1/200 Trumpeter Bismarck. Correcting the Hull...

[NigelR32]

Thanks Jason, You're right.. I should relax a little....

I think you may understand my confusion when you look at these pics...

I have printed off the templates on the internet, taken from the AOTS book, and scaled them up to 1/200 scale.

Here's number 1...



2....



3...



The white plastic strips are going to aid with blending in the separate parts, when that time comes....

Moving on to the bottom of the hull, I notice from the AOTS plans it should be flat. The the kit hull is not flat......... so I've given it a quick spray over with some old acrylic paint...



Now I can scrape away with a wide blade to get the bottom flat, before sanding to finish it off. The paint acts as a guide to make sure I stay level and centred....




I bought the Ju-52 on Ebay for �2.95. It's a Zvezda kit and is 1/200 scale. Just goes to show how massive Bismarck is. I think Herr's Blohm and Voss are on board keeping an eye on what I'm doing.... They will be keeping a watchful eye on the whole build I think...



Build and paint... 1 hour, Decal and Matt varnish 30 mins....

[109]

Hi,

I tried to make it clear that your waterlines aren�t quite ok - just my personal opinion. No offense intended. Also you got a PM.

HTH,

CIX.

[NigelR32]

Hi,

I tried to make it clear that your waterlines aren�t quite ok - just my personal opinion. No offense intended. Also you got a PM.

HTH,

CIX.

Hi 109,

So, are you saying the bulge should be parallel from the 17mm width back until the hull widens? The Trumpeter kit is not 17mm wide, and the centroid of the bulge is too low.

[109]

No,

the bulb is not rectangular in top view. The waterlines open in a concave shape to the rear and then change into convex lines ("Yourkevitch shape").

[Channell]

Thanks Jason, You're right.. I should relax a little....

I think you may understand my confusion when you look at these pics...

I have printed off the templates on the internet, taken from the AOTS book, and scaled them up to 1/200 scale.
....

Sometimes getting the "right" look at a smaller scale requires "cheating" a little with perspectives and shapes... it's done all the time with sculpting.

What is more important than the physical dimensions of the bulge is the clean flow of the contour of the hull; the eye will catch any asymmetry or awkward variations in the contour easily but nobody will get the calipers out and start dissing you for the width of your bow bulge!

Hopefully this doesn't sound too preachy... I'm a Bismark newbie myself and I tend to treat my models more as art subjects than as really technical miniatures.

"If it looks right, it is" is my motto... or it would be if I had a motto.

[Perth_shipyard]

I agree with 109 he might have sent you the waterlines in plan form - if not let me know and I'll send you some.

[NigelR32]

I agree with 109 he might have sent you the waterlines in plan form - if not let me know and I'll send you some.

What do you guys mean when you mention waterlines? In the UK, at least as far as I'm concerned, the waterline is the area where the hull is exposed at the waterline, or where the boot topping is.

From what you guys are saying, I think I've sanded too much away behind the bulb. It looks like it should be parallel at 17mm width until the shape of the hull takes over and widens.

[Perth_shipyard]

You have the CWL this is the waterline when the ship sits level in the water, but also is you were to slice the hull up horizontally like theydo for bread and butter models - building the hull in layers stacked up - these are also called waterlines. On the frame plans you have there should be horizontal lines going across the frames.

You need to check the shape of the hull to these as well as with the frames. 109 has lines drawn horizontally on the bulb of his model. This is where he woul have checked to make sure it fit with the waterline plans.

[NigelR32]

Thankyou Anton, now I understand exactly what you mean by waterlines.

As the old saying goes, you learn something every day!!! I have now sanded it back so that it's parallel and matches what plans I have. It looks bland and featureless, but it is immediately apparent that Trumpeter got it too narrow, by about 2mm.

Once it's all glued together and looking good I'll report on exactly where I've added or taken away material.

Bedtime now in the UK!! Ni night...

[NigelR32]

Right... I've been playing with this for hours now...
What do you think... ITS WRONG, GO TO NEXT POST!!





The bulb is now parallel for the first 40mm, it looks bulged due to the perspective.

[Channell]

Looking really good Nigel! It's a big improvement over the kit!

Do you still plan to do the weld lines/rivets? Any plans for the sea chests and intakes below the water line?

[NigelR32]

Thanks for your kind words Jason, But.... following some discussion with Bernd, and looking through his amazing build here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=57213 I have improved the Bow even further... oh yes, I will be adding the vent detail underneath

First job though was to stiffen the hull a little. My Hull was not flat in any plane on the bottom, and the hull was like a banana fore-aft. I've added some 1" plastic tubing to stiffen the base of the hull, and the wood is a stressed member keeping the hull straight.



I have dropped a big boo boo... in sanding and scraping to get the hull bottom flat I realised that my bench has a slight bow..... i had to add plastic card to the Bow and Stern to rebuild what I sanded away...

On to the Stem.. now it is properly accurate. Notice the plastic added all along the length of the two separate hull pieces. I have also thinned the Bow considerably to get the correct )( shape into it.



Now, as I mentioned earlier, I have been reading through bernd amazing build.. and have deduced that the shape of the Hull is wrong. it actually has a flat base with "corners" in some ares and fairings that blend the flats into the radius of the hull.
basically, I couldn't resist....



I still cannot believe how big this ship is!! A JU 52 isn't a tiny aeroplane, but it is next to this behemoth!!

[NigelR32]

I had a look at the stern this afternoon, and compared it to some plans I downloaded from the 'net.

I have read that some are concerned about the shape of the centre bulge in the stern on this kit, and now I can see what they were talking about. Below you can see the stern of the hull with new formers added to the correct shape. These are actual size, and will need to be reduced to allow planking to be added on top of them. This will all then need sanding and smoothing out to give the correct shape.





The stern also has the flat area just like the bow. There is also a flat area, 6mm wide at the extreme stern and Bows, in other words there is a flat area, at least 6mm wide from stem to stern.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Perth_shipyard]

Looking awesome mate. You better display her with some sort of mirror below the hull to show off all the bottom detail you're adding. Perhaps a dockyard base with stocks and cut out sections with glass to replicate water on the slip...

You're a nutcase but it's awesome

[Olaf Held]

Ok, I'll cut off the underbelly on mine ...

I like the idea of the mirror underneath. It would be a shame if nobody knows how much dedication you put into things normally unseen.

Keep it coming, Nigel!


Happy modelling ~ Olaf!

[BobaFettSlave_1]

Holly crap Nigel! You're going to the extreme with this puppy!

[Perth_shipyard]

Ok, I'll cut off the underbelly on mine ...

I like the idea of the mirror underneath. It would be a shame if nobody knows how much dedication you put into things normally unseen.

Keep it coming, Nigel!


Happy modelling ~ Olaf!

I think ill have to waterline mine now

[JTninja]

I think ill have to waterline mine now

I think everyone will now haha

Epic work...

[bismarck builder]

hi
following this build and words fail med its mega
gary

[NigelR32]

Thanks for all your compliments guys.. but I must say, don't go the waterline route, do what I'm doing!!

I've done some more tonight, but not worth photographing really, I hope to add some more pics tomorrow.. I'm loving this!!