PeteB

Stunning work Danny. Always a great joy to see where you are at as well as admire the craftsmanship.
 
Cheers.........Fernando

Thanks for that Pav .
 
The top deck of the conning tower is completed. I didn't take any progress pics of it's construction. It has a rather tricky edging around it, which is double-thickness and very narrow so it took some rather careful cutting out :

 
Another tricky part to cut out was a support for two shields (?) above the bridge. Same double-thickness stuff :

 
I also forgot to take pics of the Radar Turret during construction. These pieces were a bit of a puzzle to work out, as the miniscule drawing of them in the instructions didn't give much of a clue :

 
But I managed to work them out :

 
The 2nd of the three Radars. There are 9 pieces that make them up. Something I realised when making this one is that I'd only put less than half the pieces in the one I built before, I'll correct that tomorrow :



 
The radar turret completed. Those two pieces I mentioned earlier in this post are the inboard supports for the range finder arms :


 
The antenna-like piece on top of the turret is a light tower. It's not shown at all in the kit, but I picked up on it in the 3D book. I made it from 3 pices of 0.3mm wire and a section of spare ladder :

 
And some overall views of the conning tower to where I am at the moment :


 
The light only looks like it's skewed, it's the macro lens distortion :


 
Overall pics of the forward superstructure :



 
  Danny
 

There are a pair of 4-Barrel 20mm Guns on the next deck, so I've made them both. There were none of these in the PE cards, but they were supplied as laser-cut. It was a full day's work to make them. Here are the parts for both guns, and the very sparse instructions :


 
About half of one gun completed :

 
And both of them finished and ready for paint. I used four of the spare handwheels from one of the PE sets to replace the plain round ones in the laser-cut :


 
  Danny

The Bridge Deck and lower columns are finished. There were a few small details to make for either side. Small units like this take longer than some of the more substantial ones :


 
With all the details above the deck installed I could now glue on the lower part of the column, and add the support girders :


 
  Danny

I've nearly completed the Bridge Deck. This time I cut out the windows and "glazed" them with thin acrylic :


 
The railings were a bit tricky . You may notice one has been cut a bit short (slip of the cutters ). It's more work to fix than it's worth, as it'll pretty well disappear when the mast etc goes on. Paint touch-ups will be done later :



 
  Danny

fantastic looking structure!   the detail is just phenomenal!  

Fantastic modeling Danny !
 
never saw such interesting and detailed fitting out on a warship model before. Your skill level is just top notch !
 
Nils

Thanks Carl, I'm starting to get the hang of working with PE .
 
Speaking of PE, I've made the Main Battery Gun Control one. It's only two parts, but no instructions whatsoever of it's construction are in either the kit or the PE sheet. Luckily I have the 3D Bismarck book to fall back on. The PE is a reasonable facsimile :


 
Painted and fitted. I've finished this sub-assembly as well :

 
An overview of the forward superstructure up to this point :

 
  Danny

Thanks Carl and Popeye.
 
I've finished the two 20mm guns needed for the 5th deck. These have turned out a LOT better than the ones I made a few weeks ago . Here are a few pics of progress on them. They are ready for paint :





 
This time I assembled them the right way around, so I could fit the Spent Cartridge Baskets :


 
  Danny

Thanks for the comments Carl, John, Pat and Mark.
 
The 37mm guns continue. A tiny (1mm long) brackets on each side of the outer seat brackets :

 
There is a Shock Absorber beneath each of the outer seats, made from 0.5mm wire :

 
What I guess is a bracket that holds the elevation controls. There are 3 pieces to this, a central support and an arm that requires several bends at each end :



 
I'm not sure what this piece is, maybe a gunsight?

 
Getting near the end now, there are only the actual guns left to do. Folding the breech boxes was fairly straight-forward :

 
The gun support brackets. I lined up the pivot holes with a piece of 0.2mm wire and CA'd them together :

 
Two of the gun barrels. The one with the big "bulb" on the end is how they come. The other has been cut to length. Machining of these is excellent :

 
I lined up the guns with the holes in the bracket with the same piece of wire, glued them in and trimmed the wire flush :

 
Last few things were rather difficult to fit due to their very small size. Two flat "ears" at the back end of the breech and a recoil exhaust tube on top of the breech :

 
The guns ready for paint. Only 6 more of these to go (as I need them). I now have to make two more 20mm guns, then I'll paint all four :

 
  Danny

Thank you Chris, Pav and Carl .
 
I've redone one of the 37mm gun Pedestals, as I wasn't happy with the way it turned out. This time I used a piece of card with a 4mm hole punched into it to hold the pieces more stably :

 
The central columns consist of 4 pieces - a main piece which is narrower at the top, two plates for top and bottom, and a U shaped piece that sits proud of the front end (not shown in the lower pic yet). The main column is etched on the back side to make bending easier, a good idea :


 
There are two "bulges" on either side of the column, consisting of 4 pieces each. First thing is a narrow strip for the base, this is also etched on the back. It's wider at the bottom than the top :


 
I glued the base strips to the column first. To ensure that I get small parts positioned properly I use one or more tiny spots of PVA, sit the piece roughly into position using tweezers or a moist toothpick for very small parts, position it properly with the toothpick or a scalpel, and after the PVA has set enough I wick some CA glue around it.
 
The other 3 pieces needed rolling into shape. The top piece is narrower than the bottom, which also has a different shape top and bottom. The two pieces below are only 2mm wide at the widest point. These pieces were fitted next :

 
I fitted the central piece next :

 
And the bottom piece last. The tiny gaps virtually disappear as they get filled with glue. I later gave the unit a good filing with a diamond-coated needle file :

 
Next I glued the column to the base. The rest of the build gets a bit fiddly, starting with a support for the central seat. I stood the MDF block on it's end for these steps so the piece didn't have to defy gravity until the PVA set. In the 3rd pic below the seat and backrest have also been fitted :



 
This is the backrest, it's rather small :

 

 
Final things for now are the Hand-wheels and the first pieces of the outer seat supports :

 
  Danny

And thanks again Ken and Lou. All good info .
 
I've made two more upper deck sections. Both were pretty straight-forward, and I've done all the detailing on them before fitting to the deck below :


 
There are two 37mm guns on the rectangular deck, so it's back into the PE. I also have laser-cut sheets for these, but they aren't anywhere near as detailed so I won't be using them. This is the sheet for 5 guns :

 
The instructions, as I mentioned numerous times before, are not particularly informative :

 
And I've made a start on the bases for the guns :

 
  Danny

Thanks for that research Lou, it looks like I was only half wrong . It won't be the last time .
 
  Danny

Here is some of the stuff I have found in an admittedly short search. It appears that that Dan was right about the domed gun directors also being radomes as indicated in the last paragraph.
Lou
 
The fire of the main and secondary batteries was directed from the command posts, which were located forward, astern, and above the foretop platform. Each of these three posts mounted a rotating dome with an optical rangefinder and a FuMO 23 radar instrument. The command posts were connected by armored communication shafts to the computation rooms under the Armour deck forward (section XV) and aft (section VII). The FuMO 23 antennae had a rectangular shape and measured approximately 2 m. high and 4 m. wide. They had a frequency of 368 MHz, and operated on an 81.5 cm wavelength with a power-output of 9 kW at 500 kHz. The maximum effective range of this device was about 25,000 m. However, the German FuMOs were not equipped with the PPI (Plan Position Indicator) display system that is so familiar in today’s radars, but a simple A-scope display instead. Therefore, they could hardly detect more than one target at the same time, and bearings were not very accurate either. The lack of PPI was one of the reasons German capital ships were so redundant and equipped with three sensors.
The foretop command post, under the command of the First Artillery Officer (I.A.O.), was above the foremast, at about 31 meters above sea level. It was equipped with a 10.5 meter base range finder (Basisgerät BG), and had a visual field of 360º. The forward command post was attached to the forward conning tower, and had a 7-meter base rangefinder, however, due to the superstructure, its visual field was smaller. The after command post had a 10.5-meter base rangefinder of similar characteristics as the one in the foretop.
Each of the four main battery turrets ("Anton", "Bruno", "Cäsar" and "Dora") was equipped with a 10.5-meter base rangefinder too, and in case all three command posts were put out of action in battle, the turrets could then proceed individually to local fire.1However, the chances of scoring a hit with each battery firing on its own were less than under a centralized command. The central turrets of the secondary battery had also their own 6.5-meter base rangefinder.
The anti-aircraft fire was directed by four command posts, each equipped with a 4-meter rangefinder. Two of these command posts, covered by spherical cupolas (Wackeltopf), were on either side of the foremast, and the other two uncovered posts amidships aft.

Hello Dan
I have been lurking in the background avidly following your build. Very enjoyable and informative.
 
I do have a question about your "raydomes" though. Does the manufacturer list them as radar domes? I always thought of them as optical gun directors, possibly for the secondary armament due to their being located so low to the waterline and on each side of the superstructure.
Just a question as no matter what they are they look great.
 
Lou 

Thanks guys .
 
There are two Radomes (EDIT - see note below) on the forward 2nd deck. The parts in the kit are pretty ordinary, but the laser-cut ones are pretty good. The laser cutting itself is excellent, and all the parts fitted well despite (as usual) some vague instructions. Just an exploded line drawing and another showing the finished article. There is no indication of which parts should wrap around a former or butt to it. Here are most of the parts for one radome, there are also 6 laser-cut circular formers for each which aren't shown in the pic :

 
I built both of these at the same time on my MDF block. Most of the outer panels were slight cones, which I rolled with a tapered roller on a piece of high-density foam. The pics below show the sequence of construction :



 
EDIT - I've discovered (thanks to Lou and Jan) that these are not Radomes, as radar wasn't invented at the time of Bismarck. They are in fact Fire Control Stations.
 
Both of them finished, ready for paint.

 
I had to use the lower part from the kit as it didn't come with the laser cut. The fit between them is OK. I'm leaving them off until I've installed the Railings to the 2nd deck :

 
And I've now fitted those railings. These are turning out very well IMO. I'll touch up the chipped paint near the end of construction, as I'll most likely bend a few railings later on :


 
Drilling the five stanchion holes under the boat rack was a lot of fun :

 
  Danny

It's still hard to believe this is card, Danny.  Just stunning work.

The funnel is finally finished, and I've also finished the two aft searchlights. These are fitted, along with the two 20mm guns I made earlier :




 
I also decided to add real louvres to the flat printed ones. They have a real sense of depth now . I made them from strips of 1mm wide card :


 
  Danny

Thanks again for the kind comments Scott, John and John .
 
You've got that right John. Ton of fun though .
 
As I didn't take any pics of making the Searchlight Brackets and Supports I thought I'd slip a few in now to show you the steps involved in making them. The pics are in sequential order of how I make one of them, and are self-explanatory :




 
Final step is to glue on the top and finish off the two rounded ends. The one on the right has been done :

 
Making something like this is a lot easier on a separate block of MDF, using double-sided tape to hold a base piece to prevent movement, as I can turn it every which way instead of trying to reach over to the other side if it were fixed to my cutting board.
 
  Danny

Danny after watching your build I think it takes a lot more patience and skill working with paper and the PEs than a stock wood build.
 
Man your getting down and dirty at such a small scale, the results are stunning. KUDOS  This Buds for you or a Boatrocker Ramjet Whiskey Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. 
 

Thanks for the info Slog, and the comments from the rest of the guys.
 
The Searchlights on the forward end of the funnel have a protective dome over them which is lowered beneath the platform when they are in use. Here's a pic of the parts for one of them rolled and ready to glue up :

 
These things take on a mind of their own when trying to glue them together, so I made a little jig to hold them steady and at the correct width :


 
One of the dome supports fitted to the port side :


 
I'm going to have one dome open and the other closed, so I only need to make one Searchlight. Here are the laser-cut parts for two of them :

 
The fit of the laser-cut parts is excellent. Working out the sequence and fit was a bit challenging, there is a plan for them but the line drawing is a bit vague in some places. I managed to get the first light looking something like it should . The mesh grille over the lens is from the PE set :


 
Here are the rest of the pieces glued up and ready to assemble into the finished article :

 
The finished light before painting. I sprayed it a dark gray after these pics were taken :


 
The light fitted in place :


 
I also glued on one of the cranes and fitted the PE railings around the funnel. I'll leave the other crane off for now, as it will be in the "working" position and will probably get damaged while I'm working on other things. I'll also give all the railings a straighten-up when the ship's completed, they are fairly easy to knock out of line a bit as you can see in the pic below :

 
Just when I thought I had finished the funnel assembly I realised I still had two more searchlights to make for the aft platform. At least I won't be spending a couple of hours working out the assembly sequence this time .
 
  Danny

Very nice work Danny.
 
Just an observation, but I think the barrels may need to slide further back into the breech block up to the collar.  They do look overally long as is and I haven't seen similar 20mm caliber barrels with a such a collar away out by itself before. 
 
Cheers
Slog

Slog, the barrels are right to the end of the "scallops" in the middle of the breech block, which I assumed was correct. To get them in any further I'd have to take a bit off the end of the barrel. That's not a problem, but I'll check the dimensions which are almost non-existent .
 
EDIT - after taking another look at the barrels I found a tiny step which must have been the point at which I should have cut the end off. There's a large piece to take off anyway - this would have been the bit that was fixed into the lathe chuck, I just picked the wrong step. I won't be doing anything about the two guns I've already made, as removing the barrels would mean virtually destroying the whole lot. I can live with these two, I'll change the other 10.
 
Thanks for the comments guys, and also those who hit the "Like" button .
 
  Danny

I wish I had a surgeons EYES . Thanks John, Pat and Fernando.
 
  Danny

Nice work especially at that scale Danny.  You must have a 'surgeons' hands
 
cheers
 
Pat