Brian Disney

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Did you ever want to know what it would be like to be at Southhampton with Titanic looking down on you? Once you take a look at this model, you'll know that feeling. This diorama has some of the best detail I have ever seen. Read below as Brian talks about how he incorperated some of that great detail...

" The dock is 11/16" thick plywood screwed to the base. The planking is 1/16" basswood sheeting scribed and glued to the plywood, and the rails are N Gauge model RR rails glued with 5" epoxy. The quay is a material called Sculptamold that was sanded to shape and painted. The buildings were the most time consuming part of the dock. There aren't alot of photos of the Ocean Dock from 1912 so sometimes I had to just make my best guess. All of the buildings and the cranes and gantrys are from sheet plastic. I didn't have the greatest pictures for the cranes either, but I think they are very close. Also, there is supposed to be a fourth crane near the one by the stern, but after building the other three I was getting a little tired so I left that one off. Maybe at a later date I will go back and add it. For the buildings and etc. I used various kinds of Evergreen styrene. V-groove siding for the roofs, car siding for the walls, and rod and strip styrene for the details. This was also my first attempt at weathering so I tried to not overdo it. I know the building behind the Passenger Shed is supposed to be the same height but I had to hide my transformer somewhere so I had to raise it up a bit. I think that covers most of the basics. If you have a specific question about something, let me know.

The color I used for the decks was Testors Model Master Dark Tan, FS 30219. I weathered it using pencil pastels. To modify the lifeboats, before you glue together the two parts H-3, use a sharp hobby knife to remove the top part of the lifeboat. It's easier to trim if you do it one piece at a time. Next, glue the two pieces together. I then took some Evergreen strip styrene (I think it was .020 x .060") and just cut them to fit. I'm not sure if there are the correct number of boards in the boat, but sometimes you just have to go with what works. To modify the No 1 hatch, first sand down the sides of the hatch to make them even with the top of the breakwater. I then used the actual hatch cover, G-5, as my template. Using thin sheet styrene, I cut out a piece that was kind of hour glass shaped. If you cut out the shape to be just a little bit bigger than the hatch cover, when you squeeze it a little bit you will get the slight dome shape to the new cover. After testing the shape, I glued it to the top of the hatch cover, G-5. Then add two half-circle shaped pieces to the sides. Sand to take off the rough edges and there you have it. If it would be easier if I drew you a picture, let me know and I'll get one sent off to you. My original idea for the diorama was for a night scene, say, the evening of 9 April, when last minute things were going on."

Brian Disney