Trumpeter 1/200 Titanic

[jimbo]

Well folks it’s here. I figured I’d start a new thread in the non- LSP forum. My box of this kit showed up today. Holy c**p this is absolutely the biggest kit box I’ve ever beheld. Even Finn, at 52 pounds (and growing) doesn’t know what to make if it.

 

 

I figured I’d get the ball rolling and report on this insanely large model. I’m six feet tall and this hull literally reaches my armpit standing up. This is a 6-foot nook in my dining room:
 

This hull is just a massive example of injection molding. I’m pretty well versed in the IM process but, wow, this is intense. A few quick observations, some with photos to explain and some not. It’s difficult to capture some of the subtleties I see with quick snapshots. Not photographed but pretty apparent: each side of the tooling for this hull is composed of what look like 6 sections; whether they are inserts or some other way of sectioning this tooling is something I don’t know, but it may explain how they corrected the stem line/ bow angle without re-cutting an entire tool of such massive size. The porthole detail is NOT a mirror image, there are unique and different patterns for both port and starboard flanks. The sides of the open top of the hull are a bit wavy. This should be easy to pull together during assembly. The decks are pretty robust and the hull averages about 2mm thick. My hull measures out to 53.140”; in scale it should be 52.965”, so it’s roughly 3 scale feet too long. Once built and under glass (as I feel it should be) NO one will ever be able to check!
 

So, one issue I see is exhibited below; along the bottom of the hull, between the 5 large injection port/sprue locations, the hull is a bit “ballooned” or “saggy” between the sprue points (not noticeable at the bow and stern sections really, only the wide portions). The photo below shows one of the sprue points (at the 20-5/8” position) and how the hull dips down. Probably not an issue if you intend to mount it on finials on a base, but if you want to do a “dry dock” type of base with the ship on blocks it won’t sit evenly and flat. Looks like the hull wasn’t completely cool when pulled from the mold, with the waviness and sag. 

 

 

The angle of the bow looks spot on to me:

 

 

The plating and rivet detail is quite nice if you ask me. Playing may be a bit “thick” but doesn’t bother me. The smaller portholes, well even some of the larger ones, feature a bit of flash, that make it look like the hull was pulled from the mold in a hurry. 

 

 

My final photo displays the underside of the counter-stern; there is some plating detail missing here, which I think Trumpeter wisely did not try and fudge; it would not have molded well. There are some portholes that come across as ovals, a typical problem of molding limitations and a steeply sloping surface. 
 

Overall, to me, this is probably the most impressive kit I have ever seen. The parts look gorgeous, photoetch looks great. I have a pretty sizable stash, which includes 3 other Trumpeter 1/200 kits (Missouri, Arizona and Yorktown), but none have me shaking my head in awe like this one. No surprise, my 1/350 Minicraft Titanic looks pathetically small compared to this kit. I can’t say I’m ready to start this build, this is a bench-clearing effort and you will need a LOT of room. Did I mention this thing is HUGE?

 

I’m by no means an expert and provide the above only as simple observations of the kit as it comes. If anyone would like photos of anything in particular let me know. Let the games begin. 
 

jimbo

[Out2gtcha]

I'm no ship guy, but that is really pretty nice looking

[jimbo]

Yes it is Brian. Really will build up to quite an impressive display.

 

Some more detail photos:

 

Lifeboats:

 

 

Davits:

 

 

Promenade Deck windows; you can see the “stagger” of the windows, a result from the “shear” of the decks:

 

 

The “cockpit” lol:

 

 

jimbo

[DonH]

Wow. I will never have the inclination, skill or patience to build a kit like this, so I am looking forward to joining the ride from the back seat.

 

[Uncarina]

This is great to see. Thanks for posting! And sooooo tempting.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[The Madhatter]

Its a shame about the hull issue, especially on such an expensive kit. Fixable for sure, but TBH, you shouldn't have to. It would almost be worth sending it back to Trumpeter to replace,  given you won't be starting it anytime soon 

Im waiting for the Scharnhorst to be released myself, although I did like the Olympus. 

[Gerhard]

Would love this, but the price is a bit out of my reach, besides, I have a 1/200 HMS Hood sitting on top of  the cupboard waiting for me. Did your kit also come with the LED lighting set? I would love to see pics of that if it did. 

[jimbo]

7 hours ago, The Madhatter said:

Its a shame about the hull issue, especially on such an expensive kit. Fixable for sure, but TBH, you shouldn't have to. It would almost be worth sending it back to Trumpeter to replace,  given you won't be starting it anytime soon 

Im waiting for the Scharnhorst to be released myself, although I did like the Olympus. 

Sending it back to Trumpeter is likely not an option. I could b***h to the distributor maybe. I think it’s part and parcel of doing such a large IM piece. Most plastic parts, when they get this big I think, are formed in other ways, like blow- or roto- molding or RIM. And those usually use other plastics not polystyrene. Think plastic coolers or car parts etc. 

 

Fixable is also debatable; I don’t have accurate drawings of the ship so I don’t know which line is correct - the areas near the sprue points or the bulgy areas in between. Filling to the bulged areas would be easiest but would be a lot of work. Removing material would be even more work. Upon reflection actually, it would be better to mount this to a “blocking” base where your fasteners could pull the three center IM points to even the keel. 
 

j

[Out2gtcha]

10 hours ago, jimbo said:

Lifeboats:

 

 

 

Did they accurately give you not enough for all passengers?

[jimbo]

7 hours ago, Gerhard said:

Would love this, but the price is a bit out of my reach, besides, I have a 1/200 HMS Hood sitting on top of  the cupboard waiting for me. Did your kit also come with the LED lighting set? I would love to see pics of that if it did. 

Yes Gerhard it does include the lighting kit, I don’t think you can purchase this kit without it. Here are some photos:

 

Box and instructions:

the parts:

 

A view of the first page showing you what’s in all the little baggies:

A typical page of steps:

 

It’s a nice touch that Trumpeter includes this, but it’s a bit heavy handed. And not lighting belowdecks is silly; that really needs to be done to make this model really pop. They provide a 6- meter roll of SMDs lights as well as a couple dozen loose LEDs, wiring bits including connectors, resistors, a USB connector with switch, etc. They do not provide a power source, they advise buying a 5V 2-amp battery - like a cell phone charging battery I guess?

 

I am well versed in wiring LEDs as I put them in nearly every architectural build I do. I don’t like resistors at all as they can generate enough heat to be dangerous. I use current limiters, which, although they can warm up if you run too much voltage through them, don’t heat up enough to melt plastic like resistors do. And the LEDs they provide for the deck lighting are just waaaay too large. I may use the SMD strips and control them with an Arduino board and replace everything else. Perhaps I should do an  LED wiring tutorial in the tips section.
 

jimbo

[jimbo]

14 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

 

Did they accurately give you not enough for all passengers?

Well, they give you all that she had :-)

There is actually debate that, had they had a proper evacuation plan in place, that all could have made it off safely. But there’s no accounting for what humans do which is panic, panic and then panic some more. And not begin an evacuation sooner. 
 

jimbo

[chrish]

Sounds like it may be a good idea to get the kit early, before someone burns down their house and Trumpeter has to recall and remove all the lighting sets

[jimbo]

I should add that I don’t mean to make light of the tragedy of the Titanic (and I’m sure Brian doesn’t either). My wife and I have been cruising on todays ships for 25 years; in fact she worked for Cunard when I met her (and she freely admits knowing it was one of the attractions for me lol). But even in those 25 years cruise lines have gone from “recommended” to absolutely mandatory lifeboat drills. They will hunt you down on that first day and make sure you attend. SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) is taken pretty seriously but we still have tragedies like Costa Concordia. A shame. 
 

jimbo

[jimbo]

3 minutes ago, chrish said:

Sounds like it may be a good idea to get the kit early, before someone burns down their house and Trumpeter has to recall and remove all the lighting sets

Ha I’ll tell you all a story of lighting nightmares. In my career as a professional model maker I have seen some jaw-dropping things. In 2011 I was contacted by a local company that was pushing power storage technology - on a power generating utility scale. They had two power plant models made by a US firm that farmed the jobs out to China. These models included elaborate LED lighting and working windmills with rotating blades.

 

The company reached out to me as the lighting was not working on some areas and they were “a little concerned”. I visited their facility, got down underneath the models to look at the circuitry, and almost had a heart attack. There was a complete rats nest of wiring with exposed resistors that were scorching the plywood bases of the models. These models had a stainless steel decorative fascia that would occasionally give you a mild shock.

 

 I knew almost immediately this was above my pay grade so I reached out to my LED lighting guru, who taught me all I know about it. I sent him some photos and he annotated them and sent them back telling me what he was seeing. First, it was wired for 220 volts, which was then wired to 120, and with probably 40 bridge rectifiers wired in to turn the AC to DC for the LEDs that were frying. And of course scorched resistors everywhere. I could go on but I ended up hiring him to visit me for 4 days and we worked in my shop to completely re-wire the undersides of those models. They were a fire waiting to happen. I look very critically at home brew wiring jobs now.
 

jimbo

[chrish]

That’s some scary stuff right there!

I’ve seen some of that too, 40 years of automotive mechanic...