Ravens Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Hi folks, my latest ship project is Revell's 1/700 RMS Titanic; the famous doomed liner will need no introduction. The Kit: The 1/700 model is by Revell, and is from the gift set which also includes a much smaller 1/1200 version of the ship. I only intend to build the larger of the two. The hull is comprised of two pieces with a vertical join; there are reinforcement 'bulkheads' to maintain the shape of the hull - which I notice looks a lot more slender than their 1/400 version. The deck detail is extremely fine, but I'll be using an aftermarket wooden deck by Artwox, ostensibly for Titanic's sister Olympic, but I'm banking on there being none or little difference in the deck layout between the two kits. The kit is well moulded and nicely detailed overall - I much recommend it over the ageing 1/570 option. A small sheet of decals is supplied which caters for the ship's nameplates, flags, draft numbers and the pinstripe. There is thread included for rigging, but I will use Uschi elastic thread for this purpose instead. For PE I will be using two sets by Tom's Modelworks; they are still in the post, but here's what they consist of: One set for various fittings and details... ...and another full of railings and inclined ladders. Somewhat worryingly, I have since discovered that these sets may well have been created with the Academy 1/700 Titanic in mind, but since I could find no other etch for the Revell kit these will have to do, so on with the build! The first step will be to prepare, prime and glue the hull parts. Since there will be no lighting and because the detail is so small I will not drill out the majority of the portholes, but will probably do the ones located on the white areas of the upper strakes where they will be more noticeable. I should also add the propeller fins and rudder prior to painting. To paint the main hull I will use Tamiya X-18 semi gloss black airbrushed over Halfords grey primer. Thanks for looking in, and hopefully it will be a pleasant build. Regards, Ross 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Hi, first update: Once the two hull pieces and spacers were put together I gave the the whole hull a coat of Halfords grey undercoat and then drilled out the portholes along the upper strakes. A little alteration was required to the port side forward of the well deck, as photos show that Titanic had sixteen portholes in this area as opposed to fourteen as depicted on the model. I've highlighted the area where I wanted to add the extra two portholes in this photo. ...and here's the same area with the added portholes: With the remainder of the holes drilled, painting the hull was next. I used a 2-1 mix of Tamiya flat red/Revell Aqua for the anti-fouling hull bottom; semi-gloss black for above the waterline; and plain white for the strakes and promenade windows. Interestingly the hull spacers each have a 1.5cm hole in them (visible in the second photograph of post #1) - was this to save on plastic, or did Revell anticipate that some modellers might want to light the kit and left room for wiring to run the length of the interior? Next the well decks and B-deck promenade, plus I may apply the decals to the hull so that I can seal the whole thing with a coat of satin varnish. Cheers for stopping in, Ross. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 This should prove interesting! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 I'm just glad I'm not drilling out hundreds of portholes again - I'm not sure my hands could take it! Luckily it wont make too much difference in this scale, unless you're planning to add lights. Ross. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockster Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Sweet! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowler0000 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Nice start, Ross. I'm currently ruining Revell's 1/400 AIDA Blu/Sol/Stella/Mar, & it too has the holes in the hull bracings. I thought it was a cost cutting measure, but now you mention lights, it makes more sense... Lookin forward to that wooden deck going down! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camponubla Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I like! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Well decks. The fore and aft decks are all one piece, joined together by the B-deck promenades. A little surgery is required to remove the moulded inclined ladders to make way for the PE replacements, but there are two slight drawbacks to overcome. Firstly, the Artwox wooden deck is designed with the basic kit in mind, so removing the ladders will leave small patches without coverage - seven of them to be precise. The other problem is the resulting holes in the both the floor and the walls of the well decks must be filled in. To patch things up I started by gluing plastic card behind the holes to act as backing so that the putty would have something to press against; then I filled and sanded the gaps. While researching the well decks I noticed an inaccuracy: there are supposed to be alcoves in the well decks that are missing on the kit, probably as a result of these areas being one piece. To add a little detail I did add a few portholes to the forward well deck that were present on the real ship. Either side of the missing alcove are some doors, which I scavenged from my spare PE box. These doors have a basic appearance so I used the flat side of the etch. I also drilled small windows into the focsle hatch and skylight. Next I painted all the fittings before sticking the decks on in order to avoid mistakes. The lower half of the well deck walls were a brown colour, same with that of the crane platforms and hatch coaming. The benches, fairleads and windlass equipment were given a base-coat, dark wash and then drybrushed. I left the moulded anchor chains in place as I think they look fine as they are. With the painting done the wooden decks could go on. The decks still have a few more areas to patch up. Now I'll get to work on the pinstripe and nameplate lettering, all of which are in the form of decals. Cheers, Ross. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aginvicta Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 The deck looks really good Andy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camponubla Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Impressive! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infofrog Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Nice job so far Rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hutch Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Hi Ross Where did you get the Artwox deck from? I'm in the UK so is there a 'local' distributor? Hutch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Hi Ross Where did you get the Artwox deck from? I'm in the UK so is there a 'local' distributor? Hutch Hi Hutch, I got the deck from AVR Model, here's a link to the relevant page: http://www.avrmodel.com/en/accessories/3841-1-700-rms-olympic-1911.html I'm not aware of any UK stockists currently, but that could be subject to change. The deck I'm using is for the Revell Olympic as I couldn't find any aftermarket sets for Revell 1/700 Titanic anywhere at all, but so far everything fits perfectly and the layout and fittings seem to be identical - fingers crossed that will still be the case by the time the last piece goes on! Regards, Ross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 That wooden deck makes a huge difference to the look of the model! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 The gold pinstripe is proved in lengths of decal, but I didn't quite have enough to make it all the way around the hull - presumably because of the all raised detail that I might have been better off sanding down a little. As it happens there was only around 1.cm left without a stripe and that was easily enough fixed with some Tamiya gold leaf paint applied by brush, which was a good match for the colour of the decals. Running out of decal was not the only problem however - the angular curve of the overhanging stern 'shelf' is not an ideal shape for the way the decals are intended to be used. I advise starting from the bow area and working your way towards the stern on both sides until reaching the tricky section. The decals can either be applied in tiny increments, or replaced by freehand painting with a small brush; I was forced to do both. The good part is that any mistakes in this area will be mostly hidden! I also added the nameplates and draft line decals, before sealing the whole hull with Humbrol acrylic satin varnish. After everything was dry I glued the previously painted deck section into place. You can see in the picture below that the first layer of the 'three-deck sandwich' slots into the two upright hull spacers to help keep everything in place - more good thinking by Revell. First good news is the PE has arrived, but unfortunately I must cut back on the hobby work due to complications with my wrist injury, so progress on this one will likely grind to a halt until I can get an update in a few weeks time. Second good news is the upgrade sets by Toms Modelworks are definitely marked for use with both the Revell Olympic class ships by the manufacturer, so if you happen to be struggling to find any aftermarket sets for Revell Titanic then it might be worth searching under '1/700 RMS Olympic' as well. Cheers, Ross. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowler0000 Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Good luck with the wrist, Ross. Hope its better by xmas.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Good luck with the wrist, Ross. Hope its better by xmas.... Thanks prowler - hopefully a bit of ice-packing will help it settle down over the next week or so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Sorry to hear about the wrist. I hope you are back on this fascinating project soon. One thing I didn't quite follow was the curved draught marks on the bow? Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Sorry to hear about the wrist. I hope you are back on this fascinating project soon. One thing I didn't quite follow was the curved draught mars on the bow? Martin Now that you mention it they do look a bit odd, and if photos are anything to go by then they should be positioned lower down than what the instructions call for with the curve following the profile of the bow. I might scour my spare decal box and see if I can can correct it. Cheers, Ross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Very neat so far there Ross wood deck really makes the difference hope the wrist gets sorted soon Might want to cut back on those late night movies mate Well someone was going to say it Beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jockster Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 You're not hanging about, are you Ross. Nice work and rapid progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 I've corrected the bow decals by chopping up spares from an old Airfix kit and painting over the old ones; slightly off scale but preferable to being in the wrong place. This will probably be the last update for a few weeks, until then I'll just have to focus on putting decals on the Enterprise B. Ross. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Those draught marks look way better now. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravens Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Since this project remains in limbo for at least another week, here's the build so far compared with the Revell 1/400 kit. I've always thought that the 1/400 version looks a little on the fat side - either not enough length, or too much beam. Ross. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longshanks Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Mmmmm where have I heard this before ...... Oh Yes! Does my bum look big in this? Kev 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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