Dan Vadas

Thank you all . Getting near the end of the build. The last major part - the gun : All that's left to do are some minor details - a 50 cal machine gun, some jerry cans and tools, etc. Danny

The tracks were actually TWO segments too long, far too long to compensate for by "sagging". No problem, it's already fixed : You'll notice that one roller has come adrift, easily fixed . Danny

That's easily done after the tracks are installed. Unfortunately the idler wheel is the first one I need to glue to the track. The lugs are too tight and there is too much friction to fit it last. I found out the hard way that the tracks are one segment too long - a bit of cutting and re-gluing coming up. Danny

Thank you all for the comments, and especially vossiewulf for the extra information . I have finally finished gluing up both sets of tracks. That was quite a marathon . Below are some details of the "teeth" and "lugs" : Fitting the tracks to the body isn't easy. I started by first gluing the locating lugs to the idler pulley, and then glued the pulley to the chassis : The drive pulley is only glued to the tracks at one point so far, and not glued at all to the top rollers yet. Once the idler pulley has dried I'll glue the drive pulley into place. The bottom rollers will be fitted last to tension the tracks : Danny

Sorry Sjors and others who have been waiting for an updated Index. My health and Xmas have been getting in the way a bit lately. The Indexes are now up-to-date. Please note - updating the Indexes is a rather complex operation. It's not worth the time to update for only one or two new build logs - I usually wait until there are 5 or 6 new ones before updating. Danny

Gee I hope not . Good to see you back Slog, and excellent work as usual. re: the 0.2mm wire - where did you get it? I bought the last 2 packs of it that BNA Model World had (way back about 2 years ago) and they have never re-stocked it. I can't seem to find any on the interweb . EDIT - never mind, I just checked BNA again and they now have heaps . Danny

Because you can . When you start fitting all the small pieces to the decks around them you'll be glad you can move the barrels out of the way . Danny

Time to start on the tracks. Here are all the ones needed for them. They come as an inner and an outer : As you can imagine there is a bit of cutting to do : I didn't align the sprockets quite right - the teeth of the inner sprockets don't quite align with the outer sprocket. This one isn't too bad, and I'll probably get away with it, but the other is worse so I'm going to have to cut it apart and fit the sprockets properly : I've overlapped the inner and outer tracks to avoid have a "hard" joint - two sets are needed for each side : Just when you think the amount of cutting needed can't get much worse - here are the "teeth" of the tracks. One is needed for each track segment : There are also just as many locating lugs, which fit to the inner track and run between the double rollers. The kit gives three options for the tracks - a simplified belt without any of the "teeth" or lugs, the option I chose which is a continuous belt with all the details, or the individually segmented tracks. After looking at doing the tracks as individual "articulated" ones I decided against it. For one thing there are absolutely NO diagrams as to how they go together, although I did eventually work it out. There isn't much point, as the finished articles look identical anyway, and there is a lot more cutting and folding involved. In fact the only instructions regarding the tracks in the kit is one short paragraph listing which tracks go with each option - and they got the whole lot WRONG anyway 🤬. Danny

Thanks David, and all the others who replied . The sprockets are very visible, this part (the tension adjuster) not so much : I don't think I've got it quite right - the instructions were very vague about it (as usual ). Danny

Five days later and I've made all the sprockets and rollers. To cut the teeth in the drive sprockets I used my punch set. There are 12 of these, a central one that contains the spokes and two outer ones to get the thickness correct : The idler sprockets : And the top rollers : Danny

Continuing - the shock absorbers : Next up is the reason I haven't updated lately - the 12 (plus 2 spares) bottom dual wheels. These have taken me 8 days to make, the equivalent of tying ratlines on a ship. I'm really glad to see the end of them at last . Here are four of the wheels in the various jigs I made to assist assembly : I used two spacers and a piece of brass tubing to fit the inner wheel to the axle : A finished wheel fitted to the suspension arm : Danny

Pavol, I went one better and found THIS guy's build of the same kit. I've had to use the pics a few times to work out how to build some parts, and where they went . I did that . No discoloration is visible to the eye and they are VERY strong. Thanks for the link to the tracks. I didn't find that one, but that's not unusual for GPM's site which is rather difficult to navigate sometimes . And thanks too for the site with that beautiful model - an inspiration indeed . Danny

Thanks Mark and G'day Hof. I definitely had a cutaway in mind before starting the model, but the more I got into it the more I realized it would be virtually impossible with this particular one. I could have made nearly the whole top, from the front of the turret to the back of the engine cover, in one piece that lifts off but it would have created too many alignment and stability issues. I did the best compromise I could by making the hatches moveable. Doing cutaways on card models wouldn't be any more difficult than in any other media, just not on this particular one. Anyhow, isn't actually BUILDING the model most of the fun? I don't look at them much after they are finished . Danny

Fixed. Thank you for pointing this out . Danny

The front hatches only have one hinge each, so it's larger than the others with 2 and 3 sections. This of course makes it a bit harder to construct : The engine cover hatches are a more complex arrangement, with ventilation for engine cooling : There are also some small details, like these "fairleads" (for want of a better word) that support the tow cable : With all the hatches finished it's time to fit the track guards : Also the air filters : Danny

Thanks for the info Patrick. I'm not sure about that yet. The kit gives you three options, one of them being articulated tracks (that explains the 5 pages of tracks ). I'll certainly give it a try. Danny

No. As you will see from the next lot of pics. I've now glued on all the upper panels, and most interior detail has vanished. Here are the bits you CAN still see (just as well I took lots of pics earlier ) : And just for you Richmond : Danny

Thanks David. I consider my HMS Hood to be better . Danny

I don't know how many gsm the 1mm card is David, but I suspect it's heavier again. You can buy the card from GPM, they also have the 0.5mm, but postage isn't cheap so if you want to get some from them then take a look at their site and see if there's anything else you want and add it to the order. It won't cost much extra (unless you buy a LOT of stuff ). Danny

I couldn't really spot the difference in the two sheets of decks until I'd cut them out and fitted them together. Hopefully mine was just a bad sheet of printing and yours is OK. There are more laser-cut parts available than just the framing etc. They also supply all the smaller guns, radomes and a few other things as options which you have to buy separately. Also the photo-etch for the AA guns and other small parts (same deal). Check the first post or two for all the extras I bought. Danny

No plywood, that's the colour of the 1mm card. There is also laser-cut 0.5mm card in the kit for things like the decks and superstructure. Hope you have fun with your Bismarck. I also hope they fixed the issue I had with the mis-matched colours of the main decks. If you didn't get the laser-cut options I would STRONGLY recommend that you put the model on hold and order them. Danny

I had planned to make the roof removable to show off the interior, but it turns out I can't. So I decided to make the four hatches with working hinges so some of the interior will be visible. Here are the first two - they work perfectly : Danny

Maybe. I'll have to actually install the barrel and then make some modifications to the elevation pivot if needed. Now we're really getting ridiculous. These are by far the smallest diameter tubes I've ever had to roll - a mere 0.6mm in diameter. They are the handles for control wheels, and are rolled around a 0.4mm drill bit (a 1.0mm drill bit is shown for comparison). The second pic is of three sizes of tube for the gunsight assembly, with the largest being 1.5mm diameter : The gunsight and gunner's seat completed and glued in place : More pieces of the breech fitted, including the catch basket for expended shells : Danny

The main gun assembly was particularly difficult to work out due to the VERY poor instructions. I'm not at all happy with the effort, or rather lack thereof, that GPM put into these. Why on earth would they bother "detailing" how to assemble a bucket, axe and German helmet for instance, but show only a very basic drawing of the really complex assemblies? Makes my blood boil 🤬. Not to worry, I eventually worked it all out . The pics below are of the breech and the elevation/sweep support bracket. I've managed to make it work both ways. I used a piece of 3mm PVC tubing for the elevation pivot, as the kit probably didn't allow for this assembly to actually work : This whole assembly, including the outer skin, is still only dry-fitted, there is quite a bit more work needed before I can permanently mount it : Danny

Thanks for that Adrie. Danny