RMS Titanic 1912 by drobinson02199 - FINISHED - Amati - Scale 1:250

[drobinson02199]

Well I'm back from vacation, and it's time to dig into the Titanic, which I've had in my sights since I started modeling a couple of years ago.

 

Here's the "What's In the Box" post:

 

• Manual with picture books plus lots of plan sheets
• A large wall poster of the entire model
• The stuff:  plywood laser cut sheets, parts, wood strip, etc.

 

Just on the surface, this looks like it's going to be a different kind of build from the Amati ships or other boats I've built.  Because there isn't a complete log that I can find, I'll try to post frequently as I go.

 

Regards,

David

[donrobinson]

Should be a good one to watch David, what is the finished length?

[drobinson02199]

Don -- On the box it says 107cm -- about 42 inches.

 

Regards,

David

 

[lgfrench]

David,  I will be interested to hear your take on the issue of whether the bow bulkheads are way too narrow.  I have been considering this kit.  Links to the issue below

 

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2680633-Amati-RMS-Titanic

http://www.buildthetitanic.co.uk/spantencorrectie.pdf

 

L. French

current - Charles Notman (Bluejacket)

completed - Confederacy MS, US Brig Niargara (MS), Endeavour (AL)

[vossy]

Hey David, welcome back. Hope you had a great holiday. Really looking forward to this one!

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[drobinson02199]

lgfrench:

 

Thanks very much for the bulkhead info.  I will look carefully and get back to you when I get there.

 

Has anyone looked at whether the solution is to do more fairing of the previous bulkheads?

 

Regards,

David

[Fright]

Wow! 42" in length. It's going to be a very impressive build! 

[CDW]

Had the itch to buy this model for quite a while now. Will follow your build with great interest. 

[popeye the sailor]

looks like a very interesting project.   I've been looking at the Billing's version of the Titanic......that kit has a couple of issues too.   depending on how much  narrowing there is,  it might not be a concern....too much,  and well then you would have to deal with it.   you could shim the bulkheads along the outer edges and add to the overall width......or if they are full bulkheads,  you could split them and add it in from the center board.

[puckotred]

The Strips are a pain in the a$$... Why they didn't do them laser cut I don't know. Had I known about these I'd might bought some other kit. Apart from that it IS a wonderful kit... 

The bow is too narrow but no one I know has any knowledge about this so I don't care 😊

 

[CDW]

Whatever issue there may be with the strips, your model's hull looks superb. Beautiful work.

[drobinson02199]

I've now had a chance to look at and deal with the bow bulkheads.

 

First off, I want to repeat kudos, high fives and thanks to lgfrench, who forwarded me the post on this issue, and also the template showing how the bulkheads need to be adjusted.

 

I started with the template.  When printed the diagrams aren't to scale, so I ran it through Photoshop to isolate an individual bulkhead template (in this case, bulkhead #8 which has been my test case).  I then printed that at different sizes until I got one where the "kit bulkhead" outline in white matched the actual bulkhead in hand. (see picture below).

 

I don't have a jigsaw -- not even a coping saw -- and I don't have any spare 4mm plywood, but what I do have is a lot of leftover wood strip from previous models -- including a supply of 4mm wide walnut strip.

 

So I decided to take the approach of laminating the strips onto the bulkhead and then each other, and the rough result of that is on the second picture.  The third picture shows what it looks like when sanded down to match the red outline on the template.

 

So that's one bulkhead -- and once I started working with my steamer and came up the learning curve things moved along more quickly.

 

So now 5 more to go.

 

Regards,

David

[RGL]

Oh dear mate, there goes the next decade.....

[donrobinson]

That's an incredible difference!! I am not sure how strong it is but you may want to add a horizontal piece of wood on the front and back of the bulkheads to further strengthen the laminated pieces to prevent them from breaking off during fairing. Just a thought

[drobinson02199]

Don:

 

Thanks.  I think I'll do that just to be safe.  But they feel pretty strong.  They are walnut (hardwood), and each layer is glued with CA gel, so the whole thing feels pretty solid.  But I'd hate to discover the opposite during fairing, so the wood support is a great idea.

 

Regards,

David

[popeye the sailor]

looks like an awful lot of work......be interesting to see how the hull comes out  

[zappto]

This is majestic ship, will be very interesting to watch. Good luck! 

[drobinson02199]

To Greg and Popeye's comments:  when I started this approach I thought I'd be in for a very long slog, as you both have expected. 

 

But as it turns out, using my steamer and doing two at a time (so the glue for one strip dries on one bulkhead while working on the other) makes the work go fairly quickly.  Here's a pic of bulkheads 6 and 7.  

 

Now I just have 3, 4 and 5, which have decreasing amounts of fill going from 5 to 3, so those should go fairly fast as well.

 

As this will end up, to my surprise it's no more time than I'd have spent sourcing 4mm ply, buying the saw I don't have, and then shaping the pieces with all of the cutouts.

 

Regards,

David

[vossy]

Good work on the bulkhead fix David. Will it impact on the covering strips or ply pieces? Will they need to be lengthened etc? Seems to me that if you are pushing out the width of the vessel you would have to lengthen anything covering them up to compensate that. Looking at Mr. Pucko's picture he posted I cant tell if the covering (under the strips he bemoans), are separate planks or sheets of ply. If its the latter it could be a problem if they are laser cut to fit the given bulkhead pattern. Just a thought.

 

Cheers

 

Chris

 

[puckotred]

First layer planking are plank strips. Should be enough of them to cover the extras... 

the strips may be fine also. The piece with the hole where the anchorchain comes out (anyone help me with the name for that hole?) has been trimmed so it could be that the ply strips would be long enough. (Forgot to mention before that one has to cut these strips from a large piece of thin ply. Should be easy to add a little in length to these strips while cutting)

 

[drobinson02199]

Great point, Chris, and thanks to Mr. Pucko for the follow-up.

 

I guess I'll find out.  Building this kit will be an adventure, and let's just hope I don't hit an iceberg!   😵

 

Regards,

David

[Kevin]

21 minutes ago, drobinson02199 said:

Great point, Chris, and thanks to Mr. Pucko for the follow-up.

 

I guess I'll find out.  Building this kit will be an adventure, and let's just hope I don't hit an iceberg!   😵

 

Regards,

David

Should float this time, it's wood lol

[CDW]

It's shocking how far off those hull bulkheads were from the true dimensions. 

[drobinson02199]

Yes, and since the new bulkhead templates were developed by the Titanic Research and Modeling Association, I felt they were credible and went with them.

 

For a kit this significant, it would not be too hard for Amati to produce a laser cut of the new bulkheads (only 6) and ship it out to their main distributors (like Ages of Sail) as a free mod to the kit.  I would have struggled with this if lgfrench had not taken the time to lead me to the mod.

 

Regards,

David

[drobinson02199]

The basic hull framework is done, and it goes very smoothly.  The laser cuts on the plywood are really well done and everything fit together without sanding or forcing.  It's 42 1/4 inches long.

 

The first two pics show the overall frame structure.  The third one is the best of my attempts to show the adjusted bow bulkheads along with the line of the overall ship.  When I sight down the hull, I think frame 5 has a bulge that's too far out -- and that may be because of the issue of printing/sizing the templates -- but it will be easy to adjust when I fair the frames for planking.

 

The darker laminate makes it easier to compare the original line of the bow with the new line, and I like the new line much better.

 

Regards,

David

[popeye the sailor]

looks good Dave....as you mentioned,  a good faring will straighten them out   

[Tigersteve]

Looks good so far. Nice to follow something different. 

Steve

[BETAQDAVE]

    Sounds like quite a large project at 42 inches long.  I assume you have a very large shelf available to display it when you finish it.   By the way, does the kit come with the 64 lifeboats that the ship was designed to carry, or just the 14 lifeboats, 2 cutters, and 4 collapsible rafts that were on board for the disaster?

[lgfrench]

Sometime during the summer  I emailed Ages of Sail and asked them to inquire with Amati about whether this was a problem and if they would address it.   According to Ages of Sail, Amati said they were not aware of any problem and needed more info.  I had these revised templates sent to them and did not hear anything back. 

 

 

[drobinson02199]

Dave:

 

It is large, but I've seen some large ship models (like the Mantua Le Superbe and others) that are as large.  I do have a large shelf, or I may mount it over the TV in my office.

 

It comes with the smaller number of boats.

 

Regards,

David