Calling all ocean liner RMS Titanic, RMS Olympic & HMHS Britannic fans

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
What? Am I the only one?
I'll post pictures of the latest Academy 1/700 release this weekend, for those interested.
The DF slammed this kit, as a Zhengdefu knockoff. Maybe it is, but I like it.
More will be revealed!
How many out there remember when the 1/350 Titanic was first released by Entex? What year was that? I'll save my guess till after we get a few replies. Also, what was the original list price. That one I'll give now....$30.
Love the movie, loved the music from the movie, LOVE THE TITANIC!! I remember watching "A Night to Remember", back in junior high school. It was interesting to me then, and it is no less interesting to me now.
faithfully submitted, Tony Bunch
Closet Titanic Fan.............no more!

[Avery Boyer]

Sorta off topic...

In 1997, the cruise ship Sun Vista suffered an engine fire. For reasons unknown, the fire was not contained and it spread rapidly, leading to the eventual sinking of the ship. The story goes that in one of the lifeboats, a group of Australians attempted to calm everyone down by singing the theme to Titanic

Back to the topic at hand. I would like to hear your opinion on the "New" 1/700 Titanic...I thought it was a scaled down version of their 1/400 kit, which I have. It looks nice to me.

[ModelMonkey]

OK, just guessing, but I think the Entex "Late Great Titanic" came out about 1976. GREAT model.

Other truly wonderful kits of about the same time:
Entex's 1/350 "Late Great Lusitania"
Unknown maker, 1/400 "Queen Elizabeth 2"
Testors' monstrous vac kit "Graf Zeppelin"
Monogram's 1/48 B-17G, 1/72 B-52D and B-24J

I have very fond memories of those days.

[Olaf Held]

Hi guys ~ if I remember correctly, the Entex kit came in 1974 and according to what I have read, it was around 14 bucks in the UK.

BTW, the DF does not say that this (eehhh.... the new 1/700....) is a Zeng-knock off. All I found is that it is better than the previous 1/720 which is the one to be considered coming out of the Zeng molds.

Some information about the new kit can be found here:
http://russellwild.co.uk/forumdf/index.php?topic=144.0

Cheers ~ Olaf

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
When the Academy 1/700 Titanic was announced, I went straight to the DF forums to get some sort of review, opinions are varied from time to time, but I did hold off buying this kit........till now.
The one piece hull is molded in black and white.
The molded-in deck details I'd prefer to add on myself, but........
I read somewhere that the main problem with this kit was/is the external hull planking and its size. Any input here???
I am certain that the Academy's bean counters did insist that this kit be molded in multi-colors for the, "fair weather" modelers, and that is understandable. The list price on this kit is $27.00. Not bad when compared to its contemporary's in scale and relative size. I thought about laying the 1/700 Titanic hull next to another 1/700 model of similar size. Maybe in my next post; not critical though.

1974 sounds right for the Entex Titanic debut. I got mine from White Front Stores discounted to $19.99. In 1976, my model was on display at UC Hobby Center in San Diego for a year or so. I remember a customer offered $100 for it, but I was not there, and the owner told the customer, "Not for sale!" $100 could have bought quite a few kits back then! A lot of money to a youg teenager! I ended up trading the Titanic for an Aurora Seaview that needed a lot of work; that was in 1982 when I thought I'd never see another Seaview kit.
Since the year 2002, I have owned no less than 4 Titanic kits!
Revell 1/400, Academy 1/400, Academy 1/350 R-release with p/e and the HP Models resin 1/700 kit. All decent kits, but I'd favor the Academy 1/400 kit...then probably the 1/350 kit for its size.

Here are some pics........decide for yourselves.
First off, 883' in 1/700 scale = 15.13". The overall hull length is right on.










Thanks guys!
Tony

[Avery Boyer]

Looks ALOT like the 1/400 version...including the..um...multi-colored plastic (a real pain to have to paint!)

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
Here is a side by side cmparison with the NNT Iowa. The Iowa at 889 feet and the Titanic at 883 feet. 15.13" compared to 15.24".

There ya go!
Tony

[Tracy White]

That hull plating doesn't look correct to me; has there been any specific mention of that? It looks like it's lacking the "sag" one should see.

I've got an unfinished Minicraft kit and a lot of fond memories of reading and studying the ship when I was a kid!

[Olaf Held]

Tony, thanks for the snaps, doesn't look too promising with regard of the hull plating....

Tracy, there seems to be a slightly sheer line but it stands to question if this can be really created at such a small scale without overdoing...

I found a pretty good kit review over at modellmarine.de:
http://www.modellmarine.de/phpwebsite/i ... 282:71:176

For those who are not familiar with the German language, the very last paragraph reads:


Sadly, the dream of a really well executed 1/700 ocean liner model will remain unfulfilled. In fact, Academy has improved the 1/720�s main points of weakness such as hull and superstructure proportions but was has gotten into them by creating those hull plates still remains a mystery. This blatant error will only be remedied with enormous effort on behalf of the modeller but the kit is more worthwhile for children who will be delighted to build and play with it.

The comment right of the one-star-rating reads:
Ideal beginner's model for children

All of this sounds a bit harsh as it is questionable whether it would be better to sand of the strakes and create them with a sharp pencil instead of completely rebuilding them with styrene strips... moulded-on hull plates appear always overscaled in 1/700...

Hope this helps ~ Olaf

[Derek B]

Hi Tony,

Good topic. On a slightly related off topic note, I am looking for good reference material for RMS Olympic in either it's WWI hospital ship or trooper ship versions (especially colour schemes and modifications) - failing that, RMS Brittanic will do? If anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it (I shall be using the Revell 1/570 scale kit as a basis).

Many thanks

Derek

[JIM BAUMANN]

Derek--I have sent you a PM re Olympic

Tara

JIM B

[ModelMonkey]

Jim,

Please do Olympic as a troop ship. I just love your Mauretania done that way.

[Dustermaker]

Hi, I was just wondering if the 1/350 Minicraft "museum" quality Titanic is worth buying. It says it comes with PE and the pictures look ok. I read a review on the product but I was just wondering if anyone here had built the kit or knows if there is a lot to fix on the kit etc. The cost would be like 45 dollars US. Jason Martin's build in the gallery looks amazing so thats whats kind of driving me to get the kit. Thanks in advance.

[Rory Smith]

Hello All,

Does anyone know what color the Le Suroit Titanic Searcher had below the waterline and if there was a seperator boot strip? There does not seem to be much info on this research vessel out there.

Rory

[Timmy C]

Perhaps you can contact the owners here: http://www.ifremer.fr/fleet/navires/hau ... index.html
Contact Us is in the box to the right.

[Rory Smith]

Perhaps you can contact the owners here: http://www.ifremer.fr/fleet/navires/hau ... index.html
Contact Us is in the box to the right.

Thanks Timmy,

I just emailed them. I guess I just sit back and see if anyone there cares now .

Rory

[Dave Martin]

Nice new photo of RMS Olympic in wartime cammo here -

http://www.titanic-model.com/dc/user_files/6516.jpg

[monnika]

How many copies of the movie Titanic were sold? I'm freaking out here! 3 million copies of Twilight were sold in a day! I don't think Twilight should beat Titanic! Titanic is far better, more effort into it. I think the movie Twilight is just a money maker. I admit, I like it cause i'm a teen, but it should not in a million years beat Titanic. Please don't comment on my opinion, I just want to know how many copies of the movie Titanic were sold, and if possible, can you give me a source. Thanks.

[Tracy White]

Are you freaking kidding me?

This is a model ship forum, not movie stats. We're interested in the ship, not the movie.

[Timmy C]

I'm quite sure that "monnika" can look up that information on IMDB or something, assuming s/he's not a spambot.