Titanic is such an obvious choice for a RTR R/C boat that it's surprising manufacturers have taken this long to produce one! They started to turn up on eBay earlier this year (not sure if any UK retailers have them yet - Howes will probably be the first) but the asking price of £80 + postage seemed very steep for a RTR (for that price, you could buy the 1/350 plastic kit and at least half of the gear needed to R/C it). However, last month I picked up a second-hand example at a model show for £40 - As it has rudder steering and a more or less scale prop layout (unlike most cheap RTRs), and is also about 10% larger than the 1/350 plastic Titanic kit, with a single-piece hull moulding, I thought it had a lot of potential.
I'm sure there are other Mayhem members who've seen this RTR boat and wanted to find out more about it, so I thought it would be worth posting a basic "review" with photos of the working parts + interior hardware as well as closeups of the model itself.
A note on scale: The RTR Titanic is described on the box as "1/325". I was surprised to find (comparing the model's 85cm length with that of the real ship) that this is correct - I assumed it was a straightforward copy of the 1/350 plastic kit, as are the RTR "1/115" Sovremenny destroyer and "1/275" Kiev carrier, copied from (and the same size as) the Trumpeter 1/200 and 1/350 kits. However, I have a Revell 1/400 plastic kit of Titanic, and the small detail parts in this are virtually identical in detail and parts breakdown to those on the RTR Titanic. So I'm guessing the manufacturers copied the 1/400 kit instead, and scaled up everything by 25%, resulting in a 1/325 model!
Though 1/325 is a tiny scale by R/C boat standards, the model is still a fair size and looks quite impressive both in and out of the water. Unlike a warship, there aren't many tiny, intricate structures like radars and AA guns, so "scale fragility" is less of an issue .
Also note that my second-hand model had the upper masts and rigging broken off, as you can see in the photos below. This doesn't bother me as I'll be rebuilding the upper masts from metal wire anyway. On an intact model, the rigging (black thread) consists of three "antenna wires" running between spreaders attached to the masts, and lines running from the masts to metal eyelets at the bow and stern. The forward mast also has a small plastic flag.
Anyway, first here are some overall views of the model. The hull - up to the level of the well decks - is a single-piece moulding in the lower hull colour, with the upper hull painted black. Most of the upper works consist of another single-piece moulding in sand-coloured plastic (deck colour), attached to the hull with screws (most of which are concealed under the cranes, a few are under non-prototypical "capstans" on the boat deck and two are at the bottom of the battery compartment), with the hull sides and bulkheads moulded seperately in white plastic parts. All the parts, other than the black upper hull, are unpainted; the yellow stripe at deck level is a strip of adhesive tape, which also seals the join between the hull and superstructure mouldings.
As you can see in the 4th photo, the model has LED lighting (more on this later)
The battery compartment is concealed under a removable section of deck amidships, under the compass platform. It's held in place with a single screw, which goes into a metal threaded holder (so hopefully the threads won't wear away from repeated use, as would be the case if the screw went straight into plastic). The on/off press button is located on the forecastle.
Size comparison with the 1/400 Revell kit (the paint on this is not my work!)
Now, the most important part from the R/C point of view, the hardware. Note that getting the model apart was quite a tricky job, and should be done very carefully if you're not (as I am) intending to rebuild the boat from the deck up anyway! The deck/upper works moulding is held in place by numerous screws, most of which are concealed under capstans and cranes. The former are easy to prise off, the latter not so much - I eventually had to slice them off with the aid of a Dremel saw + chisel-bladed hobby knife. Once the deck moulding is removed, the hull sides and funnels - which need to be removed to get access to the LED lighting - are also held in place by screws, but these are easy to get at and remove.
The three photos below show the setup from forward to stern:
Each prop is driven by a separate motor, connected to the shaft with a universal coupling. The motors and couplings look reasonably good, and are fixed in place very securely. The rudder is operated by a simple three-position servo, similar to that on the Dickie/Seaport tug; this is located over the central motor. The receiver is in a sealed box forward of the battery compartment, connected to this is the coiled wire aerial - the straight upper end of this appears to be intended to go inside the forwardmost funnel, but with my model was loose inside the hull, which may have contributed to the radio range problems (as most of the aerial was then near the waterline)
All of the hardware is quite neatly and securely fixed in place, and most of the wiring is also neat, with screws and tabs to hold some wires in place; unlike the "spaghetti" found inside many RTRs.
Ballast consists of a bundle of steel bars between the motors and battery compartment location (plus a single bar between the outer motors), and a block of concrete-like substance in the bow, under the receiver box.
The props appear to be cast metal (possibly zinc alloy) with a brass coating, and are held in place by a brass nut. They're reasonably scale in size and appearance, though the central prop doesn't have the correct four blades. The rudder is also more or less in scale. When steering, one of the outer props shuts down, but the turn circle is still quite large.
The prop shaft "skegs" for the outer props are separate plastic mouldings, and are not sealed or glued where they contact the main hull, allowing water to seep in. Water doesn't get into the hull itself - but it's still important to make sure all the water is drained out after running. I'll be sealing these up with epoxy glue as soon as possible!
The battery is a 9.6v ni-cad pack, as usual with RTRs a compatible charger is supplied. The transmitter has straightforward three-position speed + steering controls.
The battery pack sits quite low down in the hull and should not cause stability problems (unlike the one in the Dickie/Seaport tug) but it is quite loose in the compartment, and if it shifts too much to one side can cause the model to heel over slightly. I'd highly recommend adding some padding (e.g. thin foam, bubble wrap) to the battery compartment to prevent this.
Lighting consists of a series of colourless LEDs along the promenade deck, which are attached to a long, thin circuit board; and a LED in each funnel. The effect is shown in the third photo below (it would be a lot more noticeable in darker conditions, especially the funnels). IMO, the promenade deck lights don't look bad at all (painting the inside surface of the hull sides would help, so that the light doesn't shine through the plastic), but the funnels glowing from inside looks more than a bit stupid (especially considering that they're totally the wrong colour; "White Star Buff" is an orangey sand colour, not bright yellow)