Force9

@GGibson Hello Gregg - Thanks for the compliment... I hope my efforts have some value to other Titanic builders and hopefully you'll reconsider and put your Titanic into the builder's yard. Cheers Evan

@Paul Jarman Thanks for the note... It seemed to me that there were a million portholes as I was drilling them out... Gawd forbid I have to add the rivets!!! I popped in on your build - great to see a wood kit that lets you construct a much more accurate hull underbody. @richardhd Thank you for popping in too. I appreciate any encouragement. I suspect you're not the only lurker... Unless 7 people are clicking on my build a thousand times each. I'll say that this kit can never be 100% accurate - but I will try to move things a bit closer to the historic ship where possible. Most purists would probably not take this on because of the discrepancies - or abandon ship midway thru in exasperation. Don't hold your breath awaiting paint... I'll likely put off painting the hull as long as possible. It'll become a much more fragile thing that will be susceptible to scratches, blemishes and dust... I'll avoid those risks until I absolutely have to apply paint in order to proceed. Thanks to all for the Likes and the patience between updates. Cheers Evan

Propeller Wings The propeller wings on the Olympic class liners were graceful appendages that blended smoothly into the hull plating while supporting the massive prop shafts and propellers. The Trumpeter kit representations…not so graceful. This is one of those Trumpeter adaptations that don’t match well with the actual ship. The kit wings meet the kit hull abruptly and look a bit out of place. In fact, the Trumpeter kit has these placed a bit too low and they don’t align well to the nearby hull strakes – which are also out of alignment with what was in place on the Titanic. The detail on these pieces is subpar… The plating is wrong and a little overscale. There seem to be some 3D printed versions available online, but I think this is another case where these versions are too accurate – they’ll look out of place on the model. I’ll reach back into my bin of styrene sheets and strips and try to make the best of what the kit provides. I won’t try to correct the hull strakes and the prop wing placement, but I can add better detail and get things to blend more seamlessly. First, I’ll remove all the surface detail from the pieces: I cemented the pieces together and added half round strips to the ends: After attaching the wings to the kit, I was worried that there wasn’t enough surface contact where they meet the hull. I’ve reinforced them by adding thin half round strips into the crease where they meet the hull. The curved side faces into the kit to maximize the surface contact: Next, another larger half round strip was added above the first to fill in the gap and provide an angled surface for the styrene strips that will blend into the hull strakes. I laid the first strip on the upper surface to serve as the baseline for the other elements. This was a .010 x .156 strip that was liberally doused with cement and pressed flat. The top edge was trimmed to match the adjoining hull strake. The remaining elements were fashioned from .005” Styrene sheet that I ordered directly from Evergreen… Hard to find these thin sheets at local hobby stores or model train shops. The next “plate” was traced using Tamiya Tape to make a template for a tight fit: …then transferred to the .005 sheet. The remaining plates were added using the same process. For the underside, strips of .010 x .156 were used. The ends were all trimmed to align with the bottom edge of the nearest hull strake. Any gaps or blemishes were filled with Tamiya modeling putty and sanded smooth after drying overnight: Some sample views: Still a bit more work to do… Including the starboard side wing. I’ll define the individual plates and add final details on the next post. Cheers, Evan

Center Keel Time to lay the keel down… Obviously this is where the actual ship began construction, but I’m only now getting to this critical element on my build. I laid the keel down in manageable sections using .030 x .080 Styrene strips. Not sure this would be exact to scale, but it closely lines up to the width shown on my 1/200 scale print of the hull bottom. The critical thing is to keep it straight all the way down the length of the underbody. I taped a straight edge against the styrene and began cementing down the aligned strip in two-inch increments – moving the straight edge along as I worked my way from bow to stern. I also had a small piece of scrap styrene that perfectly fit into the needed gap between the keel and the inner edge of the hull plating that I test fitted as I glued each strip. The forward most keel section was tapered to meet the kit keel at the bow. The stern section was angled down toward the sternpost and filed to blend. It really takes some effort to make sure that the keel stays straight and true all the way across the length of the hull. Butt Straps Generally, the hull plates were overlapped and riveted together across the length of the hull. There was, however, a section of strakes lower down in the hull that had the butt ends set flush together without the overlap. These plates were held together with “butt straps” – small plates riveted to the ends of the abutting hull plates. See my orange highlights in Bob Read’s hull plan: (Note that the port side butt straps are indicated with dotted outlines in Bob’s drawing and are offset port vs starboard.) The Trumpeter kit seems to include faint outlines of these straps in the approximately correct location forward of the bilge keels. No indication, however, on the strakes aft of the bilge keels. Bob’s drawing shows five of these forward and four aft. In a perfect world these butt straps would all line up against a single strake across the length of the kit underbody. This would include the tops of the butt straps that peek out above (and below) the bilge keels. Unfortunately, the compromises made by Trumpeter in molding the hull have made it tough to add these butt straps with all the top edges aligned against one hull strake. I’ll need to fudge things a bit to get these represented on my model. I’ll go ahead and use the kit outlined versions forward of the bilge keels for positioning my straps. Aft of the keel I’ll align them against the existing kit hull strakes - marked first with a pencil. Thin .010 x .156 strips of styrene will be used for these butt straps: These will all sit in line with the “in” strakes of the molded hull. I inserted small snips of styrene to fill the gap to create a flush surface before overlaying the butt straps: The corners of the styrene were first rounded and then cemented in place. Once put in place, I came back along and sanded down the straps to reduce the dimension – didn’t want these to stand out too proud against the hull. Tape protected the hull while I used an Emory board. Sample views: I’ve decided to hold off on adding the bilge keels for now. There is much abuse left to deliver on the hull and I think these keels will be fragile and vulnerable as I flip the hull on its side and upside down to make more modifications. I can be patient and add these (along with more butt straps) at a later stage. Miscellaneous Detail I’ve also been tending to some of the smaller details along the hull. The historic photos show a small crease near the hull stern plates: I grabbed the hobby knife and a micro chisel and went to work. Thanks again for the interest everyone has shown (and the patience between updates). Pondering next steps – probably the propeller wings. Cheers, Evan

I suppose the true purpose of this tackle will remain a head scratcher... I really do think it is bowsing tackle for securing the cutters to the A-deck... Bob's theory about recovering the tangled boat falls is sketchy in my mind. I really don't see a problem there that needs his complex solution. Onward! Evan

Here is Bob Read's explanation for this rig: Titanic Cutter block and tackle explanation His theory strikes me as overkill for the stated problem. I would guess that the Olympic class has a problem unique to the cutters that would call for a common and simple remedy using this tackle. Unlike the other lifeboats, the cutters have another boat stored directly underneath them and between the davits at the boat deck level. This makes loading the cutters from the boat deck awkward, cumbersome, and potentially dangerous. I suggest that it was oftentimes preferred to lower the cutters one level and have the boat crew hop aboard through an open window. What we are seeing are the Bowsing Tackles used to secure the boat to the side of the ship while loading or unloading in times of active seas or deep ocean swells. This rigging was common in 1912 and still in use today. Perhaps a Bosun mate clambers into the cutter from the boat deck, releases the gripes, unlocks the falls, and rides the boat down to the A-deck. He indicates by voice and hand signal to the davit operator to stop, reaches across with a boat hook and pulls the Bowsing Tackle inboard and secures it bow and stern. Fenders tied to the thwarts are already dangling over the side to cushion the gunwales. The tackle is pulled taut to secure the cutter to the ships side to prevent any swinging or oscillation while the oarsmen and cox’n hop on board through an open A-Deck window. The Bowsing Tackle is eased out to align the boat back under the davits, the tackle is cast off, then a signal is given to the davit operator, and the lowering proceeds to the water. I think that the explanation is straightforward… These are the Bowsing tackles pre-rigged for securing the cutters to the A-deck siding while loading (and unloading) as circumstances merit. So far, NOBODY has bought into my theory. I've got no evidence to support my thinking, and Bob Read has way more credibility in this space to get folks aligned to his ideas. Cheers Evan

@Roger PellettInteresting... How would that work? And if so, do we see this rig on other ships? Perhaps the pilot would board thru one of the lower level access doors on the ship's side? Cheers Evan

Folks - Apologies for the lack of progress on my log. A bit of travel and a bunch of honey-dos related to home projects and settling my kids back into college have kept me away. I'm back at the workbench this week and should have some small gains to share soon regarding the center keel and some of the underbody butt straps. In the meantime there has been some lively discussion on some of the Titanic FB forums regarding the purpose of the "mystery" tackle below the emergency cutters that shows in many photos: The groups are wrestling with a coherent explanation for the purpose of this rigging. Bob Read has offered an elaborate explanation involving the recovery of the twisted and tangled boat falls, but I'm skeptical. To give some quick context - this setup only shows up when Titanic (and Olympic) are putting to sea and the emergency cutters are swayed outboard in the ready position. When in port the cutters are stored inboard and this rigging is stowed. I have my own thoughts, but will hold back to not bias any opinions... Any ideas from the wider viewership?? Cheers Evan

@Snug Harbor Johnny Aye - one of many overlapping circumstances that collectively led to the tragedy. If we could only hop into a Time Machine and go back and tweak one or two small things...! Cheers Evan

Bottom Plates Up next, I needed to blend the outer edges of the new bottom plating with the kit hull… I didn’t like having that .010 lip all around the bottom of the hull. Out came the Miliput again… After taping around a narrow band that encompassed the outer edge and enough area for a smooth transition into the kit, I mixed up a small batch of the Miliput and spread a thin coat the length of the edge – port and starboard. I was careful to keep it wet and kept smoothing it down and scraping with a scrap of styrene until it was reasonably thin and just covering the styrene edge. I then removed the tape and let it all dry overnight. Came back the next day and sanded the Miliput down using various grit sandpaper – coarse, medium, fine until it was blended into the kit surface and smooth to the touch. A lot more effort than I thought it’d be before I started! Another part of the kit that will be refined after a layer of primer. In the meantime, I cut a length of .250 wide styrene to match the general length between butt joins on the upper hull to use as a marking template. I then marked off the individual plates in pencil across the hull bottom mid-section. Adjustments were made at the bow and stern to accommodate the more complex shapes. Next, I snipped many dozens of .250 width strips of .010 x.030 styrene to approximate the kit butt joins. I used some scrap styrene as a template: These were cemented to the hull in the marked positions… It took about four days’ worth of my modeling time, but the plates are complete (except for a few on the outer edges that will wait until final tuning). Here is a view of my bottom plate butt joins along with the kit side versions: Not too far off. Some sample views: Butt Straps and bottom keel up next. Cheers, Evan

@Roger Pellett Perhaps it'll give me an opportunity to describe it as the little known glass bottom observation area available only to first class passengers...??!!!

Thanks again to all who are following along... I appreciate the continued interest. Clinker Strakes I’ve already confessed to cheating on the Clinker plating… I didn’t overlap the plates on the hull bottom. Instead, I simulated the overlap by affixing a strip of .010 x .030 styrene to the underside of the adjoining edge of each .010 x.250 strake before cementing each tightly against the preceding row. This lifted the adjoining edge and provided a more consistent clinker effect across the entire underside of the ship. Very simple to do… I laid the .030 strip against a small metal ruler abutting each of the styrene strakes and laid down a bead of thin Tamiya cement along the length being careful to keep the strip tight against the ruler as I went along. The capillary action filled in along the seam and affixed the strip nicely. Then these were flipped over and cemented to the hull using Plastruct Cement as I pushed the styrene firmly against the preceding row. I could cover a lot of territory across the mid-section with a few full-length strips. Same process for the shorter strips at the bow and stern. In a few cases, I only added the .010 x.030 strip to half of the strake to help transition the plate to the ends of the ship. I filled in the recessed plate on the Trumpeter kit bow so that the bottom plating was consistent. I first scraped away the molded butt joins to get a flat surface. Once all the hull strakes were laid down, I came back along with Tamiya Putty (and occasional Sprue Goo) to fill in the seams to give a smooth and consistent surface. Here are close ups of the Bow… Transition section… Midships. And finally, a few closer views of the clinker effect: A bit more work needed to smooth out the outer edges to blend with the kit before I start adding the butt joins to establish the pattern of individual plates across the bottom. Cheers, Evan

@Kelp and @yvesvidal Thank you both for the positive feedback... Glad to see that folks appreciate my efforts! I think this came out better than I thought it would - I'm a little sorry I didn't make more frames to extend the effect a bit more. The frames were a bit of a hassle to make and I only used the styrene I had at hand. These really would lend themselves to a 3d printed solution... higher quantity with better/accurate detail. I think the trick would be to scale/adapt to the model and NOT make them accurate to the historic dimensions. In particular, the joggling would need to align to the .250 styrene width that most folks would use to plate the bottom. This will likely be the only cut out I'll add to the model. There is at least one modeler I've seen currently making a spectacular version of the Trumpeter kit with all manner of cut aways into the hull - including an impressive engine room. Wonderful stuff. Like many in this forum, I tend to gravitate to ship models in museums and enjoy seeing all manner of incredible displays. The larger scale models with cut out views inside are always impressive... But for me, the models that elicit an ooh and aaaah are the ones with unexpected detail. As you lean in you suddenly notice detail behind a port hole or beyond an open door or down an open hatch to the deck below. Those models have depth... those models have dimension. I'll be trying that approach with my build. Hopefully I can make a few folks do a double take and peer a bit more into the open recesses and appreciate some unexpected detail. I'll post more progress this weekend. Cheers Evan

@Roger Pellett Terrific insight regarding the Clinker methodology... Makes sense that the Clinker construction would get used for the underbody but not the entire hull. Probably doesn't lend well to cutting out entryways and portholes, etc. In/Out much better for that. We can see the Hydraulic Riveters also at work on the upper bands of the hull in old photos... @Hubac's Historian Thanks for the kind remark... I dunno that this type of effort is worthwhile for anyone else, but I have fun with it. BTW - I have added the joggling to my frames... Very small in scale but still visible. I added .010 x .040 strips to the top edges in an overlap fashion to create the effect. Should look good once they've been primed and painted. Question for the group at large - any thoughts to how these looked on the actual ship? Would these also be given anti-foul red paint? Cheers Evan

Fun with Frames One of my quirks is that I try to incorporate into my ship models a view of the framing to give a sense of the underlying construction. In my Old Ironsides build, for example, I have stripped away some of the outer planking to reveal the stout girth and tight spacing of her Live Oak frames. It seemed to me that I could break up the monotony of the Titanic bottom plating by hacking out an opening and adding some exposed framing to highlight the double hull construction. (And continue my quirky streak…) The double bottom framing on the Titanic was not only a key component of the overall structure of the ship, but also served to divide up the water ballast and distribute weight across the various compartmented tanks. The frames were numbered from the middle out to the ends. So, the first frame aft of center was 1A (Aft) and the first frame forward of center was 1F (Forward). I don’t think there was a frame zero. I think the aftmost frame was 149A and the forwardmost was 154F. They were spaced about three feet apart through the midsection but were spaced closer toward the ends. It may be that “floors” is the technical term for these frames and “intercostal” is the term for the fore/aft frames that subdivide the tanks and create the cellular structure. I whipped together a simple jig to help me drill holes into strips of styrene to represent the framing. This was all done by hand with a pin vise. I could stack four strips at a time and figured I’d need to do twelve to get eight or nine good ones. I tried to open the hull around frame 18A which is Watertight bulkhead “J” that separates ballast tank compartment #8 Port from ballast tank compartment #9 Port. I’ve approximated the location so don’t hold me to account. I chose to add this feature on the port side aft section hoping to deter some folks from thinking this exposed framing is representing the gash from the iceberg. We’ll see… Before drilling, the rectangular dimension was outlined with blue masking tape. More narrow Tamiya tape was used to define a “Drill free Zone” to help ensure that I didn’t get too close to the final outline. I grabbed the power drill and went to work… Once the section had been drilled out, I came back with a utility knife to eliminate the jagged edges. Next came a heavy file to get the final smooth outlines against the blue tape. The perimeter was then outlined with .030 x .250 strip and reinforced on the inside with scraps of whatever thick chunks of styrene I had at hand. I’ve fudged a bit on the frame dimensions and the spacing. I didn’t do the math to determine the exact scale size. The final frame size and spacing was determined by the styrene stock I had at hand. I had one strip of .020 x .250 styrene in my stash that seemed an easy fit. The .010 thin version probably scaled better, but it seemed to distort when I drilled holes into it and otherwise didn’t give much surface area for attaching to the sides. I used the same .020 x .250 strip to insert spacers between each frame to evenly separate them and help lock them in with more surface area for the cement. .020 x .188 strip would probably have been a bit better to represent the 36” spacing between the actual frames, but I had none in my stash. I included one row of the intercostal cross framing, but elected not to put all the rows in place… It would get too crowded and would be difficult to keep it all aligned as I went along. Here is where things stand: I will overlap the edges with strakes and leave some of the strake ends extended slightly beyond the outer frames. Exposing these ends will help with the illusion that the hull strakes are all thinner than the thickness of the model molding would suggest. Here is a mockup without any strakes cemented down…. This is the effect I’m trying to achieve. Based on our recent discoveries, I’ll come back behind and use some .010 x .020 strips to add the joggling to the edges of the frames. I might need to bulk up the solid center frame… This may have been a heavier frame as part of the ship’s watertight system. I won’t add the double bottom interior until after I have primed and painted the frames – I need the access. More tracing, transferring, cutting, cementing this week. Cheers, Evan

@Roger Pellett Not sure that would be the best explanation... The answer must be some combination of Weight, Strength, Time, or Cost. It seems to have been a more expensive solution than the IN and Out plating, so likely weight/strength and/or speed of construction are all in play. I don't think Lusitania or Mauretania went with this approach...? Cheers Evan

Then the mystery remains... Why did they bother with the clinker bottom???!!! Evan

@Kelp - Thanks for the clarifying diagram. Extremely helpful. @Roger Pellett - Yes... Most Titanic modelers are aware of the clinker bottom and in/out sides. Not sure why that was done though... I saw one reference imply that using the Clinker underbody would lower the overall displacement of the Olympic class ships. Dunno how the math works. Cheers, Evan

@Roger Pellett Extremely interesting... I was under the impression that Titanic had the sawtooth edges incorporated into the lower frames themselves to allow for the clinker system - in the manner you'd see done with constructing a rowboat etc. Instead, your source shows these tapered wedge-like strips added into the mix as the plates are riveted...? Would these tapered strips be affixed to the underside of the strakes before riveting? Or would they first be affixed to the frames? My next post will clarify my interest... Cheers Evan

The Strakes Layout Before proceeding with any of the hull plates I had to lay out some penciled guidelines based largely on the shape of the Trumpeter hull bottom… As indicated in the previous log, I used the .010 x .250 strips to mark up the mid-section. The bow and stern areas were laid out next based on an approximation of what the hull expansion plan showed. Finally, the mid-section layout was connected to the bow and stern layouts with curves that narrowed to meet in the transition sections - while also mirroring the curved edge of the model. This generally followed the principles in play on the actual ship. The other standard that I’ll try to adhere to is having no more than two strakes dead end into any other. You’ll see some areas that look to violate this on my initial pass, but I’ll try to mitigate that when I finalize everything prior to priming. A ”bendable buddy” (my term) flexible drafting ruler came in handy to plot the transition section curves. In the interest of full disclosure… I did mess up a bit on the entry holes for my future pedestals. I needed to drill these out before laying down any styrene. I initially used my drill press to do this. I drilled using successively larger bits to get the large opening, but the last (and largest) drill bit drifted and left me with an off-center mounting hole. Rats. I didn’t realize it until I started laying out the keel plates. I filled the existing holes and hand drilled the newer versions. Lesson learned. The Stern Hull Plates Like the bow, there seemed to be an opportunity to incorporate some of the plating seen on the expansion plan into the stern area of the model. Building out from the stern most plate already molded on the model, I penciled in some outlines to approximate what can be seen on the hull expansion drawing: Not exact, but it’ll do for my purpose. A couple days’ worth of modeling time using the same trace, cut, cement process as before left me with a reasonable result. The individual plates will get defined at a later stage. I’m currently working through the mid-section. More fun on the way. Cheers, Evan

Aye @yvesvidal... We get spoiled with all of the molded detail. Those of us who focus on plastic models are cringing at the extra work needed to bring these ship hulls up to the next level... Meanwhile wooden ship modelers think nothing of layering on multiple strips of custom trimmed planking and hundreds of individual copper plates as a matter of normal course... I'm happy to put in some extra effort. All part of the fun. Cheers Evan

Thanks again to everyone for the Likes... The Keel Plates For my hull plating methodology, it will be important to establish a straight centerline that I can use to build each successive row of strakes out toward the edges of the hull. Using .010 x .080 strips, I carefully attached the Keel Plates (not sure that is the exact technical term) along either side of the kit centerline seam. (I didn't use one wider strip since the hull is slightly angled from this seam.) I taped a metal straightedge against the kit seam and laid down the first strip. Same procedure for the other side. This was done across the entire length starting from the bow and proceeding back to the stern. Once in place, I used successive strips of .010 x .250 styrene to trace the pattern of the strakes from the center out to the edge. I only did this on the port side since each piece will be mirrored on the starboard side. Adding BOW hull plating Since I will not be overlapping the styrene to create the butt laps, I don’t need to begin at the stern and work my way forward. I was free to start at the bow. Bob Read’s Shell Plating Expansion drawing includes terrific detail in the bow section that can be incorporated into my representation. In particular, the “stair-step” plating that abuts the stem can be replicated on the model. The forwardmost plate (numbered 1 in the highlight above) already exists in Trumpeter’s version. I need to fill in the area underneath the first plate with a short length of Styrene. I used the trusty Tamiya tape to overlay the spot and traced the outline. This was transferred to a length of .010 Evergreen strip and cut to match. I made two – port and starboard. I’ll come back later with a solid plate to overlay on top of this to represent that part of the stair-step. Next, I created two copies for the plate marked 3 in my reference. The same methodology – trace the outline on tape, transfer to .010 thick styrene and cut out two identical copies. The piece was bent over a hobby knife handle to give it some curve to help match it to the hull form. From this point I just repeated the trace, cut, and cement process for each plate that I had outlined in pencil on the hull. No need to be too exacting in the fit – that is why they invented Tamiya Putty: I should note that each piece was given a generous wet coat of cement to make sure it holds to the hull in the future. Because the strips are so thin, I will likely see occasional bubbling under the styrene that I’ll need to sand smooth along with the odd dab of putty. Some sample views: What I haven’t illustrated yet is the approach I took to replicate the Clinker effect across the strakes. I’ll show that more clearly on a future post. At a later step, I'll come back and lay down small strips of .010 x .030 styrene to represent the butt overlaps to define individual plates. Cheers, Evan

The Bottom Hull Plating The bottom of the kit hull has no plating detail - another victim of the complexity of injecting plastic into a mold and needing to get it out in one piece without breaking the mold itself. Most modelers don’t really care about the missing detail and are otherwise displaying their model in a manner that obscures the hull bottom. I will be lifting the model on pedestals to show off the bottom and will need to represent the plating in some reasonable form… As @DavidG pointed out in his post, there is a very fine kit available from Woody’s Model Works (now Maritime Models) that provides the hundreds of precut styrene plates and a clever methodology to get all the plating overlaps in place and attached to the model. It does take considerable effort to get the best result and it is relatively expensive. I don’t want to do that much work (or spend that much money). I need a simpler approach that won’t require cutting and pasting many hundreds of individual pieces to the hull with all the Units of Effort that will entail. Hmmm… Pondering… I need to first lay out a pattern for the plating to guide my efforts. On the Facebook Builders page an enterprising modeler has provided an exact 1/200 scale version of Bob Read’s underbody plan view that can be laid out directly on the model as a plating guide. But as @DavidG also indicated, this will not translate very well. The first issue is that the Trumpeter hull form does not match the original ship. Instead of the smooth compound curves of the Titanic, the model has been squared off across the mid-section and takes on a rectangular shape that does not align to the Titanic’s actual underbody plan. The second issue, of course, is that that plan incorporates the contours of the actual Titanic hull and shows the perspective of the plating with respect to the curves as they transition upward on the hull. We can’t see the size and shape of each hull strake using this view. Let’s illustrate with a quick exercise: I cut out the 1/200 underbody plan bow section and taped it to the model. I pricked some pinholes along the lines and came back along with various colored markers to mark the corresponding dots on the model surface. The revealed pattern is interesting… Of course, the plan lines diverge from the model versions as the bow narrows and the plating angles change upwards toward the forecastle, but the lines near the center on the flat bottom aren’t too far off from what Trumpeter has in place. There will need to be a lot of adjustment to the pattern to fit the kit on either end, but there is some hope that the plates along the centerline could line up. A modeler could use the underbody plan to lay out all of the plating from the centerline out to the edge and get most of it mapped across the mid-section. The catch for me was that the curvature of the plating pattern would eventually run up against the square edge of the Trumpeter hull. It looks to me like David resolved that as best that can be done. In any event, the overall shape of the Trumpeter hull bottom has me ditching any idea of matching the plating to the underbody plan – I'll have to make up a workable plating pattern on my own. Okay, now you purists will need to avert your eyes… I am going to proceed with a few elements in mind: (1) I’ll need to operate within the shape parameters of the model and not rely on the ship plans. The model plating will conform to the squared midships shape and be closer to reality only at the bow and stern. (2) I will use .010 x .250 Styrene strips across as much of the hull as possible. This will simplify the entire effort and speed things along. Why make this hard? (3) I won’t overlap the styrene pieces at the butt ends. Instead, I’ll represent the butt laps with small strips of .010 x .030 styrene affixed at intervals to represent the individual plates. (4) I need to keep in mind that the underside of Titanic was built with overlapping strakes in the “clinker” style… Not with the alternate “In and Out” hull strakes used on the upper hull. I won’t be actually overlapping the edges of the strakes. Instead, I’ll artificially replicate the clinker overlap of the plates using thin .010 x .030 styrene affixed under the abutting edge of each successive strip. This will lift the styrene edge to give the clinker effect and give me more control on the alignment of each strake and a more consistent effect across the entire hull bottom. As I prepare to map out the pencil guide lines it’ll help to divide the hull bottom into sections that each have their own approach. The BOW and STERN sections will have custom shapes for the plates to match the shape and contours of the model. The Titanic had distinct plates in these areas that can be replicated on the model - Trumpeter already includes some of what is needed that I can build on. The MID section is straightforward. I’ll use the wide .010 x .250 strips to fill in most of this area. No need to introduce any curvature since the model form is rectangular along this entire expanse. The TRANSITION sections between the MID section and the BOW and STERN areas are the trickiest. I’ll need to get creative to connect the plating smoothly while keeping aligned with the spirit of the original plating pattern used on the Titanic. The Shell Plating Expansion drawing that Bob Read makes available is the best source for how to proceed. This plan outlines the hull plates in their entire form and lets me zero in on any distinct plates that I can incorporate into my build. I’ll show how this all comes together starting with the bow section in my next post. Cheers, Evan

Ahoy @DavidG Wow - your bottom plating looks terrific and I salute the effort it took to achieve your result! That hull is long - you must've stood on a step stool to get everything in your photo... Thanks for your additional insight... I appreciate having others on the same voyage to provide perspective and prepare me for any rough seas ahead. Cheers Evan

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow American modelers... Happy Ungrateful Treasonous Traitors Day to all my Brit friends... Hull Openings In addition to the portholes, I will need to cut a few more openings into the hull. First is the Condenser Discharge opening...This goes into the gap in the line of small holes near the waterline above the intakes. The kit provides small grills to represent the lower intake openings. I also cut an opening for these… I don’t like the look of pasting these directly on the hull. I want them recessed I used one of the photo-etch pieces for a template and cut out the small openings. I then lined these with .010 x .080 Evergreen to create a narrow ridge to seat the PE. I’ll come back after painting the hull and put a black interior box behind these to give some sense of depth. You'll also notice some openings for doors... I'll be showing glimpses into the interior at various points in the build. For the hull I'll open views into the 1st class entrance lobbies (P/S) and the 2nd and 3rd class entrance lobbies. I've also opened up the D deck baggage door that leads into the 3rd class covered promenade. I'll have views into that area through the baggage door and the open forward Well deck hatches above. After cutting the opening, I rounded the inner corners slightly before final filing to square everything up: Bow Detail I've also cleaned up the bow hawse a bit more and added the narrow strips that helped to keep the anchors from catching on the lip of the plating as they were raised back up to the anchor hawse... I peeled away a bit of the plate overlap detail to make sure everything laid down smooth... This mostly catches everyone up to where I am at the build. Bottom plating up next. Cheers, Evan