Hi Maarten,
The height of the barbettes in 350th is 3mm.I`ve attached some pics of the barbettes to compare them,also a pic of the TPR conning tower top,and the plan.
Regards Phil
plan of the conning tower top
The TPR conning tower top
The Tpr 11" barbette
The ACA barbette(Sorry if looks like a toilet seat !!)
" If your going though Hell ,keep going!" Winston Churchill
Hi Phil,
Great info, thanks very much! I've just measured ACAs barbette height and a disc of Evergreen 1mm/040" plastic should do to raise things close to 3mm. If I can manage to also increase the tightness for turret fit it kills two birds with one stone, so to speak Also appreciate you posting the material for the conning tower - would you happen to have something similar for the ports along its sides?
Oddly enough the drawing seems to show fewer periscopes coming through the roof than either kit or the one clear photo I have shows. Wonder if that changed with the viewports along the sides somewhere in the ships career?
I would also like to share with you all a little something I found regarding the anchor chain in ACAs kit - been staring at pictures to see what's what when it comes time to replace them and found that with the ship underway, both front chains would seem to almost always be rigged to the two foremost openings (forgot the term there) instead of as the kit provides. At anchor the kit situation would do fine. As for the stern anchor, I did not find any pictures of the ship underway with the chain anywhere in sight on the rear deck. It looks as if it was stowed away somehow/somewhere until needed. The smaller diameter stays of course stay in position unless you would want to model her without the anchors!
Best regards, thank you,
Maarten
PS: It does look suspiciously like a toilet bowl doesn't it!
Trumpeter is known for not always breaking the upper and lower hulls up on the actual waterline; their Arizona kit for example was something like ten scale feet too low. I suspect in many cases shape chooses the break point more than actual waterline.
Hi,
Just to let you all know,I`ve attached the three deck pieces to the TPR Graf S,and apart from removing the ledge underneath the centre deck,as it fouled the vertical bulkheads on the quarterdeck,there were no problems,in fact I have never seen such perfectly fitting parts.They require no filling what-so-ever.Hope it stays this good !!
Cheers Phil
" If your going though Hell ,keep going!" Winston Churchill
Hello again gents,
Well, I've been looking high and low and while I cannot say for sure what exactly is going on with the conning tower viewports, I cannot recognize the "all-the-way-around" look as TR has represented them. Looks like there are less of them but that's not to say ACA has it right. Also ran into a new point - TR has a rectangular platform beneath the stack, ACA only represents that area as even with the wood deck but smooth instead of planked. Pictures of that area seem to be even more rare than of the conning tower (figures! ) but when looking at models or drawings it goes either way. Have some overhead drawings that show them, but no sideview to ascertain if it was raised from the deck..anyone have the skinny on this one?
Thanks for all your assistance, best regards,
Maarten
PS: ACA has molded some deck structures right on the transition between the platform and deck planking. Which ever way is correct, I don't believe those are in the right position.
During my construction of the TPR Graf Spee,I`ve discovered another error.In the kit the rear of the torpedo tubes project from the housing ,after looking at many pics as I can,this should not be the case,they were sealed in.I`m going to have a look at the ACA kit and see if they are correct.I will let you know.
Regards Phil
" If your going though Hell ,keep going!" Winston Churchill
Hello again Phil,
Yep - I noticed that too from the review. From what I have found, the tubes should stick out a bit, I have found a picture taken aboard Admiral Scheer showing them. However, all other pictures from Graf Spee show them to be covered with a tarp of some sort - I'm assuming here that both launchers would be the same across the two ships. The Scheer photos can be found here (good site anyway, lots there can be used for Spee as well): http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 3&start=15 . Not sure where I found the cover photo, give me a while to find that one.
Very best regards,
Maarten
PS: To all visitors - what would be the preferred way to add points to the "niggles & suggestions" post I made before? Add a new reply or edit the original post?
Hello gents,
Work is slowly progressing but I'm enjoying the kit. Have WEM's set coming to add to the fun!
I've been checking on what the stack and its main deck platform look like and below is what I have interpreted from the grand total of two pictures I could find showing this area. Would love to hear from anyone what they think about my interpretation, basic as it may be The gray area is just to show the "step" I think I can discern, with a bit of a slope leading up to that. Please forgive the large picture size, left it that way intentionally to better show the details. File size should be fine.
As said above, any and all opinions are very welcome.
this is a very informative build ,i like the history and pics of the sheer and graf spree.32 years ago i built a graf spee out of wood and anything i could get my hands on .with all this info and pics i am tempted to build her again in 1/200.i have seen the movie battle of the river plate many times,even if the graf spee is an american heavy cruiser it is still a good movie.i wonder what would have happened if lansdorff new the whole british fleet was not waiting for him
Hello again gentlemen,
Back with another shot - this one is from the Osprey Publishing book on German pocket battleships, showing the area in question on Admiral Scheer. Going on the assumption that this is similar if not identical to Admiral Graf Spee in this regard - only Deutschland/Lutzow was a very much different ship.
Again, depending on my eyes, it seems there is a definite slope there, far more pronounced than what I drew before.
As before, I would welcome any opinions and thoughts on this. Don't think I have seen this feature on any kits yet!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with a few shots showing what I have changed on Academy's kit sofar (if you gents would like to see them that is)
Russ - I agree 100 percent with you - MW is great that way, with a separate forum for particular classes saved in one thread.
"One other Graf Spee question: Airfix's kit includes a plaque on the front of the bridge structure, inscribed "Coronel" (presumably referring to the WW1 battle in which Admiral Graf Spee fought). It seems a bit large to me - overscale or not? And would the plaque have been painted differently to the rest of the ship?"
Edward, try and get the Shipocraft book on these ships, it has a picture of the board with the batlle honour. I think they repeat the green camo myth (?) though.
In 1757 Admiral John Byng was shot "pour encourager les autres". Voltaire
Adm JB, in answer to your question regarding the "Coronel" plaque and if or not is was painted, hopefully these should answer your questions, pic 1 is at the '37 Coronation review, not sure about date pic 2 but certainly pre war, in both pics the plaque is clearly visible and appears to be natural wood. in pic 3 and 4, taken in Montividao Harbour Dec 39, although the area in question is partially in shadow I think there is enough of the plaque visible to safely say it was painted the same as the hull/camo colour
What Admiral Nelson really said when he put the telescope to his blind eye,,,,
"I see no ships,, whats that Hardy? oh er, right, ah, thats better, F@@k Me, look at all those ships"
Looking for some info on the G.Spee as when it was the flagship in 38'.Was the 3 color band still painted on the turrets? was the eagle at the side of the turret?
angeleyes wrote:Looking for some info on the G.Spee as when it was the flagship in 38'.Was the 3 color band still painted on the turrets? was the eagle at the side of the turret?
Up until October of 1938 the Graf Spee was painted as you say.
Also appreciate you posting the material for the conning tower - would you happen to have something similar for the ports along its sides? 
