1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz - First go at ship building!

[Bigmek]

Hello everyone!

I happened to come across Tamiyas kit of Tirpitz in 1/350 at a low price and since I have been curious about trying to build a ship I couldnt resist buying it. It didnt turn out as cheap as I first thought though since I quickly realised that in contrast to tanks and aircrafts photo etch is pretty much a necessity, especially on a old kit like this which lacks quite a lot of details. So I bought Eduards set which contains 4 sheets full of very nicely done pieces. I had never worked with photo etch before but thankfully the brass wasnt as fragile as i had feared. With all the extremely thin pieces it looks like it will snap if you just breath to heavy on it but so far I havent mangled a single piece!

I started the build a while back and is currently working on the super structure. I'll post a bunch of pics from the building to bring you guys up to date!




The hull was painted with a technique I've learnt from fellow swedish modeller Ulf Lundberg. I first sprayed a chaotic pattern with two shades of brown and two shades of green.



Over it I then sprayed a mist of tamiya hull red and flat red (aprox. 1:2 ratio). I think this technique gives a very nice effect on the hull which I think is something which can feel a bit to monochromatic at times.



Next it was mounted on a piece of oak with brass tubes. I ran in some trouble with the paint so I had to repaint the hull. The boot topping hasn't been repainted as you can see.





Next step was painting the deck! But first i had to try hide the seams between the deck pieces without removing the raised planking details. Can't say I succeeded that well with it but I think it's as good as it'll get...

Anyway the first step in the painting process was spraying tamiya deck tan over all of it. I then masked individual planks and sprayed wooden deck tan over it.

This was repeated with desert yellow.

The masking tape was then removed. Doesnt look very good, but it's not finished yet!

I then misted desert yellow and deck tan over it and gave it a wash with burnt sienna. I'm aware that this probably isnt a historically correct color but I am quite pleased with it anyway.
This is the result!



This is where I am today. I have been working on the super structure and added some photo etch. Still alot left to do!

Nothing of the superstructure have been glued in place yet, they are just dryfitted for the photgraphing.






Next step will be to complete the superstructure and turrets enough for painting! I'm planning to paint her in paint scheme I ( http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/pa ... _1942.html ). I'm a sucker for those red turrets! I also need to add and paint the photo etched steel- and wood decks.

Thanks for watching! I hope you like it and any tips you may have for a newbie is very appreciated!

[Dave Spencer]

Excellent start, Bigmek. You are a bit like me. Starting your first ship, and finding yourself confronted with over a thousand bit and pieces to glue together.

Regards, Dave.

[Nansen]

Nice to see another noob shipbuilder here. I'm currently working on my first ship as well. From the looks of your work it seems like you know what you are doing. Looking forward to follow your progress.

Erik

[richtea]

Nice start,
welcome to ship building.
Regards
Richard

[Bigmek]

Thanks guys!

I'm having really fun with this build and I will most definitely be building more ships in the future! I felt kind of overwhelmed at the start with all the pieces in the kit and the photo etch. Just deciding where to start was a challenge. I'm getting more comfortable as the build goes on but I still have a hard time deciding in which sequence you should do things. Like how much PE should I add before I paint the cammo and when should I add the PE decks etc.

I'm wondering about the masts, is it necessary to build them out of metal or can I use the kit parts? I would prefer the easy path of just doing it with the kit parts but if the rigging will leave the masts bent then it won't be any fun.

[PetrolGator]

Looking good.

I've got the Bismarck in my stash and I think I may bite the bullet and pick up the Eduard photo etch set. Have you started messing with it yet?

[Stefano Salesi]

really neat job!

And a really intresting technique for painting the lower hull. ctrl+c ctrl+v

[mermaid]

Don's forget to cut off ventilation sleeves off the B turret barbette as it was Bismark which had them.

[robertmelvin]

Looking excellent so far. Couldn't tell by your results that this is your first ship. I know what you mean about feeling overwhelmed by all the plastic and PE to glue together, what order, when to paint, etc.. I've been back into the hobby for over three years now and still find myself feeling that way, especially at the start of a build. I've found that as you get into it, especially if you plan before you glue/paint, it somehow all seems to come together in the end.

Bob

[Bigmek]

Looking good.

I've got the Bismarck in my stash and I think I may bite the bullet and pick up the Eduard photo etch set. Have you started messing with it yet?

So far I have only added some portholes and ladders to the superstructure. I dont have any experience from other PE brands so I have nothing I can compare it to but to me Eduards set seems top notch. I found it very easy to work with and even though the tiny pieces look very fragile they are acutally quite resiliant. The set seems quite complete and detailed to, I dont feel like they are missing anything that you would want.

Don's forget to cut off ventilation sleeves off the B turret barbette as it was Bismark which had them.

Oops, I've been wondering about that but decided to leave them on. Now it's kinda late to start messing with that so I'm going to leave it as it is and pretend like I didn't know that.

Time for a update!

I have now painted the hull and she starts to look like The lonely queen of the north! Unfortunally I didnt take any pics during the painting because I was to eager to be finished and just forgot. But you're not missing anything interesting, just a bunch of masking tape.

Peeling of the masking tape was like opening a present at christmas! I'm quite pleased with the results!

I have been thinking alot about the deck though. I feel it is to dark and orange and the difference between the shades of different planks are to small. Been thinking if I maybe should just bite the bullet and redo it in a lighter and more greyish tone. I'm worried this may be something that will annoy me when the model is finnished if i dont. I would love to hear what you guys think, please be brutally honest!










Regards, Christian

[Timmy C]

Looking good! Paint work is sharp and the subtle shading/weathering is great.

A very interesting way of attaching the railings - I imagine they're glued by their little feet right now and you'll bend them up and into position later?

[Guest]

Thanks mate!

Actually those railings are attached to the photo etch-deck structure. In the original kit all of the decks on the superstructure are completely blank without any structure.

[MartinJQuinn]

Agree with Timmy - great job on the camo. Coming along very nicely.

[Bigmek]

Thank you very much!

This thing with the deck color is bugging me alot though. I don't know if I should leave it as it is or repaint it in a more light and grey tone. Maybe I should just do it because if I really was happy with it then I wouldnt have these doubts... The thought of masking everything again is quite intimidating though!

Does anyone have a neat trick to cut the strips of masking tape if I would decide to redo it? I did it last time by placing the tape on a piece of glass and then cut it with a scalpel and a steel ruler. It was quite tedious. Is there any better ways to do it?

Regards, Christian

[robertmelvin]

Paint work and camo look outstanding. You are definitely off and running with a good start on your first ship. As to cutting the masking tape, I'm afraid the only method I know of and use is the old scalpel, straight edge and tediously cut, cut, cut method. I'd like to see if anybody has a better method since, as you point out, that is a pretty tedious job.

Bob

[LE BOSCO]

........Does anyone have a neat trick to cut the strips of masking tape if I would decide to redo it? I did it last time by placing the tape on a piece of glass and then cut it with a scalpel and a steel ruler. It was quite tedious. Is there any better ways to do it?......

HI Christian

it is the only solution !!I know how you feel I had to do it on my Richelieu
I love the look of your camouflage paint ,a great job
I follow your build
best regards
Nicolas

[Rob 2]

Hi Christian,
You can get tape as narrow as .5mm but I don�t know the supplier, I feel a Google coming on.
Before repainting the whole deck you could try a misting of a heavily thinned lighter colour. It would take several coats but it should act as a filter and tone down the colour on the upper decks.
Otherwise your build is off to an excellent start and I will be following it with interest.
Rob.

[Bigmek]

Hi guys! Long time since I've been posting here but I've been really busy lately so I havent had time to work on Tirpitz. I did get some time yesterday though and painted some of the cammo on the superstructure! I still need to paint the blueish color and fix some overspray but I thought I should post some pics since it was such a long time since last time!

Rob, I did as you suggested and misted a light color on the deck and it turned out great! I thought the colorvariation of different planks would disappear all together but it worked alot better than I expected. Now I'm actually quite pleased with the deck! Thanks for saving me from the horrors of redoing it all!


















Christian

[ArizonaBB39]

Are you sure this is your first ship model??? It looks fantastic!

[JIM BAUMANN]

Have just read your build report to date-looking good.



quote from a while back...

>>>I have been thinking alot about the deck though. I feel it is to dark and orange and the difference between the shades of different planks are to small. Been thinking if I maybe should just bite the bullet and redo it in a lighter and more greyish tone. I'm worried this may be something that will annoy me when the model is finished if i dont. I would love to hear what you guys think, please be brutally honest!<<<<


I was about to post that I would suggest you do a wet wash of light grey to tone the deck down( I am a brush paint man)

But I see you have done that using airbrush with successful results.


Well done for your first ship model


Jim Baumann