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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. |
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| 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.
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FORWARD
GRAND STAIRCASE SKYLIGHT HOUSING - STATIC AND REMOVABLE
Item
1 - Making a Removable GSC Skylight Cover.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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 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. |
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Glue the
new walls into place in preparation for the skylight
cover assembly.
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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.
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 Step
2 (skylight cover).
- Paint
the cover flat white (spray paint preferred).
- Cut
a piece of clear acetate SLIGHTLY smaller than the
GMM cover's perimeter. This will aid in gluing later.
- 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.
- Bend
the acetate a few times (to give it memory) to match
the camber of the inside of the GMM cover BEFORE
gluing.
- 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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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
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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.
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Photo of
the Olympic.
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Drawing
and photo provided by Bruce Beveridge.
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AFT
GRAND STAIRCASE SKYLIGHT HOUSING
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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Item
3 (painting).
Paint
the floor that the dome sits on gray The housing sides
and the skylight cover are painted flat white.
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Item
4 (glass dome).
Follow
the same procedure as seen in the 'Fixing the Forward
Grand Staircase Skylight' section , Step
4.
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POOP
DECK SKYLIGHT HOUSINGS
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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).
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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.
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| 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. |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Once
the skylight has been glued in to position and the
paint had set fill the window with Kristal Klear.
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LAVATORY
& MARCONI SKYLIGHTS
Being
of the same design and basic location on the Officer's deckhouse
roof, these two skylights are treated together.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 |
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1
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directly
below first starboard window (navigation room) |
2.0mm
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2
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between
2nd and 3rd windows (Captain's sitting room) |
9.5mm
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3
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between
3rd and 4th windows. (Captain's bedroom) |
18.0mm
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4
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between
4th and 5th windows (Captain's lavatory) |
25.0mm
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5
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between
6th window and door (4th officer's quarters) |
35.0mm
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6
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between
first two windows aft of door (officers smoke room) |
45.0mm
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7
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between
the expansion joint and the first window aft of the joint |
59.0mm
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Port Side:
| Skidlight
No. |
Location |
Approx.
measurement from forward corner |
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1
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between
first window (Chief officer's quarters) |
4.0mm
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2
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below
the third window (1st officer's quarters) |
14.5mm
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3
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aft
of the fourth window (or between the fourth and fifth
windows if you add the extra window). |
22.5mm
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4
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between
the fifth (if added ) and sixth window |
27.0mm
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5
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below
the first window forward of the door |
37.0mm
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6
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below
the first window aft of the door |
43.5mm
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7
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below
the first window aft of the expansion joint |
59.2mm
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