The Titanic had 9 skylights spread across her decks and roofs. The Academy/Minicraft model comes with only four of these. You need to be fabricate the other five.

Skylight Checklist:

 

Location Description Parts included in kit.
Forecastle Crew skylight None
Wheelhouse Wheelhouse roof None
Officer Deckhouse Marconi None
Officer Deckhouse Lavatory None
Officer Deckhouse Small circular porthole None
Boat deck Foyer Forward Grand Staircase Parts B1, B5, H21
Boat deck Aft Grand Staircase cover Parts B2, J27L, J27R, G21
Poop deck Skylights over the steering room Parts J31a, J31B

 

We will begin by making changes to the existing kit skylights and go on to describe the options available to fabricate the missing ones. All of the skylights provided in the kit have errors and need to be fixed.

FORWARD GRAND STAIRCASE SKYLIGHT HOUSING - STATIC AND REMOVABLE


Item 1 - Making a Removable GSC Skylight Cover.

  • Note: Item 1 is for those who want to build the Grand Staircase interiors and want to be able to see them. See section 29a GRAND STAIRCASE INTERIOR for details. If you do not plan to make the Grand Staircase and reception areas go to Item 2.

 

Step 1 (remove deckhouse roof section).

To make a removable skylight cover you will need to modify the deckhouse roof. This should be done before you glue the roof onto the deckhouse walls.

The skylight is placed on to a raised area that houses the glass dome, this needs to be removed. Take a -sharp- hobby knife and score around the raised base on all four sides. Repeat the scoring until you cut through the roof. This leaves the raised dome housing as a separate piece leaving a large square hole in the roof. Keep the part you have cut out, you'll need it for step 2.

Step 2 (base).

This piece is smaller than the skylight part H21 so before you glue this to the base of the skylight walls you have to make some modifications.

Measure the interior dimensions of the skylight walls (part H21) and cut a square of 1mm sheet plastic. Glue this onto the center of the top of the dome piece, ensure that it overhangs equally on all sides. When dry, drill/cut out the hole for the 'glass' dome and clean up with a round file until part B4 sits snugly into the hole.

Glue this section into the bottom of the skylight walls so that the bottom of the original square hangs below the level of the skylight's base by half its thickness, this forms a lip to lock the skylight into place and stops it from moving around. You should be able to turn the model to least a 45 degrees without the Skylight sliding off. (We can turn ours to about 80 degrees using this method).

Step 3 (painting).

Paint the entire skylight white and allow the dry. Paint the sheet plastic skylight interior gray, like the funnel bases. Do not paint the interior skylight walls gray, only the base that the dome sits on.

Step 4 (dome wrought iron pattern).

Option 1:

You can paint the black wrought iron detail using a very small brush and a steady hand.

Option 2:

Use an Indian ink pen to draw in the detail.

Option 3:

If you are using monofilament for the rigging you will have spare A/M rigging thread.

Make a loop out of a piece of masking tape, sticky side out. Attach this to a table top and place both glass domes on the tape.

Next cut several threads approx. 1 1/2" length and place them aside.

Take one thread at a time stick it on the tape next to a dome, then cross it over the dome and stick it back on the tape on the opposite side, tucking it up tight against the dome sides with the tip of the hobby knife. Repeat this several times until the threads resembled bicycle spokes over each dome.

When satisfied coat each thread/dome assembly with Kristal Klear and wait for them to dry. Trim the thread flush to the bottom of each dome and peel away the tag ends and masking tape leaving a ribbed dome.

This was then seated and glued to the Skylight assembly.

Step 5 (chandelier).

To make the chandelier that hung from the middle of the glass dome cut a small half globe shaped pip off the end of one of the model's `clear' part's trees.

Paint the flat side yellow. Once dry add a drop of glue to this surface and attach to the middle of the glass dome.

Step 6 GSC (foyer ceiling).

Paint the bottom of the removable Skylight/dome assembly to match the ceiling of the boat deck's GSC foyer.

Paint the base of the glass dome white (i.e. the inside edge of the hole the dome sits in). trim the hole with a brown where it attaches to the ceiling. Paint the ceiling flat white and trim its perimeter with a brown to simulate the decorative wooden ceiling joists.

Glue a slightly opaque glass bead into each corner is to imitate the chandelier/light fixtures found in this area (4 light units).

Though the lights are slightly inboard from their actual location, it is a trade off for the inaccurate dimensions of the dome. You can not tell when the Skylight is in place but when removed they add a little extra some realism to the skylight structure.

  • Note: The dome on the Titanic was an oval shape not round as it appears on the model. We were not game enough to fix this so if you have any ideas please let us know, also the pattern drawn above is of the Olympic GSC cover not the Titanic (Ed).

 

Item 2 - Fixing the Forward Grand Staircase Skylight.

Though the model comes with the basic shape there are a few things that need to be either changed or scratchbuilt.

The clear skylight cover is of the wrong pattern. The correct pattern is a 9 pane long x 5 pane wide grid with the center opening filled in.

There are four options to correct this:

Option 1:

You can use the old part (B1) and manually paint the grid pattern on it.

Option 2:

You can cut up evergreen strips to make the new pattern and then glue these to the model's clear cover. ( An extremely tedious procedure).

Option 3:

You can cut out a new glass cover from acetate and then use either method above to create the grid pattern onto the acetate.

Option 4:

Purchase Gold Medal Models brass photo etched skylight cover kit. (See above right) or Tom's Modelworks misc kit. This is the option that we would recommend and used on our model.

GMM part pictured.

Step 1 (adding walls).

The top of the GSC cover was cambered not angled as part B1 suggests. If you use option three or four you will have to make new end pieces to create this camber on your model.

When you put the skylight cover is in place later you will be left with a small arch at either end of the cover. There are two options to solve this problem, one before installation and one after.

Option 1 (building new walls):

We used the larger option of framing the entire skylight housing with new sheet plastic 'walls' and then adding the new GMM cover.

  1. Create the new walls. Use parts H21 and B1 for the measurements of the new walls and the apex of the camber. To save time create one cambered wall and use it as a template for the other.
  2. You will need to sand down the outside of part H21. This is to avoid adding width and length to the skylight when you add the new plastic walls. You will need to remove the same amount of plastic as the sheet plastic wall is thick. (i.e. if you are using 1mm plastic remove 1mm of EACH wall.
  3. Glue the new walls into place in preparation for the skylight cover assembly.

Option 2 (filling the gaps):

Rather than replace the wall you can fill the gaps with putty or taper Evergreen plastic strips or sheet plastic to the appropriate shape. The sheet plastic is a neater option.

Step 2 (skylight cover).

  1. Paint the cover flat white (spray paint preferred).
  2. Cut a piece of clear acetate SLIGHTLY smaller than the GMM cover's perimeter. This will aid in gluing later.
  3. When the paint is dry bend the GMM cover ever-so-slightly to achieve the camber needed (about a 1mm rise at the apex). To do this place the new GMM cover over the model's clear cover and press down on the OUTER edges to achieve the camber.
  4. Bend the acetate a few times (to give it memory) to match the camber of the inside of the GMM cover BEFORE gluing.
  5. Next glue the acetate to the inside of the GMM cover using white glue. DO NOT USE model glue or CA glue as this will cause the acetate to fog up

White glue will work fine because the acetate will be pinched between the GSC housing and the GMM cover. Add a few beads along the perimeter of the underside and a bead in the center rectangle, smear around with your finger. Apply the acetate, lining it up so all window panes are covered. If you have not used too much glue then you should not see any 'squishing' out on to the pane areas. Set the GMM cover/acetate window assembly aside to dry. If you don't want to use glue you can try simply pinching the acetate between the skylight cover and the frame.

Step 3 (skylight portholes).

On the aft side of the Grand Staircase cover you need to add two portholes.

Measure in 7mm from each side and 3.5mm up from the base of H21 and mark with a pencil. Next use the small drill bit that you used for the hull portholes and drill holes at these marks.

We had decided to make new liferings for the model so this freed up the model's liferings for other projects. Use two of the Academy/Minicraft liferings and glue one around each drilled out porthole. After they had set, fill the portholes with Kristal Klear to simulate glass.

Step 4 (part of vent).

  • Note: Some of the following dimensions will be effected by whether you decided to move the forward #2 Funnel trunk vent further aft. See VENTS section if you want to correct this.

The Titanic had a rectangular duct that ran from the bottom face of the box trunk vent forward of #2 funnel, across the 1st class foyer roof to the front of the GSC housing. The duct is not centered to the GSC but slightly off to starboard. When it reached the housing it bent up the aft side 90 degrees from deck level and entered between the two portholes.

To make the duct measure the distance from the front of the trunk vent to the aft of the GSC cover (make sure that it is in place if you have a removable one). Cut a piece of sheet plastic to this length and 2.5mm wide x 1mm high and glue to the deck house roof.

To make the upright part of the vent cut a piece of sheet plastic 2.5mm wide x 1mm high x 3.5mm long . Glue this onto the aft side of the GSC cover sitting on top of the horizontal section of the duct. If you have a fixed GSC cover then glue it onto the aft side of the cover AND the horizontal duct. If you have a removable cover then only glue it to the GSC cover ensuring that all edges line up. When the cover is on, the duct will look like one unit, but when the cover is removed it becomes sectional.

Step 5 (building the "bins" down the sides of GSC housing).

There are two bin like objects, one down each side of the GSC housing.

Once again, having used the Gold Medal Model railing kit you can use the A/M parts for this project. Take a section of A/M of `3-bar' railing. Cut four railing `panels' as seen below. Then cut this piece in sections along its horizontal length.

Use this a a template and cut out two sections of sheet/strip plastic to the same size as the sections of railing.

Glue the railings to the sides of the GSC cover as shown below, then a glue the sheet plastic on top of them.

When dry paint the bins dark gray

Step 6 (Breawater).

On the Olympic there appears to be a break water extending from the aft wall of the GSC cover to the forward side of the first railing aft.

Make this from strip plastic approx. 1.5mm high and round off the aft end as seen in the diagram below. Glue in line with the bulkhead below.

Thanks to Bruce Beveridge for this updated information and his drawing.

Photo of the Olympic.

Drawing and photo provided by Bruce Beveridge.

AFT GRAND STAIRCASE SKYLIGHT HOUSING

 

Item 1 ( portholes).

There are portholes on the sides of the skylight (parts J27L, J27R & G21). These existed on the Olympic but not the Titanic as can be seen in the Cork Examiner photographs. There are two options to remove the portholes.

Option 1:

Fill with putty, sand flush, then paint housing flat white.

Option 2

Cover over the outer housing walls with sheet plastic.

We used option 2 for a neater overall finish.

Cut a piece of sheet plastic to the dimensions of the aft wall and glue onto part G21.

Take the measurements along the side walls including the thickness of the aft's new sheet plastic covering. Cut a piece of sheet plastic using these measurements so when they are glued into place, the ends of the new aft's sheet were hidden from view.

Item 2 (skylight cover).

The aft skylight cover utilized a 7 pane length x 5 pane wide grid pattern.

You can use any of the four options mentioned in Item 2 above.

Again, we highly recommend using the GMM or Tom's brass photo etched sets. See the EXTERNAL SUPPORT PRODUCTS section for details.

GMM part pictured.

Item 3 (painting).

Paint the floor that the dome sits on gray The housing sides and the skylight cover are painted flat white.

Item 4 (glass dome).

Follow the same procedure as seen in the 'Fixing the Forward Grand Staircase Skylight' section , Step 4.

POOP DECK SKYLIGHT HOUSINGS

 

Item 1 - Fixing the Poop Deck Skylight Housing Shape.

The poop deck skylights (parts J31A & B) in the kit slope forward and only have three portholes along the front faces .The Titanic's skylights had flat tops and portholes both for and aft. We did not bother to use the ones from the model but fabricated our own from sheet plastic and A/M railing panels.

If you are using the GMM or Tom's Modelworks Titanic railings then use the model's for building the bases for these skylights. If you are not using the brass etched kit railings then you will need to make the bases out of sprue stock.

Cut two sections of one bar railing that are 2 panels in length. See diagram left.

Glue both of these onto sheet plastic, lining up both flush to a straight edge. When dry, trim the sheet plastic level with the edges of the railing sections. These are your new flat skylight covers.

Item 2 - Skylight Portholes.

These skylights had 3 portholes along the front and aft sides of each cover.

Mark the porthole locations with a pencil, one in the center and the other two 2.5mm either side of center porthole.

Drill these out or just paint them on with black paint. Modeler's choice.

Item 3 - Skylight Hatches.

On the tops of these skylights were two hatches, each sat towards the back half of the skylight covers. Cut these out of sheet plastic approx. 3.5mm long each x 2mm wide.

This completes the alterations required for the skylights that come with the model. The next 3 sections will cover the remaining 4 skylights that need to be scratch built or purchased via our EXTERNAL SUPPORT PRODUCTS list section.

FORECASTLE CREW SKYLIGHT

The modeler has three options available here, scratchbuilding, purchase the GMM skylight set or purchase the Tom's Modelworks misc set. We recommend that you purchase one of these sets as they are the correct size and shape. For information on this set see the EXTERNAL SUPPORT PRODUCTS section. It contains the dome skylight covers, crew, lavatory and marconi skylights.

If you want to scratch build the skylight you will need the following materials:

Parts required:

1 - sheet plastic frame
1 - sheet plastic hatch frame (frame style depends on one of two options chosen).
4 - small hatch covers with portholes

Item 1 (skylight frame).

Use the diagram opposite as a guide and draw the pattern onto a straight edge of sheet plastic. Then cut out the outline of the `frame'. We recommend that you practice with paper, making a

template and then folding it so you can see how the project works. If you wanted to you could trace your paper template onto the sheet plastic or mark it up fresh onto the sheet plastic. Modeler's choice.

Fold the frame at the corners and you should have two gabled ends and low flat sides that make a rectangle (looking like a roofless house).

Item 2 (skylight hatch frame - open hatches).

This step is required if you are having open hatches. To have the hatches open you will need to construct the sub structure that the hatches sit on. This requires some work.

 

Glue a strip of plastic between the tops of the gable points. When dry, add another from the center of this `joist' to the center of the low wall following the same angle as the gables. Repeat this for the other side.

Item 3 (hatch covers).

Option 1 - open hatch version

It is best to work on these hatches before you cut them out of the sheet plastic.

Mark out a box (5mm L x 4mm W) with pencil on to the sheet plastic and then divide this up into 4 quarters.

Next drill a hole in to the center section of each quarter using a small drill bit (0.63mm) . If you had cut these off first and then tried to drill them the small square would end up spinning around the tip of the drill bit.

Cut the box out the box. Now cut it into the four quarters. You should now have 4 hatch covers with a porthole in each hatch.

Option 2 - closed hatch version

Cut two rectangles of sheet plastic equal to the length of the skylight frame x the length of the gable slopes (approx. 7.44cm wide x 6cm long). Draw a line down the center of the sheet plastic along the 7.44cm length. Fold the sheet plastic into a 'V' shape along the center line. Dry fit this onto the skylight frame to make sure that you have a accurate fit. Trim if too large, build another one if too small.

Again we recommend that you make a template out of PAPER first and dry fit this to your sheet plastic skylight frame. When satisfied, trace it out on to the sheet plastic, cut and follow the step above.

Paint the covers and skylight housing a flat white.

If you are going to use acetate for hatch windows,add this before attaching the covers to the skylight. When satisfied with your hatches glue them to the skylight frame.

If you plan to on use Kristal Klear add the covers to the hatch frame/skylight frame housing either in your open or closed position. When dry fill in the portholes with Kristal Klear.

Item 4 (adding depth for the hatch for OPEN HATCH version).

If you have open hatches you will need to create the illusion of depth. There are tow options for this.

Option 1 - removing the forecastle deck.

If you elect to do this do it BEFORE gluing the forecastle to the hull.

Mark a rectangle the same measurements as the INTERIOR of the hatch onto the forecastle deck. Use the photo opposite as a guide. Next use a drill with a diameter that is as wide as the pencil lines to drill through the plastic deck inside the marks.

Now trim off the excess close to the pencil lines to form the rectangle. Then file the edges down until flush with the pencil marks using a small flat file. The end result should be a nice rectangular hole slightly less than the outer dimension of the skylight cover.

You may want to paint the C deck area below black.

Option 2 - shadow painting.

After you have painted your forecastle's deck color, mark a rectangle as you did above. Now paint this rectangle flat black. Then glue the finished hatch cover over the top of the black rectangle, this will simulate the shadowed recess beneath the hatch.

WHEELHOUSE AREA SKYLIGHT

There was a very small windowed hatch in front of #1 funnel's box trunk vent. This can be seen in Titanic wreck footage and the Ken Marschall painting on page 44 of Robert Ballard's 'Exploring The Titanic'.

The GMM skylight kit includes the Tank Room covers. If you have purchased this kit it will free up parts J12 for use in this project.

Take a sharp hobby knife and cut off one of the quarter sections of the A/M tank room cover. Sand down this tiny rectangle until it is square, paint dark brown and then glue it into position on the wheelhouse roof area.

  • Note: if you are lighting your model we recommend that you dry fit the skylight and mark the deck through the hole then drill a small hole through the roof to allow for the light to pass through once the skylight is glued on.

Once the skylight has been glued in to position and the paint had set fill the window with Kristal Klear.

LAVATORY & MARCONI SKYLIGHTS

Being of the same design and basic location on the Officer's deckhouse roof, these two skylights are treated together.

Item 1 (building the skylights).

Three options are available:

Option 1 - scratchbuilding

Use the same procedure as described in the FORECASTLE CREW SKYLIGHT section above.

These skylights had glass panes instead of hatches. You need to make the skylight frame and the hatch supports but no hatches.


Option 2 - GMM Brass Photoetched Skylights

See the note under FORECASTLE CREW SKYLIGHT.

Option 3 - Tom's Modelworks Brass Photoetched Skylights (Misc set)

See the note under FORECASTLE CREW SKYLIGHT.

Item 2 (positioning the skylights).

Position both skylights with the glass panes facing port and starboard.

This layout has been suggested by Bruce Beveridge who compared the layout of the skylights on the Titanic wreck to the layout on the Britannic. After comparing the two he concluded that the layouts on the two ships were the same.

Item 3 (lavatory skylight louvres)

It is possible that the toilet skylight had louvres on it (would you want anyone walking on the Officer's Quarters roof to look down on you when you were indisposed.)

Construct these from spare GMM Lusitania railing.

OFFICER'S DECKHOUSE CIRCULAR PORTHOLE

Just forward and slightly starboard of the existing Marconi antenna pole (which is to be replaced with a mushroom vent - see MISC section) there was a small circular skylight. See page 81 of An Illustrated History.

Drill a hole in to the deck and use one of the following methods to create the skylight.

Method 1

Carefully paint the rim of the hole brass and fill with Kyrstal Klear.

Method 2

Pull a piece of clear sprue to the diameter of the hole you drilled. Cut to a length of approx 5mm with a very sharp knife to avoid shattering the sprue. Paint the outside of the piece brass avoid painting the end of the piece so that it remains clear.

When dry glue into the hole so that les that 1mm protrudes above the deck level. Use as little glue as possible so you don't fog up the clear lens.

OFFICER'S DECKHOUSE BASEBOARD (A-DECK) SKYLIGHTS (SKIDLIGHTS)

The skidights were located along the base of the officer's deckhouse flush to the boat deck planking. These allowed natural light to reach the staterooms on A deck where light would have been reduced by the A deck prom weather cover, etc.

Drill a hole at each of the following locations and fill with Krystal Klear.

Bob Read mentions the following layout for the skidlight ports. Refer to the classic Smith/McElroy photo on page 38 of Don Lynch's 'Illustrated History'.

Starboard Side:

Skidlight No. Location Approx. measurement from forward corner
1
directly below first starboard window (navigation room)
2.0mm
2
between 2nd and 3rd windows (Captain's sitting room)
9.5mm
3
between 3rd and 4th windows. (Captain's bedroom)
18.0mm
4
between 4th and 5th windows (Captain's lavatory)
25.0mm
5
between 6th window and door (4th officer's quarters)
35.0mm
6
between first two windows aft of door (officers smoke room)
45.0mm
7
between the expansion joint and the first window aft of the joint
59.0mm

Port Side:

Skidlight No. Location Approx. measurement from forward corner
1
between first window (Chief officer's quarters)
4.0mm
2
below the third window (1st officer's quarters)
14.5mm
3
aft of the fourth window (or between the fourth and fifth windows if you add the extra window).
22.5mm
4
between the fifth (if added ) and sixth window
27.0mm
5
below the first window forward of the door
37.0mm
6
below the first window aft of the door
43.5mm
7
below the first window aft of the expansion joint
59.2mm
 

 
 
This site was created by David Cotgreave January 2000