The Ship Model Forum

I see that you live in the same city as I! Which shop did you visit?

And welcome!

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Hi Timmy,

I visited C&R's Hobbies and Collectibles in Langley. Do you know it?


The sales guy was Mike. Really nice chap and he came across as very knowledgeable.

Ah sadly, I have not had a chance to head out that way - I generally visit Imperial Hobbies in Richmond, as that's the only region I access regularly. If Apollo Hobbies had more ships, I'd go there too, as it's only across the street from Production Way Skytrain, where I take the bus to SFU.

But we digress!

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Thankyou ninjrk and amiers,
I have a decent pile of kits waiting to be built, so I can wait for the Revell. If I didn't have a stash, I'd get the Tamiya, and then the Revell when it came.
I just hope that with the PE for the Bismarck already released by Eduard, there won't be long to wait for a Tirpitz set.
Thanks guys for your input.

Thankyou very much,
Jesse.

Charlie,
This is a spendid kit straight from the box. In your circumstances, I would just build it as it comes and enjoy one of the finest kits in plastic today!

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M. A. DeBacker
Wine Country architect and museum artillery repairs
Special Navy U-Boot Type XXIII 1:72
Revell DKM Bismarck 1:350
Tauro RN Fiume, Pola, Zara, Gorizia 1:400
Heller DKM Admiral Scheer 1:400
Revell DKM Schnellboot S-100 1:72

Thank you.

I just started it and already I am really enjoying the process. Very relaxing and rewarding

I'm aware I'm about to make this post resemble a broken record
so my apalogies in advance. I'm a new member to this forum (Hello Everyone ) and like many before me I have been viewing this forum for some time now and so impressed have I been at the quality of the the models displayed and the in depth advice given that I figured it would be a good idea to join.

I have a few questions for you all so hope you can enlighten me with experience and knowledge.

My first one is about the Revell 1/350 Tirpitz which is due to be released soon or may already be released. I'm really rather confused to be honest, the Revell website says it is to be released yet and my local dealer apparently has it it. Does anyone have any reliable information on this. what date is it due and how much should we expect to pay for it as I have been quoted 70 pounds.

Also, what PE would you recommend for this kit?

I think I got my first ever scale model ship when I was 11, it was the 1/350 bismarck by Tamiya. I had no idea of the different configurations and paint schemes she had in her career, I was too young to care but I think I managed by pure fluke to produce a replica of her as she was when she was laid to rest at the bottom
of the ocean. The cracked hull, and missing gun placements made it particularly convincing. When I discovered it in my parents loft last year and compared it to the Titanic project I had recently resumed (Yes I too was suckerd in by the whole franchise) I realized I could do a lot better. So I have decided to do an all or nothing model of her sister ship in one of the "dazzle" camo schemes she wore in the Norwegian fyords.
Not only is it a challenge to do but I think it makes the ship infinitly more beautiful So off I went hunting for the exact patterns on the internet and I came across a website with all the paint/camo schemes for the tirtipz through out her career and the scheme for the period of sept '42 to July'43,
caught my eye. It seems the Germans decided to hide the 52,000 ton ship in the snow capped fyords of Norway by painting the tops of the main turrets bright orange .

Just to show you I'm not completely mad here's the link made this discovery:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/pa ... _1942.html

Can anyone varify this for me?

Thanks

Johnno

I have just had another look at the link, the orange could be red, its is almost the same shade as the swastica painted at her stern. I have also seen pictures of the Scharnhorst with red tops to her turrets so perhaps it is red... in which case to hide her from the Allied forces, the German navy cunninlgy disguised her as a German Battleship. Was it some wierd type of reverse psychology or am I just being daft?

Johnno

Hi Johnno ~ All the best for your project!

With regard to the link to this side, I think the orange is an attempt to 'scale down' the red. The problem is that we do not really know if it was really red. If so, then it was for air recognition. I do not know many photos - in fact only one b/w photo - were she is wearing this camo plus the turret tops (incl. the angled sides) appearing in quite a dark 'colour' (so to speak...) and where this dark 'colour' also includes the splinter shield of the Flakvierling on main turret "Bruno".

John Asmussen must have had a good reason to add this 'red' colour to the turrets. I can't 'read' colours in b/w-photos but I have recently learnt that they painted only the horizontal surfaces of the turrets (either red or yellow) while on transit from fjord to fjord. When at anchor or in her nettings, the turret tops wpould have been repainted or covered with canvas (except for "Bruno" of course...).

If you really want to paint your TP-model with those red tops, you may wish to contact John Asmussen, before you ruin your model, and ask him if he really has a really good and convincing proof of this - and this can only be a colour photo.

EDIT: BTW, the swastika on the poop deck could have been a flag in this case... I remember having seen a photo of it... hmmm... on John's site?

Happy Modelling ~ Olaf

Hi Johnno ~ I guess you are referring to a photo of Scharnhorst during the occupation of Norway? I think the colour for the turret tops was initially yellow but the British copied this and so the German switched to red. I could be totally mistaken though...

Best ~ Olaf

Hello Olaf,

Thank you for the replies you have been most helpful . I'm trying to get my ship as acurate as possible but as I'm relatively new to this I can't expect my first model in many years to be 100% acurate, however I shall try my best and whenI start I shall send you photo's of my progress.

Thanks again.

Johnno

Hi Olaf. I don't follow you: are you stating the British painted the turret tops of some of their ships yellow, presumably when they were off the Norwegian coast or on Murmansk convoys, in order to appear to be the Scharnhorst? Or that the British understood that yellow turret tops equals Scharnhorst, and the Germans switched colours to avoid the British knowing any more exactly what ship it was? Or something else?

Cheers, Gernot

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Gernot Hassenpflug
Find out how it works, then functionality and limits

Hi Gernot ~ I was talking about the time of Operation Weserübung. I thought Johnno was talking about a colour photo of Scharnhorst showing the red turret tops.

My other statement, about British yellow turret tops is not based on something 'official' - so I have no proof of this. I just heard that the British did so as they knew that the Germans had yellow turret tops as a result of a conference held aboard Admiral Hipper following an incident in which two German destroyers fell victim to friendly fire by aircraft in the North Sea a couple of month before, in January 1940. I was told that there is a colour photograph of one of the battle cruisers existing, off the Norwegian coast during Weserübung, where the red turret tops are apparent. I haven't seen this photo but I was told that there is one and this statement came together with the explantion about the reason for the red instead of yellow (which I had expected around Norway). To me, it makes some sense.... provided the British intelligence knew that the Germans used yellow for air-recognition - which could have led to use it too, in order to be mistaken as German ships by the Luftwaffe and therfore avoiding of being attacked... it could be that the German intelligence knew this and therefore switched to red...

I know, this is all very vague and hypothetical and I'm sorry for any confusion and for having spread rumours...

Best ~ Olaf

Is there any evidence to indicate that the Bismarck had her teak decks cleaned and polished before her sortie into the Atlantic? I'm trying to decide if I should paint her decks to look like polished teak, or to look like they have been bleached by the sun and weathered, in which case I'd use Tamiya Deck Tan.

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Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

Maybe I'm having trouble understanding how to 'polish' vast battleship decks but you can be sure that it was incoporated in the ship's routine to 'clean' them. I guess this was done on a weekly basis - of course I only can tell from today's German Navy where we had one day in a week - usually a Thursday - where we cleaned 'the whole' ship (not just accommodation and heads like we did every day). I assume there was not much difference in the daily or weekly routine of a German WWII battleship - okay you have slightly more wooden decks to care for like on todays ships...

The used long-handled swabs to do this - I don't think they 'holy-stoned' the decks on their knees... (which I could associate with 'polishing' a deck)...

If you think about the time Bismarck's decks were exposed to the elements - maybe two years plus - depending on when the deck planking was applied, they could have been faded by sun and seawater - but they were light in colour anyway. If you look at b/w photos, there is only a slight difference to the light grey paint of the superstructure.

Anyway - Tamiyas Deck Tan would be okay but it is far to dark - in my opinion. For 1/700 I would take one part Deck Tan and four or five parts light grey (very light)...

Happy Modelling ~ Olaf!

I'm working in 1/350. 1/700 is way to small for my tastes hehehe. From what you've described about the difference in color from the pictures, it sounds like they let the decks bleach out. This means that Tamiya Deck Tan is the more appropriate color to use here. I Hope some more people chime in and offer their input.

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Thomas E. Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasEJohnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYbo8185 ... annel_page in advance i appologise if this is posted in the wrong place its a link to my latest video of my current 77"long bismarck model testing a cheap new camera on board front/rear views and from land it has no real point but there is some good footage (ps use HQ) heres a pic i did of the man himself over the Bismarck engaging the "Mighty Hood"

I'm building the Tamiya kit and I've noticed that there is a lack in the number of small boats that the ship is supposed to have with it, and I also cannot find consistent referencing for which boats were present when. Which boats SHOULD be present if I want to display the Bismarck for May, 1941?

Thanks in advance!

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Collecting dust on the workbench:
Revell 1/48 F-15E Strike Eagle

Ciao all,

@ William,

which day of May 1941 ? because it changed,..... for Op. Rheinubung... as well as Bismarck camouflage scheme .

Ciao Antonio

After a long long time i think that this Bismarck during the battle od Denmark Strait is not a too bad version.



Hope you'll enjoy

All advices are welcomed

Nimitz