Day 11-12: Rear deck (Quarterdeck)

Ok, so it's been a long time since the last post!

The great weather we had this summer made it difficult for me to to get much done, those BBQ's won't light themselves!

Now the front deck is complete, I've moved on to the rear deck section. Again I have to remove some of the plastic moulded parts so the wooden decking can be fitted.

Once more I use the trusty Dremmel to remove the plastic mouldings, this time I get some help!

Jack lends a hand

Situated on the rear section of the deck is a raised platform which would look something like this..

This image is from the movie A Night To Remember

This platform is modelled in the kit in metal and also has the wooden planking, a very intricate part that took me some time to get right.

The pieces of the platform

On the rear deck are also several benches, these are also metal parts that have to be bent to shape, very fiddly!

One of the (many!) benches ready to be bent into shape

I fix the bench in place and dry fit (that means no glue just yet) the platform. 

After fixing all of the benches and deck parts I'll paint everything and fix the platform last. 

Some of the deck parts in place including a bench. The platform is not yet glued in place

Day 10: Painting the bottom part of the hull

Part of the lower half of the hull was painted using red anti-fouling paint.
Anti fouling paint  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-fouling_paint is used to stop barnacles and other sea organisms clinging to the ship, this would make it less efficient in the water.

This is a large area to paint so I will use an airbrush. I've not used one before so fingers crossed!

The hull masked off, ready for painting

Airbrush ready to go!

Finished!

After drying I removed the masking tape. I'm very pleased with the results :)

Detail around the rudder

A good clean line and nice even coat of paint, just what I wanted!

Days 7-9: Applying the wooden planking and Well deck details

Before applying the wooden planks I need to remove the plastic moulded parts that will later be replaced with the photo etched stuff.

My Trusty Dremmel is used to grind off the unneeded parts, here part of the wall has been removed 

All parts are removed from the Well deck now it's time to apply the wooden planking. 

Upper Well Deck planking applied, looks great!

Wooden planking finished for the Well deck

Now I can paint some of the deck features

More details added to the deck, including the rigging.

Day 3-6: Cranes and Well deck

All 8 of the Cranes have been assembled and painted. Slow going! I'm finding the small metal parts difficult to work with, it's very easy to bend them out of shape and difficult to fix them in place.

I still need to fix the ladders to the cranes, I've painted them and will place them on the cranes prior to fixing them to the deck.

I've also started work on the lower deck well, this is the section at the front (Bow) of the ship. The first job is to fix the wooden planking on, but before this I'll paint some of the parts on the deck, mainly the hatches and walls.
The colour I use for this is a rusty red (Humbrol #113). Apparently this is the colour that was used in James Cameron's Movie, Titanic. I doubt they used Humbrol model paints though!

 See below for progress.

Here you can see a test fitting of one of the cranes in the lower deck well area.
The wooden deck planks will be fixed over the deck once I paint the wall dado and Hatches.

Close up of the crane and 2 deck hatches on lower deck well.

I've painted the Deck Hatches and Lower half of the well deck walls. You can see I've masked off the walls to help produce a neater line. If you look closely you can also see I've painted the lower half of the 2 well deck crane bases to match the hatches and deck wall dado.

Day 2: Cranes

So according to the instructions the first job is to assemble the cranes, it looks like the Titanic had 8 of them.

More info on Titanic's Cranes..

The cranes are built using 2 plastic parts for the base, plus metal photo etched parts for the boom and detail. I'll assemble the base and boom before painting and adding further detail which consists of a ladder, door and hand railing.

The crane boom at the top of the photo is plastic, this will be replaced by the photo etched metal part at the bottom. The metal part looks more detailed and will help create a better looking model.  Can you spot the crane pulley wheel? Tiny! 

Some of the cranes constructed. Crane base and booms attached.  When all 8 are done I'll paint them before adding extra parts (ladders, railings and doors).

Day 1- Intro and unboxing The Titanic!

Building the Titanic

I've wanted to build something big for a while, so the Titanic seemed like a good idea!
I decided to build a 1:400 replica of the Titanic, the model I decided on is the Academy 1:400 Centenary edition. This version has some nice detail like wooden decking and photo etched parts, (these are metal parts that have a lot more details than the standard plastic).
As we're a bit short of space in the house, I decided it might be a nice idea to donate it to my son's school. The school study the history of the Titanic as part of it's curriculum so they were delighted with this news!

See below for the first report, unboxing the Titanic, be sure to check back for further updates as I progress!

John.