RogerF

I'm really looking forward to following your build OC and am sure you'll be impressed with the results of the paint job using the airbrush. I've just ordered my Flyhawk Hood (yesterday) together with wood deck, paint mask and Flyhawk stand from Hobby Easy in Hong Kong. Sometime ago I bought the Flyhawk stand for Bismarck which is really nice - here's a pic of it with the Meng Bismarck to give an idea what it would look like with your1/700 Hood.

I have now posted pictures to the gallery for the very first time. 7 photos of my Revell 1/44 U-Boat with Griffon upgrade. Not perfect by any means but I'm pleased with it as a starting point.

The build is coming on in leaps and bounds Craig - I can never concentrate that intensely for long, needing frequent time outs with typically days between stints despite the available time NOT being the problem! The decks are looking great and the wealth of detail already evident is impressive. Having lots of identical PE parts to bend, form and paint must be a daunting prospect. Just grit your teeth and get through it I guess, I'm not looking forward to that phase when (and if ever!) I actually get started myself. I'll take some photos of the Revell U-Boot with Griffon upgrade - I guess the place to post them would be the gallery - yes? (I'm new around here!) I obviously don't want to clutter your thread with them.

Oh, I'll second that! With me it's not only the floor where the parts land but sometimes also somewhere on my cluttered desk which doubles as a workbench for model building. I lost 2 AA guns and half a mast of the Bismarck in 1/700 there! At least I think that's where they're still hiding!

Started well sir. When I compare the quality of fit, detail and precision moulding of Flyhawk kits with the best that was available but a few years ago then I can only shake my head. They really have raised the bar and up to now no kit manufacturer appears to have taken up the challenge. However, their ship models seem to be restricted to 1/700 scale - what on earth would a Flyhawk 1/350 scale Hood look like I wonder?!! Sorry Alan, I've no desire to hijack your blog. Rest assured I will be following your progress with interest - I have FL's Bismarck to start and hope to have their Hood very soon and I'll heed any advice that may arise from your experience with Gneisenau. Roger

Although I have been model-making for nearly 65 years, I have never attempted a scratch build. This example is truly magnificent, all the more so for being in 1/700 scale - and it's been a pleasure following the steps taken to arrive at the finished model. Wonderful.

Hi Craig, I own the Flyhawk Bismarck which I originally wanted to be my next build. However, I have only had one previous experience with airbrush, weathering and photo-etch - all three of which I intend to implement fully on Bismarck - and so I first built the Meng 1/700 version which is now finished - no painting necessary!!!! as a prelude to Flyhawk's massively superior 1/700 offering. . The Meng kit is a simple 'click together kit' much like Revell's click together Titanic which I have already built but I am entering new areas of expertise and as a perfectionist (whenever I can - and am able to be!) I thought a less demanding project was the route to take before embarking on the Rolls Royce of 1/700 kits. But I think Hood will be my next project - why? !. I've built one (Meng) Bismarck, which incidentally had me on my hands and knees for hours on end searching for AWOL microscopic parts as discussed earlier, and I felt the next project should be a Brit ship and well, Hood and Bismarck in the same scale was the obvious choice. 2. You inspired me to buy the very reasonably priced I-love-Kit which is excellent and classes above the Meng Bismarck if not quite up to Flyhawk's almost unbelievable standards. So I did buy it - absolutely no regrets. ☺️ 3. The Flyhawk Hood is now available, so before the 1st batch is sold out, I'll add that to my collection and hopefully do it justice. My last project was a Revell U-Boot in 1/144 scale with a Griffin photo-etch update. In addition to PE and airbrush, this also saw my first ever attempts at weathering. Perhaps I should post a few pics in the gallery though the standards there are soooo high! Whatever. I love the forum and am so grateful that you post so many pics and details of the build as it progresses. I learn so much from this kind of presentation and I slowly learn about the structure of the ship which is priceless when you come to have to decide when and what needs to be done or painted next. Once again, many thanks and keep up the good work. Kind regards Roger PS I will have just a few questions when I get started on Hood so be warned!

I'm really enjoying this build Craig and you've done a great job in provoking research into the (almost) mysterious dark grey antifouling paint. I shall certainly use dark grey for my Hood(s). I bought the same "I love Kit" but also want the Flyhawk offering which is now available. I'm waiting before ordering the Flyhawk though, don't want it arriving here while I'm on holiday next week - also there will be the usual customs duty to be paid before I get my stickyhands on to it! I intend building both Hood kits in parallel, learning from each kit as I progress.

My pleasure, hope it works for you. I'm enjoying your build but many if not most of the plastic parts look like resin rather than plastic, is that so? I'm sure in my kit there are no resin parts just plastic, photo-etch and of course the wooden decks.

A precaution:- When I built The Meng 1/700 Bismark as a trial run for the Flyhawk deluxe kit, I spent more time on the floor with an LED torch looking for microscopic parts that had gone AWOL than I did building the kit! I now use an apron when working on small parts in the same way as a goldsmith does to save all precious metal filings that would otherwise end up on the floor. Simply put on the apron and tape the bottom hem to the edge of the desk. That way any small parts will be caught in the fold rather than falling unhindered to the floor.

I have the Flyhawk Bismarck in 1/700 and wanted the Flyhawk HMS Hood to partner the Bismarck. Flyhawk's Hood is not yet available and I saw CDW's review of the 'I love Kit' of Hood that he bought and started to look to see if it was available in Europe. Low and behold it was available on Amazon Germany for 52 Euros including shipping so I ordered it and it arrived less than a week later here in Germany. I would agree that the detail of the plastic parts is not quite as good as the magnificent standard of Flyhawk's offerings but is nevertheless pretty good. The PE parts are truly wonderful and will doubtless improve the final model as will the wooden decks included. As CDW has alread<y said the box and packaging is extremely sturdy, the best I've seen on any plastic kit regardless of the manufacturer. I am looking forward to following CDW's build and hope to pick up some tips and tricks along the way, having only recently rediscovered my love of model building and for the first time have been using an airbrush and working with PE parts (Revell 1/144 U-Boot with Griffon brass PE sheets).

What 'dark grey' would be most likely to be authentic? I have dark grey acrylic paints from Vallejo (71.049 Ocean Grey), Tamiya (Dark grey XF-24), Revell (36.378 Dark grey, 36.378 Dust grey + 361.74 Gunship grey) and Lifecolor (UA631 Admiralty dark grey 507A)... am hoping one of these will be somewhere near the mark?? Any advice appreciated. Was her lower hull always grey?