Progress so far:
Before I start a major project like this one I usually take plenty of time to ponder the kit before I start doing anything. I carefully look at every sprue tree and pour over the instruction booklet to familiarize myself with where everything is. I also try to figure out what should be added and when in the process... you know, general planning stuff.
I'm now starting to become a bit torn over planking the deck; a planked maindeck will be easy enough to integrate into the kit but the superstructure decking would be something else altogether. It looks like I would have to cut the molded deck out and replace it with (lower) sheet stock+ planking to keep it level with the metal decked sections. The right sized wooden planks would cost an arm and a leg to cover such a huge deck and if I just butted them up to each other they would essentially disappear after sanding unless I put something between them. We're talking .030 X.020 pieces of wood so it would not be particularly easy on my sanity... especially so after just coming off the 1/72 Gato deck.
But the kit deck is completely inadequate for me. The drain channels on the edges of the main deck should be visible at this scale but is entirely absent from the kit, the planking pattern is wrong and none of the deck equipment/superstructure bases are boxed out in the planking, giving that dreaded "cheap toy" effect that I can't stand! Plus the forward deck chain plates should be wood but are just plain plastic.
I also don't want to do a "stick-on" deck; while they look good at a distance, the effect inevitably breaks down when looking closely and they usually took too rough and grainy looking to my eyes.
A new solution I am thinking about is to carve out the drain channels along the edges of the deck, cut the edges out of the planking along it and replace it with .010 styrene strips to simulate the edge pieces. I could also plank the chain plates with styrene strips.
Then I could paint a simulated wood deck by masking off random planks and spraying them several different shades of tan + several oil paint washes. The plank pattern would still be wrong but I think it would still result in a very fine deck.
I'm still thinking about it anyway, if anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.
A final word on swastikas... it might seem strange to us here in America but I guess most of Europe has a problem with the symbol of the tyrannical and utterly evil loonies who conquered and looted their lands and killed millions of their citizens only 70 years ago... much less the German people themselves who saw their country literally burned to the ground. Go figure...
I was born WAY after the fact in the late 70's but WW2 touched my family too; my grandma was just a kid but was living in rural Denmark when the Nazis invaded, my grandpa was an airplane mechanic in WW2 who is responsible for painting dozens of naked ladies on American bombers
, and my great grandfather designed airplane engines for Pratt and Whitney during the war.
Our family did our part to make sure I could grow up in a world where I could build models of Nazi superweapons covered with swastikas and
still publicly shout a big
F%*! Hitler!!!!! and I am honestly thankful for that. I am gonna aim to show history as it was here but
in no way do I support or believe in Nazi ideology.
I am glad they are gone, and I am glad the Bismarck is on the bottom of the Atlantic. I am sorry so many died to make it so.
Trumpeter's feelings on the subject are more ambiguous:
But if you're not gonna stick with historical facts on your Bismarck, might I suggest a better solution
:
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