channell

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Another weekend, another update! 
 
I'm moving along on the aft-half of the superstructure... got the deck installed and everything just about ready for PE:
 
After scraping off the kit details:
 

 
I skeletonized the AA gun platform extensions with a twist drill and a scalpel; in-progress:
 

 
... and how they look after with the PE grates installed:
 

 
The completed deck:
 

 
Before and after of vent stacks below turret "Caesar":
 

 

 
One of the kit errors is having the aft area skylights as standalone units when they should be attached to the superstructure bulkheads; I modified the skylight trunks, drilled them out and mounted them directly to the bulkheads for a more "true to life" look. I had to add styrene backing so the skylights would sit far enough out to cover the holes in the deck. 
 

 

 
Got some very nice PE to dress up this area too, after priming the plastic with Tamiya rattlecan primer. 
 
And just for giggles and kicks, here's Bissy next to her nemesis, the Mighty 'Ood in the same scale:
 

 

 
The myth of Bismarck being the gigantic juggernaut of death that outclassed every other warship in the world is a bit overblown... Hood was a big girl and I'm sure her crew put to sea to chase down Bismarck with all the confidence in the world. The reality of war however is that sometimes you win big and sometimes #$*! happens.

It's humbling and a bit disturbing to remember (again) that such impressive and indeed beautiful ships were ultimately built to do such bloody, ugly jobs and that so many men died on them doing just that.
 
One reason I love scale modeling... it brings the past alive for people like me who are so far removed from the original events like no photograph or paragraphs in a book can. I hope in my builds that I can do justice to the memory of those who were there and who gave their lives in service of their countries. War is such a terrible thing but I'm sure the dead of both ships would have been pleased to know the Nazis are long gone and virtually everyone alive today has never known a world where Germany and the UK weren't friends and allies. 
 
 

Had the day off yesterday and made a 10+ hour straight push on the aft superstructure... got it all cleaned up, primed the plastic and got maybe 60-70% of the PE on.
 

 
I'm hoping I can get this piece done over the coming weekend... guess I'll see how it goes. 

This is my solution, though I'm gonna have to evict the Admiral from the lower shelves eventually...

Thanks!
There is an insane amount of PE on this build, more than I've ever attempted before but it seems to be going well so far. I've honestly been having a good time working on Bissy over these past few months, guess that's what matters most! 
 
My Hood build has been on ice for a couple years now and is an equally monster project as the Bismarck but I got bogged down on the build and just wasn't "feeling it" at the time. I figured it was better to wait until the "right time" came to pick it up again... and it will, just like my "Bismarck Madness" came back after a few years. 
 
These superdetailed 1/200 warships are not easy projects to see through to the end... hopefully I'm getting old and mature enough now to actually get a few of 'em finished instead  of just flitting around between overly ambitious and overwhelming projects...
 
 

Made some more progress this weekend, got the rear superstructure PE all done and painted:
 

 

 

 
Something I did that I don't see many other Bismarck builders do is paint the roof of the main hangar in dark grey (the same color as most all steel deck areas of the ship). I decided to do it because you can see it was painted likewise on the actual wreck... makes sense as this area would be walked around on to access the smaller boats that will eventually take residence here. I also put a huge amount of tedious work in on the many PE vents here; they were a bear to complete but look good. Here's the scariest one before installation:
 

 
Anyway, there will be some touch-up to do still on this section but the next project is going to be the funnel and forward hangars. After that I'll return to do the smaller details such as the guns, railings/stairs and storage boxes that litter the superstructure. 
 

Thanks all! been on a rampage these past few days on Bismarck... got the flak guns installed, railings up on level 2 of the superstructure and marathoned 6 more tiny Veteran Models AA guns. Damn those things are a nightmare. Also got some Veteran Models ammo boxes cleaned up, painted and ready to go.  

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Made some good progress over the weekend... got the conning tower set up complete with scratched out open "safe doors" (something I wanted to do after seeing it on the wreck) as well as getting quite a bit done on the Admiral's Bridge. Still tons of detail to go on the Admiral's bridge but at least the main modifications are done. I also had to throw in an eye candy shot of those Veteran Model Flak guns... so cool looking!  

Thanks everyone! Working on this thing has been (and continues to be) an odyssey, that's for sure. No way I'm adding up how much I paid for all the stuff in this thread... I think it might drive me to tears. At least it's all paid for, provided I don't buy anything else for it (which seems unlikely) . 

Thanks everyone! Working on this thing has been (and continues to be) an odyssey, that's for sure. No way I'm adding up how much I paid for all the stuff in this thread... I think it might drive me to tears. At least it's all paid for, provided I don't buy anything else for it (which seems unlikely) . 

Thanks everyone! Working on this thing has been (and continues to be) an odyssey, that's for sure. No way I'm adding up how much I paid for all the stuff in this thread... I think it might drive me to tears. At least it's all paid for, provided I don't buy anything else for it (which seems unlikely) .