The Ship Model Forum

Rob, I completely agree with you. If they had put in less detail, they could have made it closer to scale. Unaltered, I think it looks more like it belongs as a mounted hose turret on a fire truck.

Dan.

California Bound wrote: The parts in question are shown half way down the right side of the page that shows the assembling of the top forward main radar. It's just under the large number 2. I skipped over it lots of times myself.

(and I've just learned that the maximum number of smileys allowed is ten ... )


Happy slapping ~ Olaf!

I wonder if it's a total limit of ten or a limit of ten of a single type. Regardless, something else you might find funny, I just had to put another browser on my phone in order to even see the smiley faces.

Dan.

Hi everybody,

So here it is. The final update.

As it turned out, I didn't change the barrels on the small machine guns after all. They look more out of scale in the pictures than they do in real life. All that was left was to put on the railings which went surprisingly smooth thanks to the CA accelerator.

The large piece count was a new experience for me. And having never built a Dragon kit of any kind before, the poor instructions really caught me off guard. As pleased as I am with the results, I don't want to have to deal with this sort of headache again, so I will be avoiding Dragon kits until I see a large improvement in their instructions.

My photography isn't the best, so I'll just post the finished pics here.
































Here she is safe and sound in her new home. I plan to rework Prinz Eugen and continue to try and improve Bismarck, after my group build entry is done.



Thanks for looking, and thanks to those that commented for the encouragement to keep going.

Dan.

Congratulations Dan she is a credit to you . Thanks for taking the time to share your findings on the instructions.
So what�s next?
Rob.

Thanks Rob.

Hopefully others can see my mistakes(a lot of them) and avoid them in their builds.

As for what's next, I'm in a "Russian mood". So right now I'm starting Marshal Shaposhnikov for the destroyer group build. I'm running into problems on it already. The kit lacks some of the details I want and unfortunately, the GMM set I'm using doesn't add them so I had to order the White Ensign set this morning. When finished, It'll go in the upper left side of the case. Then I plan on Pyotr Velikiy for the upper right slot. After that it's a toss up. Probably go back to cars or resin figures for a little bit before coming back to ships. I'll have to find some more room before starting on my final large ship, Admiral Kuznetsov.

Dan.

Very nice built Dan. A must post to follow for anyone doing Scharnhorst. I chose to use both WEM's and MK1's upgrade sets for my built. The MK1 set is really useful set to have. It addresses many of the issues you tried correcting yourself using Dragon's pieces just by replacing with MK1 PEs like various small platforms, rails and superstructure handrails, underplatform structures and so on. Also it has the full funnel platform along with various PE pieces for the underside of this platform that is really an upgrade for the one that Dragon provides. Another unique upgrade is a basket of the machine guns for collecting the used bullet shells (no idea how it is called). Nice touch. All in all a must set in my opinion.

Thanks Skiper.

Good luck with yours.

The MK1 set looks really good and thorough. I would definitely have used it, but I felt that I was too far along to start using it by the time I found out that it was available.

I really like their Mk1 decks as well. I don't think that was available at the time either. Although I would have still had to make my own bow section, their deck would have saved me a lot of trouble for the rest of the ship. Unfortunately, that is the downside of starting something before all the after market companies have done their bits. You don't want to really start too soon, but you don't want to let it sit in pieces in a box on your shelf forever either.

Dan.

hi
can sombody point me in the direction of the MK1 website
cheers
gary r

B.Lampman wrote:Dan,

One of the worst things with the instructions is that the order of construction or the lack of one is so hard to follow. During my build I continually had to ask myself a simple question: "If I attach this part will it get in the way of the next part and have I missed something along the way"? Many parts are just not included in the instructions. I have seen worst instructions before and these are very close to them. These really make you think every step of the way! However, the end result of the build, is you will have one of the most detailed and accurate warship models ever made in plastic.

Bill

I really enjoyed this thread of this amazing build. This build is, in my opinion, everything a build thread should be: It is inspiring for the quality of the result, and hugely informative in every important respect that such threads usually gloss over.

It really shouldn't be considered a negative that this thread is what finally convinced me that the Dragon Scharnhorst is not for me (despite being one of my favourites subjects due to its looks and history)... For me quite the opposite!

Even ignoring the instruction errors, would not give this kit high marks for accuracy: For me the deal breakers were:

-8 mm shortfall in the length of the bow (66.5 cm vs 67.3 cm OAL actual). Brilliantly corrected here, but way beyond most builders imho.
-Second row of portholes obviously mislocated compared to the armor belt's top, both above and in front of it (too high in both cases, or armor belt top too low- Maybe a combination).
-Anchor slot totally devoid of "lip". Despite appearances, this is quite a task to scratch and still get a good result, especially considering the necessary symmetry of the outcome.
-Smooth hull: Drydock pictures really show a more intricate and not that smooth appearance: Dragon can get away with this in their smaller destroyers, but I think here it just isn't quite enough, especially in light of overlooked intakes and whatnot.
-NO DEGAUSSING CABLE!!!! A hugely prominent feature that it is really inexcusable to omit.
-Cooling "plastic retraction" lines on hull opposite internal moulded structure: Not mentionned that much in this thread, but a significant issue on at least some pressings.
-Less than perfect fit of lower and top hull: Mileage may vary among modellers: Personally, I feel horizontal joints are a detriment to a good finish compared to a vertical joint, being much more visible and over twice the length, and this makes the fit on such a join particularly important. (Vertical joints however are perhaps more prone to overall assembly "twist")
-Oval rafts instead of octagonal. Not a big deal.
-Terrible and inaccurate instruction that make the build a chore. Maybe not a deal breaker, but certainly a fun sapper.

There is much better out there in this scale, especially if you look at IJN ships. On the plus side, the topside detail here is really incredible. However, this thread proves the kit is certainly overrated, and one of the harder builds out there.

Gaston

hello !

is there somewhere a link to the list of corrections to instructions ?
there is no more pictures in this post !

bump