Click here to go to the Vent Inventory

When examining the Minicraft instructions and comparing them to reference material on the Titanic it soon becomes apparent that the model has the majority of the blowers and vents listed incorrectly, incorrectly orientated or just plain missing. The authors cross referenced everything they could before settling on locations and types of vents. All positions were determined by Ken Marschall's paintings, Titanic photographs or both. Bruce Beveridge also played an important role in locating some valuable information on several vents.

A few of the items Roy Mengot has covered in his excellent Guide book on model corrections available at his web site at: The Wreck of the RMS Titanic

- and a *special* thanks for the additional info and cross referencing to Bob Read who was a valued contributor.

At any rate this is a vast improvement to the suggestions offered in the assembly manual. To make things easier to understand the inventory starts from the forecastle and work its way towards the stern. It is not suggested that you replace, alter, or glue the vents in the order they appear in in the inventory. They are only presented them from bow to stern for ease of location and identification on the ship. You can either glue them in the order stated in your Instruction manuals or wait until later in the construction process so that you don't keep knocking them off the model.

All Instruction booklet references are to the pre 1999 re release of the Academy/Minicraft 1:350 model. They will not pertain to the new 1:400 Academy Titanic. The instructions for the re-released model are have a similar order but where there are differences the re-release step number will be in brackets (_).

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE VENT DRAWINGS

The drawings contained in the vent section are original work by the Rivet Counter Webmaster using available reference materials. However, the vent configurations are based on research by Bob Read and due credit should be given to him.

Where every care has been taken to draw the vents in approx. proportion they are NOT TO SCALE and you should not use them for any measurements. Please refer to Bob Read's drawings for scale drawings.

For some detailed information on Titanic's vents please refer to the introduction page of Bob's Vent Inventory.

VENT OVERVIEW - MAKING MODIFYING AND IMPROVING VENTS:

Some of the vents have been left 'as is' but you will see from the vent diagrams you can add more detail if you wish. As a general rule:

1. All of the vents will require filing and sanding.
2. To keep your vents in order and avoid losing them you shoud get hold of seventy or so of the re-usable coin bags that you can get from a bank.

COWL VENTS

These parts are badly molded and require a little filing and sanding to get them into shape.

To add a little 'depth' to the intake of the cowl vents to you can enlarge the existing depression.

1. Use a pin vice and either a 1.75mm or 2mm drill bit. The 2mm bit will give you a finer wall but be careful to get the drill bit dead centre or your drill bit might slide and destroy the side of the intake.
2. Drill to a depth of approx. 1.5mm and spin the end of the drill bit in the hole to clean out the depression.
3. You can either paint the interior white, a light gray to simulate greater depth or red, depending on which theory of the interior colour that you subscribe to.

Scratch building Cowl Vents

Fashion from parts of the sprue tree or from plastic rod assortment.

You need two pieces, one to be the upright and one to be the intake.

File a groove into the top of the upright to approx. the same radius as the rod/sprue. Glue the other piece into the groove to form a "T" piece to give you some extra to work with. Then trim and sand into shape as required.

Rotating Cowl Vents

In general the free standing cowl vents could be manually rotated by a pair of small handles on either side of each cowl. Make these by cutting out small pips of pulled sprue and gluing one to each side of the cowl. Paint the pips flat white to match the cowl column. These include the vents aft of the Tank Room roof, B Deck aft and the Poop Deck.

The cowl vents were constructed in two halves not one piece. To simulate this add a thin black line on either side of each vent.

MUSHROOM VENTS

Large Mushroom Vents

To make the mushroom vents for the forward Well Deck use three different diameters of Evergreen rod assortment.

DUCTS:

There are many option for making the various ducts and parts for vents that can be cut and shaped as required. Here are a few:

1. Use the `number' tags on the parts `tree'. Break
2. Glue two lengths of 0.40 x 0.40 Evergreen strip side by side.
3. Various widths of of plastic sheeting.

Some motor units have a circular duct opposite the motor rather than the rectangular ducts. To make a circular duct:

1. Cut off the existing duct.
2. Cut a short length of 2mm diameter plastic rod or sprue.
3. Drill a 2mm hole into the motor unit opposite the motor.
4. Glue the rod into the hole and let set.
5. Cut to rod to approx. 1.5mm in length.

MOTOR UNITS (Improving the cowl/motor connection area).

There are a couple of considerations when gluing the cowl vents to the motor unit.

1. The current method looks bad because it leaves a flat triangular shape on the side of the vent that did not exist.
2. You will be reorienting many of cowl vents so you have to cut off the "connector" anyway.

To make a cleaner looking cowl/motor joint do the following:

Step 1.

File and sand all bad mould lines

Step 2.

CA glue two lengths of 0-1 (.40 x.40) Evergreen strip together and allow to set. Two 10mm lengths should do. Allow to set.

Step 3.

Cut off short lengths as needed and CA glue into the "notch" of the vent motor. Allow to dry and then trim and file flush with the edges of the vent.

Step 4.

Cut off the connector on the bottom of the cowl vent and file the bottom flat.

Step 5.

Glue on the motor unit in the correct orientation. (See individual vent diagrams for this).

Step 6.

Fill any gaps between the base of the cowl and the motor unit with CA and sand smooth.

• Note: If you are doing a lot of vents at once wear a dust mask as the fine plastic filings can irritate your respiratory system.

MOTOR UNITS (Scratch building):

You will have to construct many new motor units as the kit does not provide enough for the amount of vents that the ship had. Here is a simple method that you can use for both right handed and left handed motor units.

Step 1.

Using the dimensions of parts G33 or G25 cut a quarter D shaped unit out of scrap plastic approx. 1.5mm thick.

Step 2.

Cut a short length of sprue or Evergreen rod approx. 1.25mm in diameter.

Step 3.

Drill a small hole in center the same diameter as the sprue you will be using for the motor and glue the sprue into the hole. This makes the join very strong and there's less likelihood of the motor coming off. Don't worry if you go all the way through because you can push the rod all the way to the other side and then sand flat. Or, if required, use it as the circular duct on the opposite side of the motor housing.

• Note: A left handed motor unit is pictured above, for right handed units put the motor on the opposite side to that shown above.
  

Step 4.

Cut two short lengths of 0-1 Evergreen strip and glue them together with CA. When dry file the top corners to an angle and glue below the motor. When this is dry cut off the excess.

Step 5.

Clean up with some fine sand paper and glue a small microdot to the end of the motor.

Step 6 (Vents with cylindrical tanks).

Use part G23 as a guide and build motor unit as above. Cut a 5-6mm length of 3mm diameter rod or sprue and glue to the appropriate side of the motor unit, round off the end slightly with a file. You can also use the redundant G30 parts.

TRUNK VENT MODIFICATIONS

There are a few options for modifying the trunk vents.

Option 1:

Step 1.

Carefully sand off the existing grill detail.

Step 2.

Make a new frame around the face of the vent using K1 strips or unused Lusitania railing. Replace the uprights using spare GMM railing.

Paint the vent white and grill areas gray to suggest depth.


Option 2:

Step 1.

Carefully sand off the existing grill detail.

Step 2.

Tom's Modelworks new trunk vent photo etched parts over the top. You will find that these parts are about a third too tall for the part. So line up the top of the part with the top of the grill when gluing. Once set you can trim off the excess at the bottom.


Option 3:

This is the webmaster's solution for a truly three dimensional finish that you can look down. Refer to diagram below.

Preparation:

Cut the trunk vent parts off the tree being sure to mark the number of each part on the curved back of the vent. Parts H23 A have a different curve to accommodate the slot that they will eventually fit into.

You will need to make the new ends for the trunk vent so trace the outline of the end of one of a H23 A and H23B onto a very thin piece of sheet styrene and cut out four for H23A and six for H23B.

• Note: One of the parts on the kit is incorrectly numbered. There is a part marked H23A in the bottom right hand corner of the "H" parts tree. This should be an H23 B.

You can also cut through the deck house roofs to give the vent even more depth. If you do this ensure that you paint the deck below the hole black. You may also need to add an additional plastic bulkhead to stop light from spilling in.

Step 1.

Place the vent part in a vice with the forward corner facing up.

Step 2.

Grind or file the part down until you are left with just the back of the vent.

Step 3.

File each end down a little to allow for the new plastic sides.

Step 4.

Glue the sides onto the appropriate vents that you prepared earlier.

Step 5.

Glue the appropriate Tom's Model works trunk vent grill into position. Again, the parts are too big for the existing parts so line up the top of the part with the top of the grill when gluing. Once set you can trim off the excess at the bottom.

Step 6.

Carefully fill and gaps between the grill and the rest of the structure sand and paint white.

CURL VENTS

Existing Parts:

There are a many motor units that have a curled vent attached to them. The model moulds these as a solid piece that drops down to the deck. As seen in many of Bob's fine diagrams these curls did not go all the way to the deck but had an angled bottom and were attached to a motor unit.

To correct this you can simply build a new motor housing for each vent, this will either be a motor housing as described above or a cylinder/motor combination.

Then simply cut the bottom of the curl vent to the correct angle. Be very careful to get the angle correct for each vent or you may cut the bottom sloping the wrong way.

Scratch Built Parts:

To scratch build a curl vent cut a strip of sheet styrene to the approx., width of the curl vent required. Cut off two sections to the height of the vent you need then glue them together with the bottom of the upper piece in the position that you want the curl to finish.

When dry file trim off the excess of the upper piece and then file to shape. File the bottom of the piece to shape as required.

CYLINDER/MOTOR UNITS

There are one or two instances where you will need to reverse the position of the motor and the cylinder, Vent 50and Vent 64.

Step 1.

Remove the curved duct on the back of the part (G23) and file smooth.

Step 2.

Using a miter box an saw, carefully cut the cylinder away from the motor unit and clean up the burred edges with a file.

Step 3 (modifying the motor unit).

The motor unit is now the wrong width and shape, in that the saw blade has removed some of the width of the unit and the curve is on the wrong side.

To square up the curve take a piece of scrape plastic the same width as the housing or slightly greater (Evergreen 2mm sheet works well). Cut a small square approx. 7mm x 7mm and then cut this in half diagonally. Then file a curve in the center of the diagonal. Keep testing it against the curve of the vent until you get it just right then CA glue the two together joining the curve of the vent to the hollow in the plastic triangle.

Cut two short lengths of 0-1 Evergreen strip and glue them together with CA. Cut off a small section and glue this to the flat side of the motor unit. This will give it more width.

When both are dry, trim and file the new plastic sections until you end up with square unit with all side lining up with the original sides.

Now use a file to round off the new curve on the opposite side to the old curve.

Glue the new motor unit to the cylinder and paint white.