I took this project on for a friend who has a terminal illness as he no longer has the ability to make it. The Tamiya ship kits are very nice fitting but very light on detail. I enjoyed building this but when I compare it to the two 1/200 Bismarcks I own, there is a significant amount of detail that Tamiya just doesn't do. I've portrayed the ship at the beginning of Operation Rheinubung. I also used a cheap chinese upgrade kit that had photo etch , brass barrels, wood deck, anchor chains and swastika masking. It was a surprisingly good set and I would look to use them again for other ships in same scale. The rigging was added to portray the impression of some rigging rather than anything accurate. Not something I do very much of but went the extra mile on this one.
Colours used were Tamiya XF54 Dark Sea Grey for the hull, XF83 Medium Sea Grey 2 for the superstructure and XF24 Dark Grey for all the dark bits.
If you're looking for a simple kit to make, I think the Tamiya ship ktis are a lot of fun. If you want something a bit more serious with detail, I think the Trumpeter kits are far better in this scale.
cheers
BT