Movie model used in
'Raise the TItanic'

Photos provided by Jonathan Smith

NEW PHOTOS ADDED AS OF 4/15/03

Here is a selection of original photographs of the huge model made for the 1980 movie based on Clive Cusslers bestseller "Raise The Titanic!". To date, this model is the largest ever made of Titanic, and costing in 1980 some $5 million to construct. It is indeed an impressive model, weighing 10 tons with a height of 12 feet and a length of 55 feet. The main hull section is one peice fibre glass and the upper structure and deck details made from steel, wood and resin. The inside of the hull is fitted throughout with piping and floatation tanks to allow water to pass through the model easily during the raising scenes.

The model was built with the help of Titanic historian and artist Ken Marschall during late 1979 at the CBS film studio's in California. Originally, the model was built showing Titanic when completed in 1912 and without those now much talked about tall cowling vents. The original begining to the film was to show the Titanic sinking, using the model, but for reasons unknown, the sinking scenes were removed and replaced with the photo montage.

In early 1980, the films FX crew them went to work changing the model from her 1912 look to a ship that has spent 68 years underwater. As deck scenes for the movie were filmed aboard the ex Grace Line passenger liner Athinai, some parts of the Titanic model had to be altered. A small bulkhead was palced on the tips of the models bows, followed by three large cowling vents. Next came the broken 2 funnel. It is beleived that any photo advertising showing the model "bursting" out of the water would not look to effective if the forward funnel was missing, she would not look like Titanic, so they sacrificed the second stack instead. On the decks of the ship, some vents were taken away and some were changed, most noticibly is the skylight covering, this was enlarged and the ventilation pipe from the large vent at the back of the No1 funnel was removed. One final item was added to the model in the form of 6 large metal hoops which can be seen oon the boatdeck during the "fly over" scene after the ship is raised. If you take a closer look at the superstructure of the model, you will see a seperation in the plates running underneath the B-deck area, this is the join in the ship. The upper structure lifts away from the main hull so that the pipes and floatation tanks inside the hull can be reached, and this is why the model also has those 6 hoops, lifting hoops. Also built for the film were 3 model subs, 5 navel vessels, another 2 Titanic models, one at 8 feet and the another at 4 feet, and some floatation tanks used to raise the ship along with depth charges.

The tank taht was built to house the model cost $2 million to construct. It was 240 feet across and 40 feet deep. At the base of the tank was a large turntable that was made to represent the Atlantic seafloor. As the Titanic model was built to withstand the pressure of the endless times that it had to be raised from the tank, it did however cause problems with filming. Special camera's had to be built that would run 15 times the normal speed. The end result was breathtaking as the Titanic burst's up from the oceans depths.

The whole film cost $38 miilion to make in 1980, with only $11 million taken at the cinama. The man behind the movie, this British film mogul Lord Lew Grade commented after "it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic". In some ways Raise The Titanic has become a classic movie, and there is a part in all of us that wishes that the real Titanic looked the way she does in the movie.

Jonathan Smith

The Titanic is taken out to the "Deep Water Tank" to be sunk.

Divers shoot an underwater scene showing one of the subs moving along side the
Titanic's Starboard side inspecting the icberg damage

Lying 40 feet down in the tank, Titanic's stern comes into view.

Another stern view of the model showing some of the Poopdeck features

A close up view showing the incredible detail that went into the model. One of the fims
FX crew is seen recovering a film prop "light" from the model

The huge 55ft Titanic model sits ontop of the Deep Water Tank in Malta

Divers prepare the Titanic model for a film shoot

The Titanic raised and heading off to New York, well it could almost be!. The model on the surface
tank with one of the model subs at her stern. The film crew are on the right (out of sight) filming