The Ship Model Forum

Hi All,

Here we have yet another Trumpeter Bismarck build. Having followed Anton and Jasons builds on here, I couldn't resist getting stuck into modifying the Hull on my kit.

I plan to cover rivetting, weld lines and corrections to the portholes. I have been a little concerned about the Bow on my kit. The two seperate parts were a real pain to put together and then didn't fit the hull very well. I think this is an issue that only a few kits have succombe to as most seem to report of great fitting in this area.

In this first pictiure we can see what I did to improve the fit, basically 0.010" card added to the inner edges to pack the pieces out.



Once I had a good fit I started looking deeper into the shape of this area and was not happy with it. I thought it needed some sanding to make the bulge more pronounced as the kit bulge was faired very smoothly into the rest of the hull.

In this picture we can see the results of all the sanding. I have nearly gone through the sides of the separate pieces....



In my opinion this is not the correct shape. Looking at pictures of the Bismarck in dry dock I think the bulge was more pronounced than this. I need to do some surgery to correct it. You know how it is when you just aren't happy with a certain part of your model........it's the first place your eye goes every time you look at it.

So, I marked out the Bow to use some templates I found on the internet. These templates show the hull needs to be pinched together about half way up, for about 5 inches along the hull, and the bulge at the bottom needs fattening up.

Watch this space for a little feature on how to correct the Bow. I'll try to do it step by step so anyone as anally retentive as me can also correct theirs.

Horray Nigel! Waiting is for the birds! I'm excited to see what you come up with!

Yay!!! I agree with Jason! Hahaha

I must have been one of the lucky few though, as my bow pieces fitted without a gap. Still required filling and sanding, so can't wait to see what you come up with. I'm still torn as to whether I display her full hull or waterlined.... I might just have to do both!

With the molded hawse shapes on the hull, I found it easier to cut out the piece that's attached to the deck piece. Replace this with plastic sheet to the right shape. This will leave a overhang on the hull which I filled up with tamiya plastic putty - they grey stuff. Quite straightforward I thought, unfortunately never took any pics while doing it but you can see that it's more pronounced now.

Here's an update of how this is going...

As I'm going to pinch the hull together to "sharpen up the nose" I need to make sure the shape of the upper hull doesn't change and give issues later with deck fitting.



I've added to the bulge according to templates from the AOTS book. This is just .060" plastic card glued to the sides and sanded back with coarse sanding sticks.



Front on...



Obviously there is some finishing to be done, and the hull still needs to be pinched and reshaped. Please tell me what you think...

Next up, we start on cutting the hull.

This gap will be closed up and laminated to pinch the hull in..



Here it is roughly clamped up. The pinch needs to be around 2mm to 4mm along this length.



Note, all this is totally reversible if I don't like the results...

I have just discovered something which may surprise some of you...

It would appear that Bismarck had her Bow modified in 1940.

I have been looking at the pics I've saved, and couldn't work out why they look SO different, especially these two below.

Well, according to KBismarck, the top picture was the "Straight Stem" as her launch on Feb 14 1939. The next picture is obviously different, notice the profile under the bulge. It's much more rounded and not so flat as the one above... this was referred to as the "Atlantic Bow". I would be interested to see an image or drawing of the paravane system set up....

The later, "Atlantic" bulge is what I'm going for

very interested to see how this turns out.

Yeah Bismarck was launched with a straight stem like The Graf spee and other battle cruisers.
The Atlantic bow was added during fit out along side to improve her handling. Tirpitz stem was modified while still on the slip. This is why there wa such a huge difference between their stems.


Bismarck being launched - you can see her original stem


Stem being modified during fit out.

I had noticed those changes Anton, but hadn't noticed the changes to the below waterline shape.

I had wondered what the designers were thinking with the initial design.. where were they going to fit the anchors?

Also notice in the early form, there was what looks like a round welded on patch where the Paravane apparatus would eventually be.

Interesting contemplation for the bow shape; However, having witnessed a lot of drydockings due to profession, it has been proven that such photos are, sometimes, tricky to the eye. The shape presented on the photo depend on many factors such as the angle of approach to the ship, distance from the real ship the photo was taken etc. and can be different from the original. The only way to cross-check the accuracy of the model's shape and size is using templates cut from the ship's hull lines plan; then you know that you are walking on the correct path.

Cheers,
Christos

Thankyou for your input Christos,

I am actually using the templates from the AOTS book, then considering how it looks compared to pictures. After all, at the end of the day, it needs to look right!!

Anyway, onwards and upwards....

Here is a picture of the OOB kit Bow. This is Anton's kit, picture used with his kind permission....



Here's my modded Bow with pinched Hull and built up bulge.





All of this is still totally rversible, so please, if you think it looks wrong.... tell me. I'm up for any critical opinions and views.

At the moment I am in the office and have only a lines plan of tirpitz on hand; provided that the two sister shared the same lines, you did a great job.

Greetings
Christos

With those two photos of the bows, keep in mind they're both from very different angles with different light.

The pinched in stem looks perfect. Not too sure about the bulbous part... Looks a little too large.

OK, I've done some more sanding and some more pinching. The templates are pretty much a perfect fit now.

I thought I'd give the bulge a quick splash with primer so the white plastic doen't fool the eye... looks untouched from OOB doesn't it??



Then when you look at it head on, you can see the difference.



Believe it or not, that bulge is about 4mm wider than stock.... the hull is pulled in by 4mm at the back of the 2 piece section...

Judging with the naked but trained eye your Taylor bow now looks wrong to me ...

Please mark some waterlines and we will see more information.

At frame 235 you should have a maximum width of the Taylor bulb of approx. 17 mm. The problem of the ill looking stem is most likely the too thick stem around the CWL where ist should be just 0.57 mm thick ...

Also the stem hits the flat keel at water line 0 in the sideview in an hard edge - no radius!

Here you go 109...

I have marked the CWL at 47mm from the keel, so as not to enter into an argument about 9.3m vs 9.5m..





I do not know where frame 235 is, but I have measured the Taylor bulb and it is 17.3mm max width. remember, I have used the templates from the AOTS book for this job. I have a drawing of the Bow with frame numbers, but they are too fuzzy to see them. Maybe you could mail me a new plan?

109 wrote:Judging with the naked but trained eye your Taylor bow now looks wrong to me ...

Please mark some waterlines and we will see more information.

At frame 235 you should have a maximum width of the Taylor bulb of approx. 17 mm. The problem of the ill looking stem is most likely the too thick stem around the CWL where ist should be just 0.57 mm thick ...

Also the stem hits the flat keel at water line 0 in the sideview in an hard edge - no radius!

There's nothing more annoying than having someone give you the option to show more information, so they can give you more of their expert advice, then have them drift off into the unknown.

109.... Where are you now????

Nigel, if you're looking for opinions I'd say your new bow looks sexy, but still slightly too bulbuous to be 100% accurate for the Bismarck when comparing it with the drydrock pics.

Stilll, aside from thinning things out a little bit behind the edge of the bow (where the back of the bow cutout is) I'd leave it because it honestly looks good!

Don't kill yourself on this detail though; there is a lot more ship to build!