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Peter Davies Garner's 18'
Titanic display model
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The story of Peter Davies-Garner and his quarter-scale Titanic model
In 1996 I was still a student of architecture and lived outside of Cologne.
In my cellar at that time was an unassembled Entex Titanic model kit in mint
condition. One day I got it out of the cellar and started to build it. I was
pretty familiar with the ship in those days and I knew which faults needed
to be corrected on the kit.
My idea in those days was to write a book about the Titanic which was to be aimed at modelmakers, using my Entex kit as an example.
About a decade earlier I had been in contact with Harland & Wolff about purchasing copies of the builder’s plans. As copies of the plans were then available, I purchased a copy. When I received them I was horrified to realise that they were only Olympic’s old engineering deck plans which had been crudely altered to represent the Titanic. Now, In 1996, I got out all my old correspondence with H&W and decided to give it another try. In one of Claus-Göran Wetterholm’s books was a picture of part of the Titanic rigging plan, and I also saw the a copy of the complete plan in a Dutch book, so I felt that at least some of the builders’ plans were still available. I ordered another copy from H&W and received the same altered engineering plans again. I decided to call H&W on the phone and was put through to Tom McCluskie. I explained to him the situation and he answered saying that most modelmakers were perfectly happy with the engineering plan - but I certainly wasn’t. About ten days later I received a copy of the rigging plan in 1/144th scale free of charge.
Shortly after that I decided to have this plan copied in 1/200th scale and use it at a basis for drawing my own Titanic plans. (I didn’t know then that at the same time, a guy called Robert Hahn was doing exactly the same in Berlin.) It took me two years to draw the side-profile alone. It was my aim to include every detail such as shell-plating, coal chutes, coaling clamps, ash ejectors etc. (This plan is now featured in the end-papers of my book.) I didn’t have the H&W shell plating plan in those days but after I eventually obtained it I was pleased to see that nearly every overlap and joint on my plan was precisely where they should be. A top view was also started (including deck planks) but never completed. At that time I also wrote the chapters “Loss of Titanic”, “Builder’s Models” and “The Hull” (bread-and-butter-system) which are now also in my book. I contacted Chatham Publishing in London asking them if they would be interested in publishing the book. They showed great interest, and the book was finally published nine years later.
In the meantime I graduated from university and was taken on by the company I worked for as a student. Having a full-time job hindered progress of my book project; I ran out of steam and the project was shelved.
In 2000 I realised that I had no future in architecture so I started to look around for an alternative job. While I was still a student I gained experience and a very good reputation in building architectural models for several companies in and around Cologne. I decided to give a try at starting my own business building architectural models. Small ads were published in specialist magazines and even before my last day at work in Cologne the first commissions started to come in. I also placed an ad in “Die Jacht” (The Yacht), a German small-craft sailing magazine advertising museum-quality ship models. A few months later, as a result of that ad, I was commissioned to build a model of a 14th century German cog. It was a delightful little model and it only took me six weeks to build. Little did I know what lay ahead of me as before the cog was finished, work on the 1/48th scale Titanic would start.
One day in mid April 2001, while enroute to the Model Engineering Expo in Dortmund, I received a call from Steve Rigby of the British Titanic Society. He was calling from their annual convention which was being held in Southampton. The general manager of a Titanic Museum in Florida was at the convention and had approached Steve, asking him if he knew a modelmaker who could build them a good large-scale model of the Titanic. Steve asked me if I could do it, and I optimistically replied “sure!”. Steve then gave the manager my e-mail address.
Upon making contact with the museum, they enthusiastically told me that they were very interested in purchasing a large-scale, well-detailed model of the ship. At first they were thinking about a model about 22 feet long, but as this would have resulted in a very awkward scale I suggested building a model in 1/48th scale. This is an approved scale amongst modelers and would result in an 18-foot model. They agreed,
and asked me to send them a quote for how much such a model would cost. After several agonizing weeks of not hearing from them, they said they wanted to go ahead.
In the meantime, as I didn’t have much to do at the time, I started on a few items such as the capstans, bollards and the reserve anchor crane, even though I stipulated in the contract that I would not start work until the initial payment was received. But unfortunately, the contract also stated that the model was to be completed in six months!
I was fortunate enough to find a large airy workshop less than two miles away from my home where I could build the model. I still work there today. The initial payment was booked on my account on September 1st 2001, so this was when work on the model really started. Two-and-a-half years later the completed model would be taken to Belfast to be handed over to its new owners.
Part 2: The Story of Its Construction – coming soon!