Revell Titanic Break-up 1/570

[The Iceberg]

Hey everyone, I just registered here and I'm wondering if you guys could give me some advice.

The Build: I know the Titanic's been done to death, but after receiving another 1/570 kit as a gift, I decided to do something a little bit different by depicting the ship the moment it split up. When I started the project, it was the centennial of the ship's sinking, and decided it would be cool to do something similar to that month's National Geographic cover:



So off I went kitbashing; scratch building various decks and walls, then bending and twisting them until I was happy with the desired look. After a year of slowly working on it, this is what I have:





Notwithstanding the flaws in the kit (which I'm content with leaving for now), I still need to touch up a bunch of areas, add a few more lifeboat davits, ropes, attach the collapsed second funnel, etc. etc. I know the decks are a little out of scale, but I'm happy with the outcome regardless.

The Issue: I'm at the point in construction right now where I seriously have to consider how I'm going to display this. My current idea is to use a small fish tank to view 'underwater' the ship's submerged bow, with the stern rising into the air, like this:



The interior left, back and right walls would be painted clear blue, with the outside of the glass painted black. I'm hoping this will really help simulate the dark depths of the ocean, unless anyone here has a better idea.

My real problem is the ocean surface. I have no idea what material I can use that's strong enough to hold it's own weight across the length of the fishtank, as well as any additional sculpting for waves , plus the weight of the model itself.

The Questions:

1. Do you think my idea of using Clear Blue and black paint on the tank will simulate ocean depth?

2. What should I do to create the ocean surface?

Thanks for any help guys, I've come too far in this build to give up on it.

 

[papa 695]

Hi Iceberg ( sorry don't know your name ) if your having it in the fish tank how about using a thin board across the top with an opening for the Titanic to go through ,painted white as an under coat then on top paint the sea colour View attachment 65816 View attachment 65817 then on top of that use clear bathroom sealant using a metal spoon to make the waves ( you could also do the same to the underside if seen )( some pictures of a build i've done just to show what i mean )View attachment 65818 View attachment 65819 View attachment 65820 View attachment 65821 I hope you can undestand what i'm on about hope this helps

PS Welcome to the forum as well

PPS if you need any more help just ask and i or someone else on the forum should have an answer for you

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[takeslousyphotos]

That is really very good.

Peter

 

[eddiesolo]

Excellent depiction of the break up. One other way of displaying is to us a board and have the two halves supported via clear rods, that way you can view the whole model.

Top work, really enjoyed looking at the pics.

Si

 

[The Iceberg]

Hi Iceberg ( sorry don't know your name ) if your having it in the fish tank how about using a thin board across the top with an opening for the Titanic to go through ,painted white as an under coat then on top paint the sea colour View attachment 65816 View attachment 65817 then on top of that use clear bathroom sealant using a metal spoon to make the waves ( you could also do the same to the underside if seen )( some pictures of a build i've done just to show what i mean )View attachment 65818 View attachment 65819 View attachment 65820 View attachment 65821 I hope you can undestand what i'm on about hope this helps PS Welcome to the forum as well

PPS if you need any more help just ask and i or someone else on the forum should have an answer for you

Those waves look fantastic, nice work.

By 'board', do you mean just a piece of wood? I was hoping to work with something that was a bit more translucent to let some light into the tank, I know the ocean at night might be pitch black, but I'd still like the model to be visible

I have Woodland Scenics water effects lying around (I do a bit of model scenery building on the side), surely this will be fine instead of bathroom caulking?

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'll keep track of the rest of the build here. In the meantime, any more suggestions would be great.

 

[papa 695]

You could use a piece of perspex instead of board/wood sitting on the lip of the tank where the plastic sheet sits to stop the water hitting the light. just cut an hole so the front end of the Titanic fits through Then instead of painting the sea colour on the perspex just put a thin covering of the clear bathroom selant tap the top of it before it dry's to form the waves ( use a metal spoon ) then when dry just dry brush white paint on the tips of the waves it should let the light through from the top then. I have never used the woodland Scenics effect so I'm not sure if you could make the waves Hope this helps and look forward to seeing it completed whatever you do

PS it looks fantastic by the way

 

[The Iceberg]

Yeah, I suppose acrylic glass would be the way to go.

This week I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on the model itself. Progress has been slow with the warm weather the last few weeks, but I'm hoping to have the whole scene complete by the start of Autumn.

I'm also entertaining the idea of a backdrop of the night sky, but haven't quite thought of how to achieve it using the fish tank.

Thanks for the input everyone, I hope to post updates at the end of the week.

 

[Dustbin]

Welcome to the site. This is a great idea. Now just my two pen'worth :music_whistling:

I notice that the glass in one side of your tank has a crack ? Is this the tank you are using ? How about using the tank on end with the Bow section deeper and the stern passing through the surface. Perspex would definately be the easiest to work with regarding making a hole at the "surface". Also, if I may, most depictions have an almost flat calm sea state as often happens on cold icy winter nights.

 

[Alan 45]

Now that is the only way the titanic should be modelled , what a fantastic build top marks

 

[noble]

Take a piece of perspex, cut the perspex bigger than the top of the tank, make a clay former shaped like waves, put the pespex on it and heat the pespex with a hair dryer so it will take the shape of the former, once shaped paint using clear paint and fit.

scott

 

[The Iceberg]

Welcome to the site. This is a great idea. Now just my two pen'worth :music_whistling:I notice that the glass in one side of your tank has a crack ? Is this the tank you are using ? How about using the tank on end with the Bow section deeper and the stern passing through the surface. Perspex would definately be the easiest to work with regarding making a hole at the "surface". Also, if I may, most depictions have an almost flat calm sea state as often happens on cold icy winter nights.

You're right, the tank fell a few months ago and is now being used to house some plants. Nevertheless, those tanks are cheap and can be replaced easily.

Excellent depiction of the break up. One other way of displaying is to us a board and have the two halves supported via clear rods, that way you can view the whole model.Top work, really enjoyed looking at the pics.

Si

I tried something like this with the glass lid of the tank, just to maybe use as a temporary display. I used Testors acrylic clear blue and stippled flat flack, sealing with Krylon matte. I'll pick up some clear rods later this week to support the model.



The fish tank idea isn't dead, but this is better than having two Titanic halves without any base.

 

[Polux]

Interesting

Will look how it ends!! :eek: