Titanic undertaking.

Matsuo

Sr Member
I'm not sure why I didn't think to post this here till now, it seems somewhat apropos.

I'm on call as it were with some of the local museums as the go-to guy for model repair.

The Titanic artifact expedition is in town again, so I got a chance to re-visit the big girl (almost 20' long) five years since our last encounter.

She was a little worse for wear. Filthy dirty and in need of touchup paint and a couple dozen little glue jobs. That and the Marconi lines that ran fore and aft were impossibly twisted and tangled. Some decking was peeling up in places as well.

Made of wood, brass, plastic and resin, made in 1997 by a company in CA whose name escapes me.

Quarter inch scale (1/48th)

Ship shape again.

[image]http://hometown.aol.com/matsucorp/images/titanicpristine.jpg[/image]



I also had to refurb the wreck model, a chilling diorama, both for it's subject as well as deplorable condition. The sea floor looked like it was merely sand sprinkled over glue, little effort was made to add color, but then again it could have been due to age. It's also suffered some water damage due to a broken/missing case.

I completely re-painted the base giving it highlight and shadow as well as some general variety in the overall coloration.
I did some forced shading on the wreck to deepen the shadows of the buckled metal and deepening the open hatches. Basically giving the whole thing some high contrast.

The lighting of the gallery is dim and is washed with a blue green "sea floor" FX light. So the high contrast is needed. Prior to my painting it looked quite drab. Weather realistic or not it makes for a better exhibit in the eyes of patrons.

The model itself is about three and a half feet long; I estimate 1/72nd scale or so.

Gallery lighting...

[image]http://hometown.aol.com/matsucorp/images/twreck003.jpg[/image]

Cropped a bit...

[image]http://hometown.aol.com/matsucorp/images/twreck007.jpg[/image]



Here is an interesting bit...The Nautile submersible.
This thing had been manhandled and patron poked one too many times. There were holes poked in the fiberglass by uncouth spectators and many of the more fragile protuberances were broken or missing from several moves across the globe. The main prop was completely missing and the housing was badly damaged...

Some fabrication, a modified fan blade, much Bondo, paint and fiberglass later...

[image]http://hometown.aol.com/matsucorp/images/nautile001.jpg[/image]

There's a 4' long Titanic that looks like it rolled off the truck and bounced a few times...the horror...
They chose to not repair it based on my estimate..:p


Matt
 
Really awesome. Would love to see before shots too, if you have them - possibly a before and after comparison, so we can really appreciate your work. :)
 
Originally posted by Matsuo@Mar 26 2006, 07:34 PM
Made of wood, brass, plastic and resin, made in 1997 by a company in CA whose name escapes me.

Quarter inch scale (1/48th)

Ship shape again.

[image]http://hometown.aol.com/matsucorp/images/titanicpristine.jpg[/image]

I believe you are correct.

I bid on building a 20' model of the old girl from some California company. Glad to see somebody did a great job.
 
I remember that exhibit. I'm a huge Titanic fan and LOVED walking through it....I took 2 hours and poured over ever little detail :D It's so great to know that the pieces are being so well taken care of (now....) . Kudos.
 
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