Last spring I began my build of the Revell Bismarck. As I write today, January 2nd 2012, the ship is still not finished, but at least I can see the end now. I have been documenting my build,or at least most of it, and having noticed lately that a couple of fellow MW members talk about starting Bismarck builds, I thought they may find my experiences useful. I am not a master modeler, but I am comfortable with the various media used in ship modeling. My builds are rarely smooth, but they are true experiences that empty mind mind from real life's problems. This narrative will reflect my personal opinions both of the kit and the various extras used. Others might go through their builds differently...
As references I used the "Anatomy of the Ship: The Battleship Bismarck" by jack Brower, "Schlachtschiff Bismarck: Das Original" by Josef Kaiser, and "Warship Pictorial 19: Kriegsmarine Bismarck. They were all useful, but , as it happens only too often, they also contained some conflicting information (on minor details, to be fair), and I confess that i am not that good in exrapolating information from grainy 40's pictures. In addition, I made use of this site's "Calling All Bismarck fans" forum (indispensable!), John Asmussen's
http://www.bismarck-class.dk website, and the
http://www.kbismarck.org website.
Early on, I decided that I was not up to doing Bismarck in full Baltic stripes, and after seeing an aerial picture of the ship approaching Norway, I decided to do Bismarck in Operation Rheinuebung, at the time it was entering Korstfjord on May 21st, 1941. I opted to follow the camouflage patterns as provided by John Asmussen (
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/p ... elarge.gif), with Baltic stripes on the hull only and dark turret tops.
For my build, I used the Big Ed Bismarck set from Eduard, an old WEM Bismarck for Tamiya set I had lying around, BMK and Master brass barrels ranging from 15 inch to 20mm AA, Orange Hobby Kriegsmarine rafts, a Ka (Mk I) wooden deck, the wonderful new Veteran Models Kriegsmarine fittings and various other bits and bobs.
I chose to use the Lifecolor Kriegsmarine acrylic paints set.
I like to waterline my ships, and was aiming for a dead flat, dark water as i imagined it in a Norwegian fjord in a sunny day in late May.
THE BUILD
Up to this point, the largest model I had built was the SMS Grosser Kurfurst.Compared to it, Bismarck is huge. It is amazing how battleships grew in 25 years...
As it was also the first time I would use a wooden deck, I decided to do the build in subassemblies: waterline the hull, paint it, add the deck, add all hull PE detail, prepare the base but mount the ship as late as possible. Then build and paint all small pieces (armament, boats, cranes etc) separately and put them aside. Then proceed with the various superstructure pieces in the same manner, and, finally bring it all together! Well, it did not turn out as simple as that...
Attachment:
1B Bismack MW.jpg [ 139.87 KiB | Viewed 15501 times ]
The kit has been waterlined, painted, and the wooden deck and PE details placed. Chains added as well. Swastika background made by cutting a circle with an Olfa cutter on 40mm Tamiya tape and using it as a mask. The swastika itself is a decal from a 1/48 aircraft decal sheet. Already unhappy with the wooden deck. Too thick for my taste, and great difficuly in placing it. Its adhesive does not allow corrections, and placing it even a fraction of a millimeter incorrectly will haunt you later, as other pieces either will not fit or leave gaps.
Attachment:
1C Bismarck MW.jpg [ 117.82 KiB | Viewed 15501 times ]
Eduard PE on barbette face. Fiddly but nice. Did I mention that an Optivisor at X2.5 is a must???
Attachment:
1D Bismarck MW.jpg [ 134.72 KiB | Viewed 15501 times ]
Bow and anchors, which brings me to Part II of my rant about the Ka deck: it does not provide/include the different plank pattern which existed between the capstans and the extreme bow. If I recall correctly, the kit is incorrect in that as well. Eduard does provide the correct part, but.... it is PE! How do you match the paint with the wooden deck??? Simple: paint the wooden deck as well.... (which defeats the point of having a wooden deck, doesn't it?) That was the first crisis of the build.
Login
Register
FAQ
Not individual Eduard ladder rungs. Difficult to place correctly -despite the template provided- as even the finest drill (0.2mm is) wider than the PE rung, allowing some play of the part until it dries. White glue recommended.
