Posted by Bruce Beveridge on September 15, 1998 at 20:11:08 in dyn1-tnt1-226.chicago.il.ameritech.net:
The Titanic and the Olympic are not carbon copies
When I started this endeavor to build the Titanic model. I decided that I would make it as accurate as reasonably possible. In the process I have accumulated hundreds of dollars in books. I felt this was par for the course, I want accuracy.
Sean Winterberg’s page is very good for information and in the learning process you can meet many knowledgeable people. Many of them have answered my questions and are able to give references. I have found that some of these guys have been staring at pictures and reading information on the Titanic for as much as thirty five years. Included in Sean's page are links to many more sources of reference, including Roy Mengot’s modelers guide, which is the most accurate in my opinion. Roy is continuously updating his information and even he is continuously investigating the Olympic-Titanic differences. This page is a must for any modeler looking for accuracy. Thank you Sean.
In the process of research for the model and after looking at good to really bad pictures of the Titanic and the Olympic you will find differences in the ships, though many are small and purely cosmetic. Most of the picture captions will tell you what ship it is your looking at or you will get the “both ships had this feature” with a picture of the Olympic corresponding to it. Be cautious, Even some of the authors were a little confused. Ken Marschall has photos of the ships that we haven’t even seen, yet. He seems to be one of the foremost historians with regard to the architecture and arrangement of Titanic, however, his earlier works show mismatched Olympic features. Kens later paintings are corrected and I’m sure are still being updated as any new books featuring his prints are released.
As we all should know the Olympic was the first prize of The White Star line. The first of three in this size of ship. Most of the pictures are of the Olympic. Most of the fanfare and movie film was taken of the first sister. Nearly all of the interiors seen of the ships are of the Olympic. The deck building pictures and close ups of the forecastle and poop decks in Marriot’s “Titanic” are of the Olympic. The captions plainly state this. After Ismay traveled on the Olympic on her maiden voyage he had certain changes made for the upcoming Titanic. I’m sure Andrews made adjustments also. There are very few pictures of the Titanic as it wasn’t around long. The big hoopla was over Olympic as Titanic was still in the berths when Olympic was sent on her maiden voyage. If it weren’t for people like Father Browne, a couple of news paper photographers and the Odell family we wouldn’t have some of the great close up deck pictures we have now. When we need information on placements of the Titanic and there is no photograph of that certain area. We look to the Olympic and common sense for clues. A good picture of a subject area actully on the Titanic should put question to rest. Look at the picture of the Titanic’s third and fourth funnels on page 42 of Titanic an Illustrated History then take a look at the same area of the Olympic in Marriot’s “Titanic” p. 38 There is a vent missing, here’s one difference. The most visible difference is the enclosed promenade deck of the A deck on Titanic, it was open on the Olympic. There are pictures of what appear to be Titanic in the fitting dock. Some of these are of the great ship and some aren’t, as at this stage of the fitting, the enclosure wasn’t put in place on A deck yet. The picture on p. 25 top right is the Olympic. This is evidence of another difference. The picture shows the aft end of the ship in the fore ground. The stairs leading from C to B deck are positioned against the angled part of the deck leading to the back end of the second class entrance (see the stairs in Marriot’s “Titanic” p. 23). The Titanic’s stairs were moved to the part of the deck that is on the ninety degree angle from the center line. Small differences of this sort are true for the placement of the ships bell and certain vents and cowls on the boat deck, the hatch cover over the #1 hold, the sea ramp at the fore of the #1 hold,the ventilation/port hole type hatches at the base of the boat deck officers quarters, fore (Titanics were round Olympics were oval), the wheel house etc. Some of the ship plans floating around inside these reference books are deceiving also. The Ocean Liners Of The Past book which contains reprints of Shipbuilder magazine from that era comes with the plans for the Olympic. The plans on p.34 of Marriot’s “Titanic” are a mixture of the two ships (look at the aft stairs from C to B deck which were Olympic but the wheel house and enclosed private promenade are shown inherent to Titanic only) Scott Andrews had the opportunity to meet the historians Eaton and Haas who showed him their copy of the plans that are pictured inside the front cover of the book “Triumph and Tregedy”. They told him that these were the copy of the originals. It was signed by Thomas Andrews and Lord Pirrie and stated in quotes by Thomas Andrews “as built”.
This process of finding accuracy is a ongoing thing. Roy Mengot’s guide will come to a point when it won’t get any more accurate as there’s only so much you can do with a model at that scale. Some of the things he mentions are a project at that size, but if you succeed, you will be mighty fond of your achievements. Gold Medal Models’ photo etched stuff is beautiful and will bring you closer to accuracy with the scale intact. To sum it up don’t be to quick to assume Olympic and Titanic are carbon copies of each other, unless you don’t care about achieving as much accuracy as you can.
Bruce Beveridge