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Carl pretty much covered it in his link. Early on during the navel arms race that followed the building of the Dreadnought, or the "All big gun ship" just after the turn of the century, Admiral Fisher of the British navy envisioned a vessel that carried the big guns of a battleship with the speed of a Cruiser, the idea being that a ship like that could out gun anything that it couldn't out run. His original intention appeared to be something like a later day USS Constitution in concept, never intended to fight in a line of battle along side of the more heavily armored big guys, or at least not at the front of the battle line like at Jutland. Admiral Jellicoe placed his faster but more fragile Battlecruisers at the front of the battle line and his almost as fast and more heavily gunned and armored new battleships at the rear of the formation. This exposed the more lightly armored Battlecruisers to take heavier damage than they should have while the more heavily armed battleships at the rear of the formation remained unengaged for much of the battle. Of course the concept of Battlecruisers was not only copied by the other side but in the case of the Germans even improved on in some respects. For example the SMS Seydlitz took over 20 heavy caliber hits from British ships including one direct hit on a turret from a 13.5" British shell and was also hit by a torpedo. The ship had taken similar damage in a prior battle with the British fleet and survived. Most people say that the reason for the better survivability of the German ships was a better damage control design and much smaller compartmentalization of their ships allowed by the fact that their crews did not live on board when near shore facilities. The only time that Battle cruisers were used in their intended role was in the battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. The last Battle Cruisers to see actual ship-to-ship combat were the German Pocket Battleships of WWII, and the last Battlecruisers built were the Alaska, Guam, and Hawaii for the US navy in WWII. The whole thing pretty much eventually evolved into the fast battleship of which the Bismark was one. The last fast Battleships were the HMS Vanguard and the Missouri class of WWII. I need to quit high jacking your build with history stuff. Now get back to work!!!! Lou

Well deserved I'm sure. This build is quite an achievement by anyone's standards. Holland made a number of mistakes besides firing on the wrong ship. In addition the British gunnery was not good to say the least for a number of reasons and this was compounded by the confusion in targets and equipment/gun failures on the Prince Of Wales. Most people feel he should have closed the distance to much closer range to avoid plunging fire on his much weaker decks. He also limited his number of effective guns to half by choosing the angle of approach that he did. Then of course there was the big one, the British continued to use Battle Cruisers as Battleships even after finding that this may not be a real good idea in WWI at the battle of Jutland. Lutjens and Lindemann made none of these mistakes. Both ships had their full broadsides available And not only probably had better range finding equipment but had the advantage of being able to see the British better due to their relative positions. I believe both German ships concentrated solely on the Hood until she blew up and only then shifted fire to the Prince Of Wales. Lou

You call that a major mistake? The stripes only extended up into the superstructure for a couple of months in early 1941. Then they were painted out from the deck shear up and shortly after were eliminated all together! SO many changes in so short a time frame who could say what she looked like almost day by day? In fact I think i saw a movie taken of the wreck stern and the Swastika is clear to see on the deck even though it was supposedly removed or painted over prior to heading out to sea. I think the idea was to make her look more like the Prince Eugen. That and the sailing positions of the two ships worked to confuse Admiral Holland just long enough that almost all of the shots fired by the Hood were fired at the Prince Eugen, not the Bismark. Mistakes or otherwise this is a fantastic build. Lou

I love how she is turning out for you Jack and that you are still making progress. If your son doesn't like her I'll take her off your hands! Lou

I finally copied the pictures into a picture viewing program and had to blow them up to the point of almost being pixelated before I could see what you were talking about! I am almost certain that if I had not been looking for it, or if it had been painted already, I would have still missed it! I hope on my upcoming project that I will be able to keep my mistakes that invisible! Lou

OK I give up!!!!!!!! How can you tell that the railings are upside down? They look the same to me even when I turn my computer upside down or stand on my head! Tired Lou

Hi Piet I'm enjoying following the build and rehearing the history by someone who was there. I have read a number of books about ABDA and that time frame but your personal involvement brings life to the story. Thanks Lou

That is the thing I love about snow, not only is it beautiful when it first falls, but how it seems to absorb all the sound. Makes the world seem so peaceful! Lou

Hi Denis Not trying to highjack your build log with other stuff. I have seen these used a couple of times over the years and at 1/350 they are VERY SMALL, about 5mm! If they are painted with heavy coats of paint they fill out pretty well. Eduard makes a couple of WWII German sets that are already painted. They can also be bent into different positions to make them even more interesting. Lou

Hi Piet Tom's Modelworks makes a 1/350 set in photoetch for $9.00. http://www.tomsmodelworks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=56 There may be others out there as well. Lou

That's OK Denis....... It happens to all of us sooner or later! Just kidding, I thought I had also seen something at one time or another that had clear plastic sides and was as big or bigger than the Revell kit, 1/48th seems to come to mind. Possibly made from the Scale Shipyard hull? or maybe it was this? Lou

Hi Piet Actually there are a number of Gato class subs available. I am not familiar with the clear sided version Denis is talking about but Revell makes both the large 1/72nd Gato and a smaller (USS Lionfish) kit that are both nice. Trumpeter makes some very nice 1/144 scale early and late war Gato's. I am not all that current with what PE may be available for the different kits but it used to be pretty extensive. Hope that's helpful. Lou

SEMOR Is that the missing brass laying next to her left front paw? Lou

That would do it for me. If they show payment options on their site and then don't follow up then I would not bother with them no matter what the cost. All my credit cards have consumer protection as well but I am not as sure how easy they are to use. I have used PayPal and of course eBay and in both cases they were pretty trouble free and quick without a bunch of fine print stuff. Lou

It does seem too good to be true but on the other hand they take PayPal as a payment option and PayPal guarantees your money back if you do not get what you ordered. Could be worth the risk if they have something you are really interested in and are willing to wait for it. I doubt that their shipping is on the fast side. Just my 2 cents and worth what you paid. Lou

Hi Lawrence Like Denis said they can be a little hard to find even though they are carried in many stores. Rather than wander aimlessly through the isles of your local market you might prefer to do it on line. https://www.ebay.com/itm/RSVP-Carved-Gourmet-Toothpick-Refills-for-Buffet-Party-or-for-Dispenser-250-pkg/350472682414?hash=item5199ccbbae:g:MYkAAOxyRhBS7oqZ:sc:USPSFirstClass!98201!US!-1 Some more looking may also provide additional head designs. Lou

Simon I know you will at some point get it to where you are happy with the results, if only because you know that you can. But even as it is it is still impressive work to a mere mortal like me! Looking forward to the final results. Lou

Hello Simon I have no idea what you are talking about! If I could produce something like that I would be doing happy dances all over the house! Fantastic work Lou

Hi Denis Seems like working with buoys really floats your day! Great work, they will really add to and complete the overall look of the model. Lou

Hello Steve I have come to think that gun port location and sizing was possibly dependent on the vessel being equipped. Warships designed from the ground up of course would have the required framing and rigging locations already incorporated into the design long before the first timber was cut and probably would have followed design standards set by the Admiralty or other governing body. When it comes to merchant ships, converted merchant ships, privateers, and other riff raff it was probably a more eclectic operation. Some merchant ships like the Bonhomme Richard were already well armed in their original design, probably to some version of the above standard. Other ships like the Colonial schooner Hanna was a fishing vessel prior to being converted for military duties and who knows what method or formula if any was used to rig guns on her. But they also only had four 4 pounder carriage guns to deal with so I suspect they placed them anywhere they would fit and have a clear field of fire and room for loading and recoil. Then it is possible they would have reinforced that area of the bulwarks to handle the additional strain. I'm not all that sure about the last part to be honest. It was probably easier and less expensive to pick sturdy vessels right off. Of course there is the matter that in all probability at least some of the ships chosen for conversion to armed ship were chosen for who owned them rather than the ideal nature of the ship. I could be VERY wrong but I would think that throwing the guns overboard would be one of the last things one would do in a chase. Without guns the ship would just have to sail back to port as just another unarmed vessel. I suppose there could be other reasons to consider this means of lightening ship, but not to many come readily to mind. As for the Constructo build I never started a build log as after not having built anything in over twenty years, combined with the unbelievably impressive models people show here I did not feel that it would be impressive enough to be presented as a legitimate build. Then I went through a slowdown in the transom were I was not happy with the results and started over three times from the beginning. I am mostly done with the third attempt and if I can ever get back to it may end up being acceptable but not outstanding. Then there is the biggest, (Or smallest) deterrent to model building or for that matter almost any other hobby in the house. Our new kitten! She is an absolute terror that literally spends hours flying, (and I do mean flying) about the house seeing what kind of damage she can do. So far my wife has had to box up all of her craft supplies and has lost three or four finished projects. We had to remove some of her favorite dolls to remote locations of the house to save them from further destruction. We lost one collectible cookie jar in the kitchen when it went crashing onto the floor, and her bouquet of flowers for Valentines day had to finally be moved upstairs where the cat is not allowed to go for safety! A small ship like the Constructo kit would not stand a chance! One idea was tempting though. Yesterday after shopping we were putting away groceries and when I opened the refrigerator door the cat instantly ran into the lower shelf area as a new place she wanted to check out. I just closed the door and called my wife over and said "Should we have this for dinner?" and opened the door again. The cat came out and didn't even seem all that concerned, but seemed to have lost all interest when the whole place went dark. I was tempting to wonder how long it would take to make a kittycycal though! Hopefully in a few more months things will change. meanwhile I have become VERY interested in research on building a historically realistic model of the Continental Sloop Providence. At least I can do that to some degree even though she has on one occasion closed my computer lid by looking over the top to see what I was doing, walked across my keyboard a number of times causing all sorts of chaos with what was on the screen, and decided that the only place to lay down in the entire house was on the ship plans I had spread in front of me at the time. Kind of hard seeing details when you are looking in the face of a cat who is looking right back saying how dare you ignore me! Hopefully #1 I will get back to the Constructo build soon, and #2 make enough research progress to start building the Providence. Might possibly have to do both at the same time. Thanks for both the input and the interest. Lou

Hello Antonio Very nice build you have going. Using a hand drill to make your own rope in lieu of a rope walk is very impressive and innovative. Congratulations on the result. Lou

Hi Lou You have a very good looking model there. I'm looking forward to the rest of the fleet. Besides it gives me a chance to see "Lou" making nice models. Lou

As an interesting side note they recently recovered the Hood's ships bell. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3607165/Remembering-HMS-Hood-Bell-battlecruiser-sunk-75-years-ago-Royal-Navy-s-biggest-disaster-retrieved-seabed-Microsoft-founder-Paul-Allen-formally-unveiled-Princess-Royal.html Lou

Hi Pat I'm both sorry and glad that I may not be the only one. Sorry that others may be having the same issue and glad that there is still a chance i'm not nuts! Lou

Hi Denis It's funny how a few details here and there add so much realism to the part being modeled and of course to the entire ship. Keep it up Lou PS: I actually wrote this last night but for some reason it didn't stick??????????????