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hello !

is there somewhere a link to the list of corrections to instructions ?
there is no more pictures in this post !

[quote="B.Lampman"]Dan,

One of the worst things with the instructions is that the order of construction or the lack of one is so hard to follow. During my build I continually had to ask myself a simple question: "If I attach this part will it get in the way of the next part and have I missed something along the way"? Many parts are just not included in the instructions. I have seen worst instructions before and these are very close to them. These really make you think every step of the way! [b]However, the end result of the build, is you will have one of the most detailed and accurate warship models ever made in plastic.[/b]

Bill[/quote]

I really enjoyed this thread of this amazing build. This build is, in my opinion, everything a build thread should be: It is inspiring for the quality of the result, and hugely informative in every important respect that such threads usually gloss over.

It really shouldn't be considered a negative that this thread is what finally convinced me that the Dragon Scharnhorst is not for me (despite being one of my favourites subjects due to its looks and history)... For me quite the opposite!

Even ignoring the instruction errors, would not give this kit high marks for accuracy: For me the deal breakers were:

-8 mm shortfall in the length of the bow (66.5 cm vs 67.3 cm OAL actual). Brilliantly corrected here, but way beyond most builders imho.
-Second row of portholes obviously mislocated compared to the armor belt's top, both above and in front of it (too high in both cases, or armor belt top too low- Maybe a combination).
-Anchor slot totally devoid of "lip". Despite appearances, this is quite a task to scratch and still get a good result, especially considering the necessary symmetry of the outcome.
-Smooth hull: Drydock pictures really show a more intricate and not that smooth appearance: Dragon can get away with this in their smaller destroyers, but I think here it just isn't quite enough, especially in light of overlooked intakes and whatnot.
-NO DEGAUSSING CABLE!!!! A hugely prominent feature that it is really inexcusable to omit.
-Cooling "plastic retraction" lines on hull opposite internal moulded structure: Not mentionned that much in this thread, but a significant issue on at least some pressings.
-Less than perfect fit of lower and top hull: Mileage may vary among modellers: Personally, I feel horizontal joints are a detriment to a good finish compared to a vertical joint, being much more visible and over twice the length, and this makes the fit on such a join particularly important. (Vertical joints however are perhaps more prone to overall assembly "twist")
-Oval rafts instead of octagonal. Not a big deal.
-Terrible and inaccurate instruction that make the build a chore. Maybe not a deal breaker, but certainly a fun sapper.

There is much better out there in this scale, especially if you look at IJN ships. On the plus side, the topside detail here is really incredible. However, this thread proves the kit is certainly overrated, and one of the harder builds out there.

Gaston

[url]http://www.ka-models.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=37_44[/url]

hi
can sombody point me in the direction of the MK1 website
cheers
gary r

Thanks Skiper.

Good luck with yours.

The MK1 set looks really good and thorough. I would definitely have used it, but I felt that I was too far along to start using it by the time I found out that it was available.

I really like their Mk1 decks as well. I don't think that was available at the time either. Although I would have still had to make my own bow section, their deck would have saved me a lot of trouble for the rest of the ship. Unfortunately, that is the downside of starting something before all the after market companies have done their bits. You don't want to really start too soon, but you don't want to let it sit in pieces in a box on your shelf forever either.

Dan.

Very nice built Dan. A must post to follow for anyone doing Scharnhorst. I chose to use both WEM's and MK1's upgrade sets for my built. The MK1 set is really useful set to have. It addresses many of the issues you tried correcting yourself using Dragon's pieces just by replacing with MK1 PEs like various small platforms, rails and superstructure handrails, underplatform structures and so on. Also it has the full funnel platform along with various PE pieces for the underside of this platform that is really an upgrade for the one that Dragon provides. Another unique upgrade is a basket of the machine guns for collecting the used bullet shells (no idea how it is called). Nice touch. All in all a must set in my opinion.

Thanks Rob.

Hopefully others can see my mistakes(a lot of them) and avoid them in their builds.

As for what's next, I'm in a "Russian mood". So right now I'm starting Marshal Shaposhnikov for the destroyer group build. I'm running into problems on it already. The kit lacks some of the details I want and unfortunately, the GMM set I'm using doesn't add them so I had to order the White Ensign set this morning. When finished, It'll go in the upper left side of the case. Then I plan on Pyotr Velikiy for the upper right slot. After that it's a toss up. Probably go back to cars or resin figures for a little bit before coming back to ships. I'll have to find some more room before starting on my final large ship, Admiral Kuznetsov.

Dan.

Congratulations Dan she is a credit to you :thumbs_up_1:. Thanks for taking the time to share your findings on the instructions.
So what�s next?
Rob.

Hi everybody,

So here it is. The final update.

As it turned out, I didn't change the barrels on the small machine guns after all. They look more out of scale in the pictures than they do in real life. All that was left was to put on the railings which went surprisingly smooth thanks to the CA accelerator.

The large piece count was a new experience for me. And having never built a Dragon kit of any kind before, the poor instructions really caught me off guard. As pleased as I am with the results, I don't want to have to deal with this sort of headache again, so I will be avoiding Dragon kits until I see a large improvement in their instructions.

My photography isn't the best, so I'll just post the finished pics here.


[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/2cf4hgg.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/2el9v0z.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/w9fl28.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/ose6w7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/i69fmc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i52.tinypic.com/2j3sdnk.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/ion04j.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/2qavluc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/ae9jic.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/sm7pjd.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i55.tinypic.com/25pq0ly.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/6hug6g.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/wbxsa0.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/o04fmc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/qsnuwo.jpg[/img]

Here she is safe and sound in her new home. I plan to rework Prinz Eugen and continue to try and improve Bismarck, after my group build entry is done.

[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/n4cr41.jpg[/img]

Thanks for looking, and thanks to those that commented for the encouragement to keep going.

Dan.

I wonder if it's a total limit of ten or a limit of ten of a single type. Regardless, something else you might find funny, I just had to put another browser on my phone in order to even see the smiley faces.

Dan.

[quote="California Bound"]
The parts in question are shown half way down the right side of the page that shows the assembling of the top forward main radar. It's just under the large number 2. I skipped over it lots of times myself.[/quote]

:doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1: :doh_1:
(and I've just learned that the maximum number of smileys allowed is ten ... :doh_1: )


Happy slapping ~ Olaf!

Rob, I completely agree with you. If they had put in less detail, they could have made it closer to scale. Unaltered, I think it looks more like it belongs as a mounted hose turret on a fire truck.

Dan.

I am hoping someone comes out with a 20mm for Scharnhorst because I am fairly certain Dragon molded hers way overscale. I have had to comment on it in some of the other projects that have come out, they want to add so much detail but they have to make it the wrong size to do it.

Thanks,

Yes, the first ladder MC-9 goes from the piece L-10 up to L-36 (barely visible in bottom of my picture posted above) and the second ladder goes from L-36 up to the hole in piece L32.

I wouldn't say you're blind. It's just the layout of the instructions. I've missed multiple things and had to go back and look for them just because of the layout being so jumbled. My eyes just skip over sections and relegate parts of the instructions as worthless. The parts in question are shown half way down the right side of the page that shows the assembling of the top forward main radar. It's just under the large number 2. I skipped over it lots of times myself.

Dan.

Many thanks for MC9. WHere is the second one going? Leading up to platform L36?

Maybe I'm just too blind to see it in the instructions... otherwise, another thing to add to the list...

Happy guessing ~ Olaf!

P.S.: I like the gun improvement! :thumbs_up_1:

Thanks Olaf,

Yes, I did put a ladder in that hole. It's MC-9.
[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/30ijb6g.jpg[/img]

Here's a close up of that rear Sumatra you mentioned.
[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/2rc6giu.jpg[/img]

And another really "small" update...

Ideas for the single machine guns.
Original on the left.
In the middle, an attempt I made at putting plastic on both sides of the White Ensign PE gun in order to bulk it up a bit. I added the barrel from one of the original guns.
On the right is an original gun with some of the bits cut off.
[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/2rw2id5.jpg[/img]

Based on how much time and effort involved for minimal improvements, This is what I ended up with. An original gun with the bits trimmed off, and mounted to a base made of just the bottom cone shaped section of the original base. This is the minimum height that is required to get the gun to fit over the top of the railings when the after market deck is also accounted for.
[img]http://i52.tinypic.com/2af4gj.jpg[/img]

No picture, but I did go back and replace the rigging line that had broken off. Now there are four of them going from the uppermost radio lines back down to the main mast.

It looks like the next update will be the last one. It's weird, the project has gone from a constant feeling of never getting anywhere or getting anything done, to suddenly looking down at it and realizing that it's almost finished. It makes me scratch my head and wonder "how'd that happen?"

Thanks for looking.

Dan.

Hi Dan ~ Model looks good, two things, one being a question:

The hole in the deck starboard aft of the Admiral's Bridge - did you put a stairway into it, and if yes, which one?

Then, you mounted three of the four butterfly-shaped Sumatra antennas to your foretop gallery bulwark. If you want to know where the fourth is going, simply put it to the railing facing aft, photos clearly show it. When looking from aft, put it slightly off-centre to starboard (probably as far off-centre to port as the forward one).

Happy modelling ~ Olaf!

Hi everybody,

It's a pretty small update this time.

Thanks to the accelerator for the CA glue, rigging went quickly. Again, rigging is not anything official. Just a mix of sources. Some windows are clouded over, the Kristal Klear hadn't dried yet.
[img]http://i52.tinypic.com/2aj2y2r.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/2i0zlzn.jpg[/img]

One line did break off, but I'm not concerned with adding it back. And unfortunately, I should have probably tried to make at least a partial metal mast. The tension in the line has curved the plastic masts slightly.
[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/2q2myid.jpg[/img]

All that's left now is the railing around the main deck, and I've still got to come up with an acceptable single machine gun shape.

Thanks for looking.

Dan.

Hi everybody,

The holiday allowed me to get a lot more done. And I tried super glue accelerator for the first time. I like it a lot.

Something I forgot to mention last week was that the fit between the forward superstructure and the back of turret B was so tight that the pieces tried to buckle in test fitting to the hull. I had to mark off the area on the back of turret B's support base that would be glued to the superstructure, and scrape off the layers of paint in order to get the two pieces to fit together tight enough to fit in the open area provided in the deck.

I've got the new lower hull color painted. And new prop guards built. The old ones didn't survive the masking for the repaint. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get a good picture yet. I've tried a couple different cameras and neither one captures the color correctly. Maybe I need better lighting.

I've got both cranes done now, and the range finder hoods in place. I couldn't seem to get the rigging on the far crane to stay tight. I'll cheat and pull the end of the boom down with some small fishing line once the forward superstructure is glued to the hull. Also, I like my side mounted range finders to be looking sideways instead of ahead or back.
[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/260v2om.jpg[/img]

Which brings me to a new correction. It doesn't really matter on mine because the color I'm using is so dark. However, if using a lighter color and/or you're a really good painter (which I'm not), the end pieces G2 and G3 are labeled backwards and need to be reversed.

It doesn't matter on the rearward ones because their support cylinders can simply be rotated, but for these front ones there is a notch inside G12 that matches to a tab inside the dome G13. If you want to position your domes looking anywhere except forward, you'll have to remove that tab from the inside of the dome.
[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/d87kz.jpg[/img]

I've lost some of the PE that goes along the front, so I'm replacing it with small plastic rod.

The three holes near the base of each yard arm is for support ropes that I'm in the process of adding. They will be easier to see once painted.

I had hoped to be able to assemble part of the bridge area and paint it prior to slipping in the windows so that I wouldn't have to worry about masking the windows. Unfortunately, the windows were too brittle and broke when I tried a test fit. That's ok though, they were really too thick and looked bad even with light blue tint. Unlike the front windows, they chose to mold the frames for the side windows as part of the window instead of being part of the wall. By not using the supplied windows I had to make window frames on the sides. Making two windows on the right side and three windows here on the left side.
[img]http://i53.tinypic.com/28un58g.jpg[/img]

According to Olaf, the rear wall of the top platform is supposed to be railing, so I cut out the wall and put in some railing.

For the upper mast support ledge I chose to stick with the plastic one instead of the PE. I figured it would make a stronger bond to both the mast and the wall.

Right or wrong, for the lower platform, I chose to open up the wall wide enough to match with the railing around the platform.
[img]http://i54.tinypic.com/wwkqop.jpg[/img]

Thanks for looking.

Dan