drobinson02199

In the looking ahead for problems department, I was concerned about how the stern superstructure buts up against the bow one. That concern arose from an obvious misalignment of the stern structure with the deck pattern, as shown in the picture. The bow structure is perfectly aligned. There are some plastic thingies on the end of the stern superstructure (they cause the gap between the structures, which is normal), and those could be sanded back where they meet the bow structure, but I was concerned about clearance for the catapults. So I built one, and before making any adjustments you can see that it aligns perfectly with the railings. I did see a way to deal with that if I narrow the gap, so I sanded down the part of those "thingies" that meets the bow structure, and you can see afterward that the alignment is much closer -- and in fact with a bit more fiddling and slight rotation, it gets close to perfect (not shown). Regarding the catapult clearance, you can see in the final picture where the arrow points a railing misalignment that can be easily addressed by trimming the railing on the bow structure back to evenly meet the catapult walkway. What also has to be adjusted is a brass cladding that goes over the deck and abuts the catapult, but that can be trimmed where it meets the bow tower to accommodate the narrowed gap. Way back to my second model ever, I got bitten on things not lining up, so I read ahead and look for it now. Regards, David

Here's a tower that goes on the stern superstructure. A pretty intricate assembly. Regards, David

A couple of assemblies. The two matched items are lifeboat racks. The larger one (front and back views shown) is a signal bridge that will be mounted on the stern superstructure. I have found that it's almost impossible to build these brass assemblies without using accelerator. Because spray is so undirected and wasteful, I bought an eyedropper bottle and put accelerator in that, and it really works well. Regards, David

Nice little turret assembly. Shown alone and where it will ultimately go on the structure. There's a seam at the front that isn't quite closed, but this is a very small assembly and the paint will fill it in. Regards, David

More levels of the stern superstructure. The leftmost turret is dry fitted at this point, and the upper levels are dry fitted awaiting painting. Regards, David

I've started on the stern superstructure. Some nice raised detail here. Regards, David

I've had a few pieces that needed painting, and since I put my spray booth away, I've been waiting for a good day to spray those pieces outside. That was today, so I've now finished the bow structure. New parts: mast, ladder next to mast, small catwalk, some braces, two turrets. I started the stern structure a few days ago, so that's underway. Regards, David

And the funnel and hangars. Now I have to build and paint a couple of brass fixtures, mount them, and then mount some turrets and this structure will be done. Regards, David

And now the tower is up. Regards, David

Next set of levels mounted. I'm into painting completed structures, so this should go up fairly quickly, and I'll keep posting progress pics as I go. Regards, David

Put up my spray booth and have now started to paint and assemble the bow superstructure. First and second levels shown here, in position and glued to the ship. Regards, David

This is the starboard hangar in its position next to the funnel. An identical one goes on the port side, and I will build that now. Really nice detail here -- and of course all of this will be painted gray. A tip: there are notched slots in the roof to accept the brass pieces. I used a craft knife to widen them so they would more easily accept the fittings. Regards, David

Cool little crane assembly. Goes on the funnel later on. Regards, David

This is the funnel, in the position it will eventually hold. There are some very difficult assemblies in this, and I butchered one beyond fixing. See if you can find it. 😁 Regards, David

Thanks, Ian. I've found the most challenging part to be the tiny little brass and plastic pieces -- the smallest ones. I've lost a couple that slipped out of my tweezers onto the floor, where I couldn't find them, but they are so small that I have said "to hell with it, they will never be noticed" and moved on. 😁 Regards, David

More stages of the bow superstructure. I've added some closeups showing the new detail. The turrets have been removed here and "parked" on a piece of tape. It might seem like I'm going fast, but I had held the previous stage for about 5 days waiting for some paint to arrive, and was working on this stage during that time. Regards, David

Bow structure continues to take shape -- the new layers are dry-fitted as things need to be painted in stages. The white patches on the top of the structure are putty. Regards, David

More work on the lower level of the bow structure. The two gun turrets are dry-fitted for now. Some of the detail pieces are fiendishly small. I've lost a couple of the really tiny ones on my workbench, but you can't really tell. Regards, David

This ship shows an incredible level of detail, achieved by using brass etched sections on the sides that will ultimately be spray painted gray. This is the first level of the starboard side. There is detail etched into the surface of the base plates, and then you add very tiny pieces on top to create additional raised detail. Regards, David

Something I forgot to mention for any of you who might be using this build log as a reference for your own Bismarck build: The base frame for the structure in the picture above is initially built in two sections -- front and rear. Those are then joined by stringers on the sides of the beams that run fore and aft -- you can see the beam numbered 75 above, but the join is hidden now. You use the deck pattern to get the spacing of the fore and aft sections right before joining them with the stringers. But the picture in the manual is confusing -- it didn't seem right to me when I looked at my model. It was only after really close inspection and comparison (including using a magnifying glass on the picture) that I realized that the actual pattern I have is different -- slightly -- from the one pictured in the manual. So I then used common sense to do the alignment. Point of this is that you could make a really serious mistake if you just look at the picture and align the way it shows. Regards, David

Intermediate progress on the first structure. In position but not glued to the deck. Regards, David

Tiny hatches assembled and mounted on the stern. These are painted over in the pictures that follow. Then areas painted in "German Gray". Everything from here on is superstructure. Regards, David

Stanchions (which will go on later) require about 200 tiny holes to be drilled around the edge of the deck. The way my decking fit, there was very little free room beyond it, so for many of the stanchions I'm gong to have to notch a small slot just a bit into the decking to accommodate the stanchion base. Regards, David

Back from my trip (and finally time zone readjusted), and I've gotten back to the Bismarck. First step from where I left off was to drill the holes under the hull for eventual mounting on a nicer stand than the one they supply with the ship. With that done, I applied the decking, which is thin printed wood sections. The way I did it was to line them all up, sand as required to get everything lined up, and then tape the sections down, checking alignment until I had the whole thing taped. Then I glued sections bow to stern, removing tape and lifting one side, gluing, and then doing the other side. With that done, I varnished the deck. I think varnishing it at this point is important because soon I need to paint two dark gray bands on it, and I want a smooth surface for masking. The unvarnished surfaces are kind of rough wood. Also, if there is any bleed under the mask, scraping it off will look much better if it's on top of varnish. Regards, David

Finished painting the hull. The thin horizontal white patches you see are lighting. Also installed rudder and screws. The screws look the same color in this pic, but they are actually copper-colored. Now my dilemma: I have attached a picture from the manual showing the simplest of the three camouflage patterns. My issue is that I really don't like the way this looks. So after some deliberation, I'm going to skip the white coloring. I really respect those of you that pay close attention to historical accuracy, but I'm going to skip the white designs. This will be my last post until late February. Going on a long winter trip. Regards, David