Take her to sea

Sitting back with yet another brew in hand I have to admit I have enjoyed the last couple of evenings looking at the hull thinking about how it would look slowly rising out of the Harland and Wolff dry dock in Belfast. Indeed by the time it was due for launch from the dock ready for the interior fittings to be added it was already one of the tallest structures in the Irish city and thats without the four funnels.

Because of its massive size, it needed a rudder to match. Something that was capable of steering over 46,000 tonnes of ship. The rudder itself was over 78feet high and weighed over 100 tonnes. The rudder on the model comes in two halves which fitted together nicely without too much trouble at all. It may have been possible to made it move, but the effort involved in doing this along with the preparation and planning was one consideration, the other was that if I didn't get it quite right there would be a lot of back tracking to get it looking right and possibly a phone call to Revell to ask for a replacement. So in the end I decided against it. As a component though, it does give an idea of the scale of this colossal section.

They are moulded in white which against the shiny black hull do look a little odd at the moment but eventually they will all be the same colour. The other white components in the picture are the housings for the additional propeller shafts. If you have ever heard of Titanic being referred to as a "Triple Screw" vessel, this relates to the three screw propellers that powered her through the sea.

Before I fit the propellers, I will need to get hold of some 'Brass' paint. I will be painting these on the plastic sprue before I remove them and fit them, getting a paintbrush into small places is not as easy as it seems and experience has taught me this is the better option.