dry fit of all the major decks. I painted the hull red to act as primer. Since the kit was molded in pure white, it would be nearly impossible for me to see whether paint has covered the white wall areas on the upper decks, thus the red 'wash'.

The decks will be washed as well, but with a modified mix of deck tan and buff to simulate wood.


Scratchbuilt ship railing from stretched sprue, using a technique I learned from buck. A whole many thanks for that.

It's so tedious however. It took me 2.5 hours to complete 15 cm.


The stern of the ship. A significant part of the hull tub was sanded off to bring it almost all the way down to the deck. This is where one of the scratchbuilt fences will go. The bow also received the same treatment, but I have yet to make its railing

Lookin really ship-shape, Lattex. And your railings are coming along mighty nice. Looking at that stern reminds me of Rose. Sigh. Well, Jack really gave it her didnt he? Hehehe.

Hope the ship gets done before the British contest.

Looking good. However, the hull red looks too bright for my taste. A little darker red would do.

buck

Thanks Couldn't have done it if not for you. :-)

I'm doing my best to be able to finish this for the contest.

shonen_red

I'm aware of that. The red here simply acts as a primer. A tad darker red will be applied to the lower hull.

Where's the 16-inch guns?!? Where's the Harpoon missiles?!? Where's the Mk.46 torpedo tubes?!? Where's the 64-cell VLS?!? Where's the 3-inch OTO Melara guns?!? Where's the AEGIS radars?!? Where's the GPS antennae?!? Where's the ASW helicopter?!? Where?!? Where?!? WHERE?!? #:-)

Seriously now, looking good. Nice even paint job so far. I had a Titanic kit once. It sank into The Void. I forgot what scale it was, but if it's the same as yours, want some parts? I think I have a few left scattered around.

Can you (and/or Buck) share the technique on how to make those rails? Might do the same for my Mushy Musashi.

BTW, I don't mind the red's brightness. Things tend to go darker after a gloss coat or two followed by a wash and other stuff. This build will be looking mighty good once it's done.

Oh yeah, is the hull one piece or in two left-right parts?

And lastly (to all), why oh why are all of you builders' working areas clean? Am I the only one whose assembly line looks like it's been hit by a Category 5 hurricane?

I'll leave the technique explanation to buck.

As I earlier mentioned, the lower hull will receive a coat of darker red. Hull red would not be applied in this case because the Titanic, being a brand-new ship at the time of its demise (I think it was only 6~8 months old then), had a lower hull that was a bit brighter since it has yet to be weathered. I don't think there would have been rust either, even at the anchors.

The hull was composed of 2 parts, port and starboard. A bulk of the difficulty I experienced so far in this kit was properly mating the stern of the ship. A hefty amount of putty was required there.

I wonder how the fit of the Academy Titanic goes.

About the workspace, well, I cleaned up before taking pictures. Uncluttered workspaces offer a less distracting background

Won't you be building that kit in it's destruction pose? #:-) Where the halves split up? Hehehehe

Loko #:-)

1. Too risky
2. Waste more than half of the kit to invisibility?
3. How the hell do I scratchbuild at least 500 people clinging to the ship and in the water? In 1:570! Daym.

Hmmm... sounds (and judging from the pix, even looks) like the same Titanic kit I had epochs ago. Tip on the hull: if you haven't placed the deck yet, I suggest you build up the hull strength along the seam by applying epoxy - not the putty variety, but your Pioneer or similar epoxy adhesive - inside the hull along the seam. That way there's less of a chance that it'll break apart under the stress of sanding (which by now has passed considering you've painted the hull) or when it accidentally falls. This is even better if the cement you used to join the hull halves is tube cement. Trust me. My Titanic's hull is practically rock solid thanks to the epoxy. Although it's still a derelict. #:-)

SR: OT but since you mentioned it... there was this Japanese guy (he builds the kits you see in Tamiya catalogs) who built the Tamiya Yamato as a wreck as it is under the sea. Very impressive to say the least. It's simple to find it using Google.

GI

Thanks for the concern. The inner hull is reinforced with cut up sprue. My old Testor's putty was applied on the inner seam, similar to what you suggested using Pioneer epoxy. The two halves were glued together using Mighty Bond; nothing else worked. After having withstood sanding (the only efficient way to do that was to put the sand paper down on the table and sand the ship upside down), I would believe the ship's hull is strong enough.

Ah excellent reinforcing then. :-)

So that means your Titanic is impervious even to a direct hit from a Mk48 ADCAP? #:-)

Maybe.

But not against an iceberg

Hehehehe

GI,

Id be glad to share the railing technique with you. But its quite difficult to put into words. Lemme just say that its a stretch sprue and superglue affair. I'll show it to you first hand when we meet next.