Re: S.M.S L�tzow
Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:24 pm
Chris,
I'm not sure if this question has an answer, but at what point would a German warship in that era have gone into a status of extra alert and begin removing boats and so forth? In the PTO USN warships went into something close to full battle stations when they came within air range of a Japanese base. The fear was of air attack led to flak batteries manned until nightfall. Fear of powerful Japanese submarines torpedoes meant most hatches were sealed in a war zone (some were left open until full alert because a buttoned-up ship greatly impeded movement of crewmen to battle stations.). These measures caused serious fatigue. In the German case we know the funnels were painted soon after leaving port - think this is when warships would readied for battle. Or could they have waited until there was some kind of contact with the enemy? Or would they have removed items just before leaving port? Considering the heat inside one of those big ships at full battle stations, I'd think that sealing all of the hatches would have been done late in the day - an "out of the blue" airstrike in 1916 would have been a real long-shot, but submarines and mines were serious dangers. (Germans never lost a BB or BC to either, but I think there were some tense moments when periodically hit.) So I'm not sure about hatches. I would have I'd like to model Derfflinger as it would have looked soon before Jutland. May end up guessing.
I've just started the kit. It appears very nicely done. The only thing that's going to be something of a headache is coordinating the extra PE etc (and there's a lot) with the build sequence. I primed the PE with Rustoleum 2X primer and it worked very well. (It's very thin and it gives a complete coverage without any residue although some might have to be filed off to get a better CA surface.) I guess we'll have to install PE on major parts before priming the plastic - parts on deck excluded. There's not PE on the hull so that can be painted completely. That's means serious attention to detail, not always my strong suit.
Eric
I'm not sure if this question has an answer, but at what point would a German warship in that era have gone into a status of extra alert and begin removing boats and so forth? In the PTO USN warships went into something close to full battle stations when they came within air range of a Japanese base. The fear was of air attack led to flak batteries manned until nightfall. Fear of powerful Japanese submarines torpedoes meant most hatches were sealed in a war zone (some were left open until full alert because a buttoned-up ship greatly impeded movement of crewmen to battle stations.). These measures caused serious fatigue. In the German case we know the funnels were painted soon after leaving port - think this is when warships would readied for battle. Or could they have waited until there was some kind of contact with the enemy? Or would they have removed items just before leaving port? Considering the heat inside one of those big ships at full battle stations, I'd think that sealing all of the hatches would have been done late in the day - an "out of the blue" airstrike in 1916 would have been a real long-shot, but submarines and mines were serious dangers. (Germans never lost a BB or BC to either, but I think there were some tense moments when periodically hit.) So I'm not sure about hatches. I would have I'd like to model Derfflinger as it would have looked soon before Jutland. May end up guessing.
I've just started the kit. It appears very nicely done. The only thing that's going to be something of a headache is coordinating the extra PE etc (and there's a lot) with the build sequence. I primed the PE with Rustoleum 2X primer and it worked very well. (It's very thin and it gives a complete coverage without any residue although some might have to be filed off to get a better CA surface.) I guess we'll have to install PE on major parts before priming the plastic - parts on deck excluded. There's not PE on the hull so that can be painted completely. That's means serious attention to detail, not always my strong suit.
Eric
