Titanic craftworker

Nelson Drive man Rodney Harris invested hundreds of man hours on the model - fashioned from wood and metal and exquisitely detailed - which was recently completed at his home in Cheshire House.

Rodney - a former painter - also works four hours a day in Ashbrook Garden Centre with people with learning disabilities and said his shipbuilding side line was another way of appeasing his creative instincts.

"I wanted to do something to pass the time," he told the Sentinel. "You buy the parts every week. There are one hundred magazines and you build another bit every week."

"It's all wood and metal. You see the funnels. They didn't come as funnels. I had to build them as well. Everything had to be built and all the rigging. It was very tricky but I got it in the end. There's a lot of detail in it," he said.

The amateur artisan explained how he had suffered a severe change in his own circumstances after he was assaulted in Londonderry city centre a number of years ago.

Following the head trauma he experienced as a consequence of the assault Rodney was forced to abandon his job at local manufacturer Perfecseal because he could no longer work with machines, he said.

Fortunately his work at the garden centre and model-making has kept him busy in the aftermath of the incident.

"People are fascinated by it when they see it. It took me about three years. It's supposed to take two but because of my head injuries I just took my time.

"I was assaulted. That was about five years ago in the town. I was a painter all my life but I couldn't go back to work big machines. I used to work in Perfecseal," he added.

Rodney said the Titanic replica was the first large scale effort he had attempted but he has already embarked on a follow-up project. He is now building a large scale metal model of the famous train The Flying Scotsman.

"This is the first big one I've made," he said. "You know, I've done other smaller Airfix type models but it wouldn't be on the same scale.

"But I've started another one now The Flying Scotsman, you know the train, and it is a lot more difficult. And the Titanic was hard enough. If you see all the port holes there, in the magazine they told you to paint them black.

"I painted them black but you couldn't see them. They are pure brass so I used a scabble and scraped them all out so you can see every port hole there."

Given the time and money invested in the miniature Titanic - Rodney spent 500 on parts alone - you might expect he would shy to part with his creation but not so. The Nelson Drive man said he would be willing to selll it if the price was right.

"It cost 5 for each magazine and there were 100 magazines. So you're talking about 500 for parts. But I would sell it if I had the right buyer for it.

"As I'm building The Flying Scotsman now it's very impressive. It's solid brass and metal. It's a toughy," he said.