Very few events shape the culture of the nations and the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912 surely did. The ship carried 2,224 passengers and crew onboard, but it sank on its maiden voyage on the high seas, unfortunately 1500 people went down with the ship including its architect and the captain.
Titanic inspired a whole generation of the west through cinematic masterpieces and the art of ship modelling. Ship modelling is the art of copying the design of famous ships on small/miniature scales with a varied degree of attention to detail.
The history of ship modelling goes all the way back to ancient sea faring Greek islands nations and city states and also the coasts of Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian pharaohs particularly kept models in their tombs.
In the modern times, ship modelling is more of a hobby and done by and large, everywhere. This makes it much more credible to acquire modelling kits and start working on them while planning ahead for supplies delivery and scratch building.
Titanic Kit Modelling
Here we have a few steps lined up for building a titanic model from the kit or from the scratch based upon the choice of the builder and some notions to keep in mind while building the titanic models.
Since the kits are shipped with proper guides so it will be recommended to follow them promptly and expertise can be acquired along the way in scratch building parts and degree of detail incorporation.
Getting Started
The first step is to decide the scale of the model, generally, 1:350 can hold pretty much higher degree of detail but then commonly used 1:144 can have a lot of detail and is good for scratch building.
Larger models may take up more time or less time depending upon the intended detail and effort planned.
Cutting
After the kit is selected then the next step is putting the detail of parts and aesthetics on paper to consult and plan. It helps in cutting scale parts and main supporting fixtures. More historical replicas can have more detailed and carefully thought out historically sound plans but that more or less depends upon the expertise of the model builder.
Deck planking
Deck building starts from putting together the hull and the keel first to start the main building processes. The deck parts are inside the kit and can be readily used but in order to make more detailed parts, scratch building is preferred. This starts by modeling parts on materials like plastic, metal or cardboard or any other material of choice and availability.
Concealing gaps
When the deck and below deck compartments are put together there remains a lot of gaps in the parts that might need to be concealed. This can be done through hardwood or styrene fixtures with putty can be used. Concealing gaps is difficult but necessary to keep the finish of the model as fine as possible.
Paint colors
The colors are not necessary with the kit but when scratch building of keeping higher degree of details, are needed extensively but needed to be researched and ordered separately on occasions. Almost all paint has to be custom mixed for exact matches if the colors are to be historically accurate.
Lighting Systems
Lighting systems can be sometimes hard to get right because of their complexity and detailing. They need to be planned beforehand on the paper and then put into place as carefully as possible to increase the historical accuracy.
Achieving historical accuracy
The dream of the model builder is to achieve the maximum historical accuracy possible, but the limitation is the effort and expertise coupled with patience that is required to complete the model. Extensive research be done, and detailed maps are to be conceived to keep the progress in check as the models progresses.
It is recommended to consult the detail plans frequently to adhere to maximum accuracy possible.
Conclusion
With all the things in perfect harmony and the corners kept in check, the titanic model will be ready as described by the kit or scratch building the parts will pay soon enough. Building titanic model is the first of the many ships models that are yet to come so buckle up and get into it.
