I’m the king of the world! Or how I rebuilt the Titanic

The year is 1998. I’m on spring break in Mainz, at my first girlfriend’s grandma’s house. Although exactly a quarter of a century has passed since then, I still remember quite clearly how my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to watch Titanic a second time with her in the cinema. «Of course,» I told her. And not only because I was oh so in love. The film was frankly worth buying a movie ticket twice.

One of the biggest Lego models of all time

When I happened to see the Lego model of the Titanic a few weeks ago, I immediately knew I wanted to recreate the ship in honour of the movie’s anniversary.

LEGO

LEGO Titanic

10294, LEGO Creator Expert, LEGO Rare Sets

116

LEGO

LEGO Titanic

10294, LEGO Creator Expert, LEGO Rare Sets

116

So, I went ahead and placed my order of the detailed 1:200 scale model. With a length of 135 centimetres, the ship is one of the largest Lego models of all time. The set contains over 9,000 parts. Only the Lego world map and the Lego Eiffel Tower have more parts. This is my first time attempting a Lego build this large. Even transporting the package from the office to my home on the train was a spectacle. I earned a few envious looks when I hopped on with the very large box.

When I walked through the front door, I got straight to unpacking. The Lego set consists of three large boxes. That makes sense, as the Titanic can be divided into three segments.

Each of the three boxes comes with building instructions – though it’d really be more accurate to call them books. I’ll have to go through over 1,100 steps to put the steamship together. How many hours will this cost me, I wonder. In any case, I assure my boss that I won’t book all the time I spend assembling it as working hours.

Small errors can lead to time-consuming fixes

Time to get to work! Step by step, the instructions show me how to create the Titanic from the 9,000 pieces. But that’s not all. I also learn interesting facts about the Titanic, enriched with historical photographs. After a few minutes of total concentration, I reach that meditative state (you passionate Lego fans will probably know what I mean). Now, I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan, and it shows. I make small layman mistakes at the beginning. Correcting these mistakes afterwards turns out to be so tedious sometimes that I learn my lesson and start to take my time. After about eight hours, I’m done with the first segment. I proudly look at the fruit of my labours and do a quick calculation. In total, building the Titanic will take me a solid 24 hours.

Unfortunately, certain steps are repetitive

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy building Lego and find it relaxing. But I wouldn’t mind delegating some of the work to my children and turning the Titanic into a family project. But for reasons unknown to me, my kids just aren’t interested, leaving me to assemble the remaining 6,000 or so parts on my own.

Gradually, my fear is confirmed. The construction steps begin to repeat, accompanied by an increasing feeling of boredom. But at the same time, I’m captivated by how detailed the Titanic replica is becoming. Inside, I recreate the 1st class dining room, the grand staircase, one of the boiler rooms, the many cabins of different classes and the swimming pool. Further details include the over 300 portholes, the lifeboats, benches and a cargo crane.

Flashback to Jack’s demise

Building my way through the set, I reminisce about the fantastic movie. Of course it was corny and full of pathos. But, to this day, I’ve committed the scenes and music from the movie to my memory. And I’m certainly not alone in this. The list of highest-grossing films puts director James Cameron’s epic in fourth place, having grossed nearly two billion dollars. The film won eleven Oscars, among others in the Best Picture category. But it’s not the numbers that are most important in making this film so unique; it’s the plot, and especially the two main actors, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Rose and Jack meet in 1912 on the RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage, which would end in tragedy. It’d be beyond the scope of this article to describe the entire plot, which lasts more than three hours. Some iconic scenes include Jack standing on the bow railing and shouting, «I’m the king of the world!» at the top of his lungs. Or Jack floating in the Arctic Ocean as he freezes to death, holding Rose’s hand with his last ounce of strength before sinking into the depths of the sea.

First I spill tea over the table, then destroy an assembled part

I’m jolted out of my daydreams when I realise my set contains an incorrect building block. And there I was, wondering how it was possible that, among the over 9,000 pieces, not a single one is missing or wrong? Alas, I then reach Step 190 in the third instruction booklet. The culprit? A small blue triangle. Since I can’t find a replacement part in my son’s large Lego collection, I just make do with the wrong piece. You best be sure I’ll be lodging a complaint with Lego! This is, frankly, not okay (/irony off).

And then I’m hit by another unacceptable event. While Lego building isn’t particularly strenuous, it’s still important to get in enough fluids. Too bad I placed my mug so stupidly that I knocked it over, pouring tea all over the Lego blocks I’d spread out.

Despite the challenges, I’ve got the second of three sections eight hours later. My reward? Finally, some recognition from my kids in the form of amazement. The same can’t be said for my wife. Then again, it was hard enough to convince her that spending hours building Lego is, in fact, work.

On to the third section. By now, I’ve got the hang of it and am much more efficient. I’m certain I’ll finish the final section in under eight hours. Alas, my joy was premature. As I near the end, I just can’t get the two larger parts of the hull to fit into each other. One of the connecting pieces must be wrong, but which one? I decide to opt for a touch of violence. Bam! Pieces of the two sections of the hull fly through the air. I imagine this is how it went down shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912, when the luxury steamship collided sideways with an iceberg about 300 nautical miles southeast of Newfoundland.

Well, fuck. I guess I’ll have to start more or less from the beginning. Needless to say, reassembling the parts I’d already assembled isn’t much fun.

Are 9,000 parts worth the hefty price tag?

Finito! Although I didn’t reach my goal time of 24 hours due to the repair, which took over an hour, I did at least stay under the 30-hour mark. I proudly carry the 1.30-metre and 14-kilogramme Titanic into the living room and place it on our sideboard. Admittedly, it’s a space hog and certainly also a dust catcher par excellence. But it looks damn good. What’s more, you can play around with the Titanic. You can turn the propellers and see the piston steam engines move inside. You can set the anchor or tighten the tension line between the masts.

You could even add some nice lighting to your Titanic, but I ended up skipping on this luxury.

Building bricks

EUR209,–

Light my bricks LED light set for LEGO Titanic

50

Building bricks

EUR209,–

Light my bricks LED light set for LEGO Titanic

50

Over the next few days, my kids bring in a surprisingly steady stream of visitors. They want to show their friends the masterpiece their dad’s built – most of it during working hours, mind you. The question is, would I have bought the set if I’d had to pay for it? I don’t know. Sure, building the Titanic was fun. But is it really worth the several hundred francs the set currently costs? In any case, I don’t own the model; it belongs to the company. Now I just have to figure out how to get it back to the office ... One thing is certain: even more looks of approval and envy on the journey there.

I’m the king of the world!