Titanic sails into Rozsa Center lobby Valerie Pegg, director of Great Events at the Rozsa, points out to Kelly Thomas, Rozsa Business and Customer Services manager, some minute details on the scale model of the Titanic, on loan to Michigan Tech from Gary Kohs' company Fine Art Models. Kohs, owner of the Mendota Lighthouse at Bete Grise, delivered the model himself to the Rozsa Center lobby in time for the August 20 opening of ticket sales for the Broadway musical Titanic, coming to the Rozsa Sept. 14 and 15.  HOUGHTON ’Äì A model of the R.M.S. Titanic arrived at the Rozsa Center on the Michigan Tech campus this weekend. Built to scale, the model is 62 inches long and is an exact replica down to the last minute detail. The model belongs to Gary Kohs, whose company Fine Art Models in Royal Oak, Michigan, was the first and only company to be invited by the shipbuilder Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland, to make a model of the great ship using the original plans. Thanks to Kohs, the model is on display during Rozsa lobby hours, 8 a.m. ’Äì 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and also during the September 14 and 15 performances of Titanic, the musical. Tickets for this Tony award-winning Broadway production are on sale starting from 6 p.m. on Monday, August 20, at the Rozsa Center Box Office located in the lobby of the building. On Tuesday, August 21, tickets will be on sale from all campus outlets and on-line at www.tickets.mtu.edu. Over the last three years Fine Art Models has worked with Harland and Wolff in researching not only the detailed studies of the original plans, but also designer's notes and other information. The impressive commitment to quality and accuracy demonstrated in all Fine Arts Models work motivated shipbuilders Harland and Wolff to authorize the production of a model of the Titanic. Fine Art Models hired Russian craftsmen to build the model of the Titanic on exhibit in the Rozsa Center lobby. The tiny details, such as the minute deck chair at far left near the flag, are built to scale. Work is currently in progress to build an 18-foot model of the Titanic, scheduled to make its first U.S. appearance at Explorer's Hall, National Geographic's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photos by Michele Anderson) Built largely of brass to a scale of one sixteenth of an inch to a foot, the model is a miracle of tiny details. The deckchairs, benches, funnels and bulkheads are amazing. Even the numbers on the lifeboats are accurate, but you need a magnifying glass to read them. The decks are made of wood and then etched with a Russian laser technique that marks out a plank pattern but does not set the wood on fire. Russian craftsmen also developed a technology for making a mold to cast a hull with relief details that can be extracted without damage to hull or mold in the process. Kohs has tremendous admiration for these artist/craftsmen but regrets that "within the next generation, this high level of craftsmanship will disappear." The model has been built to conform to museum specifications, which stipulate that such work must have a shelf life of at least 450 years. The model at the Rozsa is number 76 of a limited edition. Kohs says there is a list of people waiting for models, such is the public love affair with the ill-fated ship and its place in history. Work is currently in progress to build an 18-foot model of the Titanic. It is the builder's model of the ship which, strangely enough, was never built. The eighteen-footer will be introduced to the public at City Hall, Belfast, and later in the U.S. at Explorer's Hall, National Geographic's headquarters in Washington, D.C. This latter appearance will mark the beginning of National Geographic's national museum tour of all 16 model ships fabricated so far at Fine Art Models. The company specializes in transportation models including trains, planes and automobiles as well as ships. Kohs' drive to Houghton to deliver the model in time for the first day of ticket sales for Titanic, the musical, came hot on the heels of an important presentation. Kohs had the singular honor of presenting to the survivors of one of the worst naval disasters in the Second World War, a 42-inch model of their ship, the USS Indianapolis. The model will serve as a centerpiece for the planned Indianapolis Museum. The Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese two days before Hiroshima. About 800 people survived the attack, but due to a grave communication mishap they had to wait four days in the water till help came. Meanwhile the survivors were battered by wind and waves and attacked by sharks. Only 311 survived the ordeal. Seventy-six of them attended the reunion and were moved to tears at the sight of their ship.                                                                  ’Äì Valerie Pegg                                                                     August 20, 2001 Editor's Note: Valerie Pegg is Director of Great Events at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts on the Michigan Tech University campus.