As I was adding the Window frames to the superstructures in Issue 22, I realized it does not appear that we will be receiving any ‘glass’ for the windows and portholes of our Agora Models 1:200 scale RMS Titanic model. Because there is no real interior to be seen through these openings, I decided to add my own ‘glass’ and give it a frosted look. I am hoping this will help diffuse the interior lighting and give the windows and portholes a feeling of depth.

I have three sections to this page for different parts of this ship:

• Hull Portholes
• Clear Superstructure Windows
• Stained Glass Superstructure Windows

Hull Portholes

First, I purchased some 12×24″ clear acrylic sheets that are 0.04″ (1mm) thick.

Using scissors, I cut long strips from one of the sheets.

To create the frosted effect, I sanded one side of each strip with 400 grit sandpaper in a circular motion:

Then, I only needed to super glue these strips behind the porthole openings with the sanded surface facing inwards:

There will be situations where the strips need to be cut to fit around mounting posts, such as seen here. In this example, I needed to glue an extra small piece of acrylic sheet to cover a nearby porthole:

I cut the strip for other side in a better way – this side did not need the extra piece:

There may some areas where much thinner strips are required, such as under the forecastle edge:

I actually worked on these windows in one of my ‘In the Lab’ livestreams on YouTube:

In this video, I show the difference between how the lighting looks with the stock portholes:

And, how my frosted porthole windows look with the same lighting:

Clear Superstructure Windows

Using the same acrylic sheets, I cut long 3/8″ (5mm) wide strips from one of the sheets and sanded them like the porthole windows.

Starting with the Rectangular Windows in the Officers’ Quarters superstructure, I cut these strips down to fit behind a single wall section of the bridge superstructure windows.

Next, I test fit a strip behind the windows (with the frosted side facing inwards away from the windows). As there will be a small ridge on the decks that these superstructures will fit around, I aligned these strips to the top inner edge of this superstructure leaving at least a 1mm gap along the lower edge. Once I was happy with the fitment, I used small drops of super glue between the windows to attach the strip in place.

TIP: Super glue will adhere this strip in place very quickly, so make sure it is aligned correctly before you apply any glue:

The other side of the Officers’ Quarter superstructure was completed in the same way. Once we powered up the interior lighting LEDs, I saw right away that these new strips of ‘glass’ really help make our windows look much better:

For the larger Arched Windows in the First Class Superstructure, the identical process was followed, but the strips were cut slightly wider:

The smaller sections of this superstructure simply required shorter lengths of sanded acrylic sheet:

Finally, since these two Arched Window openings have a screw post in between them, I cut these strips to fit as close to the post as possible:

Again, when we lit this superstructure, the windows appear more diffused and uniform with their lighting. I will likely used some aluminum tape on the deck below these superstructures to help spread the localized LED light around more effectively:

Stained Glass Superstructure Windows

There are many locations on the real Titanic where beautiful stained glass windows were used. Since we are not provided with any windows at all, I decided to try my hand at creating the ‘appearance’ of stained glass with my own windows.

The first windows we receive that should be stained glass are the upper windows of the First Class Lounge in Issue 47. Here, I decided to try a slightly different approach to using the thick acrylic sheets as before. In this case, I cut strips from the various blister packs that my other partwork models arrived in. We could basically use any thin clear plastic as well, such as from a water bottle:

To create the upper First Class Lounge roof windows for example, I cut very narrow strips from this plastic:

Again, I sanded one side of these strips with 400 grit sandpaper to make it opaque:

I then cut small pieces from the strip to apply to the inside of the window openings. For the small ‘slit’ windows of the Lounge roof, these were simply glued into place with the sanded side facing inwards:

To recreate the ‘stained glass’ effect inside the arched windows of this roof, I first measured and cut out strips to match the length of these windows:

I then used a piece of low-tack painter’s tape to hold these down on my work surface:

Then, I used various 0.4mm Fine Tip Sharpies to make dots and lines that could look like the nice imagery these windows actually had:

Finally, I glued these strips behind the windows inside both sides of the Lounge roof:

This area of the stock model is only lit by a single LED, but I am adding my own custom lighting to my Titanic. Until then, I temporarily threw an LED filament inside this roof section to show the result of my ‘stained glass’ look: