1/200 Trumpeter Titanic

[steve5]

that’s a real bummer mark , but gee that’s a long time to wait .

[MisterMeester]

Spent a couple of afternoons writing out a comprehensive step by step plan toward completing the hull. It starts with stripping the primer off five PE sections I primed.

Why am I doing that?
My logic to priming the PE before attaching to the hull was ease of masking for the White/Black topcoats. These pieces will eventually be (roughly 50/50) white, top half, and black bottom half. My intent was to airbrush them white, after priming, and then mask for the black. The thinking was burnishing the masking tape down into the plate and rivet detail would be much easier on a table, rather than while attached to the hull.

Before continuing, I need to call myself out for getting the number of doors on the hull wrong. Upthread, a few posts, I wrote that there are 15 doors on the hull, eight on the Port side and seven on the Stbd side. That is wrong. There’s a total of 26 doors. Twelve on the Port side and 14 on the Stbd side. Not sure how I was way off regarding that. Perhaps simply not paying full attention to the instructions. I’ve edited that post.

Speaking of instructions, the penultimate page instructs the modeler to attach the PE to the hull.

But wait! The final page reveals there is more PE to attach to complete the eight sections. DOORS, (etc.)!

The B and C doors, circled in blue above, fully attach to the PE sections, while the D and E doors, circled in purple, attach to the Trumpeter hull. (FWIW, the notch for D3 door is missing in this diagram).

Contrary to the instructions saying to attach the PE (sections) to the hull before attaching Doors B and C, I’ve now attached the doors prior.

Hence, one reason to strip the primer. Get those doors on.
Another reason for stripping the primer, is it just makes more sense to me to prime and paint this PE (via rattle can) all at once, after attaching to the hull and getting the remaining D and E doors on. The tricky part is going to be burnishing the masking tape down, for the White/Black separation. One of my main worries of the build, so far.

There is also the yellow so-called Sheer Stripe that will come into play on these pieces, but I have decals for that. Hoping that all goes well too, as it is also an upcoming main concern.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Mark

[MisterMeester]

Got the Propeller Shaft Wings attached. I went with aftermarket wings. China 3D, purchased through a Facebook group.

Here’s how they look compared to the kit wings.

I’ve decided to go with the KA AM Wing Propellers. The nubs on the Shaft Wings are too large for the Prop Bosses. Drilled the Bosses out to 5/32" dia. I wanted to make sure this was possible before gluing the Shaft Wings on.

I used 5 minute epoxy for gluing the wings onto the hull. Little rant about Gorilla epoxy…the plunger. I find it sticks after not being used for a while. It will then, all of a sudden, give way causing humongous blobs of resin and hardener to come out. I managed to avoid a mess, but what a waste. Perhaps pulling the plunger first is the trick. Rant over.
The kit markings on the hull, for fit, are not exact to the AM wings, but they served their purpose well enough.

I let the Starboard Wing cure overnight.

For positioning the Port Wing to match the Starboard Wing vertically, I didn’t want to just eyeball it, so I used this get-up.

Measured from the nub edges to the bottom edge of the cardboard. Once happy with the positioning of the Port Wing, I scribed a pencil line along it.

Not fool proof, but double checked the next day and it worked.

Task complete.

Unfortunately, I didn’t pay close enough attention to longitudinal positioning. After all said and done, I measured the Port Wing to be 1mm further aft than the Starboard Wing. Thankfully, this shouldn’t be noticeable when the model is ultimately on display.

Cheers,
Mark

[the_tool_man]

Phenomenal work. I’m only chiming in to say EVERY epoxy I’ve ever used, Lok-tite, Gorilla and West Systems, ends up with a stuck plunger if you let it sit a while. The fix is to either pull it as you surmised, or use the jaws of a vise to carefully apply controlled force to free it up.

[Demolition]

@MisterMeester

Little rant about Gorilla epoxy

I don’t use epoxy but I buy the gorilla super glue in the real small tin tubes, like a 6 pack I think, the little tubes work great as your not wasting a large container. Put a few drops on a peice of tape I put on my self healing Matt and use a tooth pick to place it. I will say that I often forget it’s on the tape and my hand ends up in it…. I’m trying to work through that problem though.

[keavdog]

Got fed up with the plunger style epoxy and now use this.

Has it’s own issue with slowly thickening. Picked these up through my interests in RC.
The amount of work you’re putting into this Titanic is mind blowing!

[MisterMeester]

@keavdog Exactly this. I have the BSI 30 minute epoxy. Easy peasy. Will definitely switch to the BSI 5 minute as well, when the Gorilla is used up.

Cheers,
Mark

[Toimi_Tom]

Awesome @keavdog – going to order up some of the 5-minute and the 15-minute versions of these. Thanks!

I’ve always found the plunger-type epoxy tubes to be basically single-use. My favorite epoxy experience was a little double-ketchup-packet, with resin on one side and hardener on the other, that comes with the arrows I use for bowhunting for fixing the weighted inserts and outserts. Perfect 1:1 mix with no effort, single-use quantity. I looked for those online and did find some, but the price appears prohibitive.

@MisterMeester – really cool result on those wing propellors. I like your cardboard fixture. Also think you made the right call on the PE doors.

[mrb865]

Your level of patience in executing this level of workmanship is impressive!