Of course! You have paypal, right? I charge $4.95 per random tip.

Seriously though, I'm not selling anything so I'm happy to share any and all modeling "secrets" I might have gleaned during my hobby misadventures!
Well, 5 or 6 tubes of putty later and I'm finally getting close to finishing my reshape of the hull bottom.
I made up a full set of posterboard reverse cross-sections from Bismarck plans (from the "Anatomy of the Ship" book) to help guide me along, also in 1/200 scale.
Here's the standard kit hull for comparison (though I can't get them all on a finished bottom):
As you can see, other than the area just forward of the props the hull really isn't all that far off; it's just too round more than anything. You can get closer to the right dimensions mostly by adding more material along perimeter of the lower hull (though I did sand about half the thickness of the bottom flat) and along the keel on both ends.
I did multiple fairly thin layers of squadron putty, allowing each layer to dry before adding the next so I didn't get a squishy mess.
Another layer:
and where I am now:
It's still not 100% and I'm not totally sure I've got a really accurate shape either (109 and his 1/100 masterpiece have previously converted me to the "square and chunky Bismark bottom school of thought") but it's certainly an improvement.
Thoughts, opinions and advice welcome!

Of course! You have paypal, right? I charge $4.95 per random tip. :wink_3.gif Seriously though, I'm not selling anything so I'm happy to share any and all modeling "secrets" I might have gleaned during my hobby misadventures!
Well, 5 or 6 tubes of putty later and I'm finally getting close to finishing my reshape of the hull bottom.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/b00oNhZ.jpg[/img]
I made up a full set of posterboard reverse cross-sections from Bismarck plans (from the "Anatomy of the Ship" book) to help guide me along, also in 1/200 scale.
Here's the standard kit hull for comparison (though I can't get them all on a finished bottom):
[img]http://i.imgur.com/agUgnSQ.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/hXIqlwi.jpg[/img]
As you can see, other than the area just forward of the props the hull really isn't all that far off; it's just too round more than anything. You can get closer to the right dimensions mostly by adding more material along perimeter of the lower hull (though I did sand about half the thickness of the bottom flat) and along the keel on both ends.
I did multiple fairly thin layers of squadron putty, allowing each layer to dry before adding the next so I didn't get a squishy mess.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/18mX4o3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/GpvSfj5.jpg[/img]
Another layer:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7Vngppa.jpg[/img]
and where I am now:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Re9jSMV.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/R9uOBdB.jpg[/img]
It's still not 100% and I'm not totally sure I've got a really accurate shape either (109 and his 1/100 masterpiece have previously converted me to the "square and chunky Bismark bottom school of thought") but it's certainly an improvement.
Thoughts, opinions and advice welcome! :wave_1: