After a Hunt-class destroyer I'll do something completely different... Let's leave british waters and have a look at the icy hostile waves of the Kara See
This will be Admiral Scheer during Operation Wunderland more precisely during the sinking of the icebreaker Aleksander Sibiryakov.
If one wants a model of Scheer post-recunstruction the options are scarce. The best way seemed to be the conversion of Trumpeter's 1/350 Graf Spee kit which is dimensionally basically good and there are many accesories on the market.
However some major surgery is surely needed:
-the atlantic bow
-the forecastle deck which was widened to give the ship more flare
-the breakwater is in a different position
-the tower-type fore superstructure was cut down and replaced with platforms around a tube mast
-the after superstructure is of a different shape
The other problem comes from the available plans: most of them are inaccurate even in otherwise precise and detailed books...
Hans Gally from Germany offers the solution although his drawings are pretty hard to get and expensive not to mention the format... 4 pages in 1:100 scale... The first step was to make a copy in 1:200 because the original ones were very cumbersome to use. On the other hand they are terribly detailed and - cross-checking with historical photographs - accurate.
Thanks to Marco and his Graf Spee thread it was obvious that the stern anchor position is in the wrong direction, so I first removed it and later it will be replaced with one from the bow which was thinned appropriately.
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The original decks had to be replaced with plastruct car siding - photo later
greg