Joe100

Typically, you’ll find that folks build ships in sub-assemblies, with an eye for painting. This means they will build, say, the hull, all of its details, and then paint. Right down to the railings. This has a number of advantages. Firstly, it allows you to build the model without damaging the paint when assembling, handling. Secondly, when it comes time to paint, you can prime all at once, to marry the dissimilar materials. The paint will look more uniform if done all at once instead of each part painted individually then added to the model. My superstructure sub assemblies will be different depending on how the decks are painted, camouflage, etc. Essentially, I build so that I won’t build myself into a corner, so to speak, with regard to painting. I tend to use a dark primer, dark grey or dark green for my ships. This means that you’ll need to airbrush on the color coats in thinner, more numerous layers, but I feel it gives the ship more depth. Weather on KM ships is fine, but work from photos. Far too often I see very dirty, rusty, ships, but the KM kept their surface ships in pretty good knick most of the time, especially capital ships. Take a look at photos and work from there. Keep up the good work!

Seeing the linoleum work is fantastic!

One of the most interesting theaters of the war in my opinion. It’s so interesting to see this project taking shape. I have a set of plans for Götzen, you’re inspiring me… In my collection of nautical curiosities, I have an autographed photo of General Lettow-Vorbeck. I used to have a nap of the DOA signed by him, but sadly it was stolen while in transit to a museum loan. Another curiosity I have from the theater is a coin made from the brass salvaged from SMS Königsberg. These were made at the Tabora Emergency Mint, since coinage was impossible to import from Germany during the war. They had the devil’s own time keeping the economy afloat, and emergency coinage was the only solution. It’s in far better shape than most since it’s likely an early strike. Seeing someone else interested in this theater really gets the juices flowing!

This is how Draminski renders it, pretty small. I’d think a black rectangle would suffice. We’ll all know what it is!

Could do. If it were me, I’d just paint a black rectangle there, and let it stand in for the plate. It’s between those two vents anyway, just a nod that you knew it was there. It’d be pretty hard to read anyway. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, I’ve been helping a few folks with their Bismarck models lately, but don’t forget the oil stains. The starboard fuel hose exploded at the end of refueling in Poland, causing a huge mess down her side. The port side was similarly stained because of poor housekeeping when disconnecting. These stains were present until the end. Goes to show just how messy bunker oil is! I never see these stains modeled, which is a shame. A conversation starter for sure. Also, just for fun, this is the original concept model for Bismarck. You can see how she would have looked with the straight stem, and her superstructure was vastly different. Essentially an enlarged Scharnhorst. I think she looked better in her original lines myself. The Atlantik bow, especially Bismarck’s retrofitted bow, is a little too curvy.

Greetings! I believe the railings remained the same color as the superstructure. These were pretty hard to see at a distance, and didn’t really warrant the extra work of repainting the stanchions. The flagstaff and jackstaff were removed for Rhine Exercise, as was the bow anchor. So you can leave them off if you like. I believe these were also painted the same as the railing and superstructure. Here is the builder’s plate and plate location. In 1/200, you have to include it!

This build really is an inspiration. I love seeing that little notification that I have new photos to view!

Parking the Arado is just fine. They were moved all over the place, perhaps not while on-mission. Bismarck could ship up to 6 Arados but that would have meant storing two outside, not very practical. Also, just for fun, Bismarck’s builders plate was just above the doors on the aft hanger. I have a drawing of it, if you guys are interested.

Well now that Bismarck can transmit/receive, on the Shortwave, Longwave, and Mediumwave bands, what’s next??

I figured this was going to be pretty disrespectful but it wasn’t bad at all. I particularly liked the swordfish scene with Dusty Miller leaning out looking at the waves. Miller was yelling “not yet Jock, not yet!” Once he observed a wave trough, he yelled “let ‘er go Jock”. Jock Moffet dropped the famous torpedo right into the wave trough. Moffet then heard Dusty Miller say “Jock, we got a runner!” One of the most famous quotes of the battle. As for Oskar the cat, this story is now widely believed to be false. Two photos of two different cats are often reported to be Oskar, but in all the very detailed accounts of the survivor recovery, there is no mention of a cat. The fact that most men were recovered drenched in oil Leads one to believe it would be almost impossible for a cat to survive. The reason the rescue was called off was because a UBoat had been sighted and Māori and Dorsetshire were sitting ducks. Many people believed for a long time this was a phantom sighting, however we now know U-74 (Krvkpt Kentrat) had been dispatched to the area, and was at periscope depth observing the recovery, trying to get a firing solution. Thankfully the weather was too rough, and to avoid being spotted, they went deep until the British ships left the area. They wouldn’t know the sounds they’d heard of a ship breaking up were Bismarck for some hours. The British, in turn, couldn’t take such a risk and had to abandon the recovery of survivors. The capital ships were all bugging out by this point, having lingered far, far beyond their fuel consumption range. There was even serious talk about what they’d have to do if some of these ships would need to be towed into port, having exhausted their burnable fuel. Some captains were reporting single digit fuel reserve percentages. To give you some perspective, at 60% remaining fuel, a British battleship would be considering a tanker or returning to port. Probably the biggest concern all across Rhine Exercise on both sides was fuel. It was the lynchpin of the whole mission. From Poland, the ominous explosion of Bismarck’s fuel hose, leaving her ~400 tons short, to the decision not to refuel in Norway (often regarded as a tactical error, but those who do rarely understand the positioning of the other tankers and the reason Lütjens decided not to), the hand-wringing by the Germans over Prinz Eugen’s ludicrous fuel consumption , her eventual detachment, Bismarck’s own fuel starvation issues, with her eventual return to France, and not to mention the above fuel crisis the British were facing. Fuel was the basis for almost every decision during Rhine on both sides. I can expand on this greatly if anyone is really interested.

It was nice to see this pop up in my notifications again!

You have to be careful with Kagero. If they don’t know the answer to a question, they tend to answer it themselves, with nonsense. Their Kongō drawings are absolutely hilarious. I picked them up last year to help with my build, and boy, they’re rough. They look pretty, but they blend the ship’s fit from 1941 to 1944.

Excellent, just remember the stern anchor has a short amount of chain where the swivels connect, and the rest is steel cable. This anchor was rarely used and the KM felt a steel cable was sufficient for holding purposes. This meant the anchor itself did a little more work than the average anchor though. It’s not too strange of a setup, but it wasn’t as robust as others. The anchor chain cables do a lot of the heavy holding on a large ship. The booms you’re referring to are just standard boat mooring booms, they swing out and allow the crew to embark/disembark the ships small boats without having to come along the accommodation ladders. A little simpler to deploy. For your purposes, I’d rig them as stowed. These didn’t weigh much, and I believe they were left in place during Rhine Exercise. With the exception of the smaller boats being removed, most of the boat handling equipment was left in place. Bismarck would likely have been deploying boats often to search lone enemy ships, plant explosives, inspect, all the things one does on a cruiser-warfare cruise. The small boats weren’t going to be needed, so they were left in Norway. I’m sure after the loss of Bismarck they were redistributed, but it would have been interesting to know where they got off to. If you’re interested, one of the Verkehrsboot from Tirpitz still lives. I believe it’s in France now, but I can’t remember the details.

Bismarck’s bow anchor was removed in Norway, to save fuel lugging it around. The stern anchor was more tricky to remove so it was left in place. Bismarck’s stern anchor didn’t use a chain cable, (anchor chains are called “cables” btw), it used a braided steel cable. After Denmark Strait, one of the bow anchors and cable was let go to help level the ship. It’s believed the other was dropped as well, with minimal results.

No problem!

I think we discussed this Harry, I’m not sure though. The swastikas on Bismarck and Prinz Eugen were covered by big canvas sheets when they reached Bergen. We have photos of the canvas on PG but not BS, so it’s not 100% confirmed, but extremely likely. The swastika banners were painted out on May 22

I love a good paint scheme discussion! Gets my blood flowing! As for yellow, I say the ship never had yellow paint applied. I can post way, way more on this but if anyone is really interested, shoot me a PM and I’ll send you more than you’d ever want to know. Red on the other hand, well I’ve been persuaded to the red camp recently. There are photos of the ship showing the turrets being repainted in an odd shade which is thought to be red. We know the KM experimented with red in the Baltic, and it’s very likely BS had red turret roofs for at least a short period of time. Now onto your question Harry. Those guards were there to catch the secondary charge casings from the 15” guns and the 5.9” guns. Most folks don’t realize that the KM used a secondary brass cartridge in their guns. These were ejected onto the deck from two ports under the main and secondary turrets. I’ve never seen a single model of Bismarck in combat depicting these, and there would have been dozens rolling around on deck! The reason they used these catch grids was because in combat, the railing around the edge of the ship was laid flat. This was because it would have been ripped off and destroyed with the firing of the main guns. There are many photos of the railing laid flat, easy to find. As for rigging them on your model, they were permanent fixtures so they should be there. Here are the photos of them on the ship:

No problem! I can post more on the yellow if you guys want, but it starts to get into the weeds.

The Baron’s letter:

A note on her final paint scheme. I disagree with the Draminski book in that she had yellow turret roofs. I believe in the book he states this is speculative. The speculation comes from one of the few survivors to be picked up by the Germans, Otto Maus. The Maus debrief was mistranslated after the war and this is where the yellow comes from. You can read the original German and it’s defiantly not what he’s talking about. The yellow was specified in the orders for Rhine Exercise but likely never carried out. I habe 4 signed letters from 4 people who were on board that day, one being The Baron himself, who states categorically NO YELLOW. The swastikas were painted over on May 21, around 1-3pm and were never repainted.

Thanks! Yeah, it was a bit of a job. A year and one week from the day I started until those photos were taken. I’m currently working on IJN Kongō in 1/1500. I’ve made over 500 piece of photo etched brass for that build, she’ll be the most detailed yet. That includes the antiaircraft suite. I did some limited photo etch work for Bounty, I probably should have done more. Kongō’s main armament is finished and ready to install. The barrettes and deck detail are the next step

I spent an age on the crowsfeet and euphroe block on my Bounty, and after the sails were on they were barely visible. The things we do I guess. But it’s there if anyone asks! I’m really enjoying your progress, she’s really coming together.

I see it was mentioned a bit earlier, but that strange undulation in the hull was designed to save weight. In designing the ships like this, Dr. Yuzuru Hiraga was able to reduce the height of the B turret barrette considerably. A very good idea.

I do believe the stern on this kit is incorrect. Recent developments have shown we’ve had it wrong for a while. To my knowledge, the 1/700 Pontos kit is the only one out depicting the ship with the correct stern profile.

Absolutely gorgeous!