channell

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The underwater volcano didn't erupt and the back section sheared off as the Bismarck sank. When it got to the bottom, the ship hit the slopes of an underwater volcano like a ton of bricks and caused an underwater avalanche, then ended up digging a huge trench through the mud before coming to a rest well down the slope.
 
Not as fun I guess... but it's interesting that Bismarck ended up on the bottom more or less in one piece. All the other sunken WW2 battleships in deep water seem to be just heaps of unidentifiable wreckage. I suppose it's because they imploded as they sank but Bismarck was reportedly scuttled by her crew at the end to stop the Brit bombardment in the last battle.
 
Would love to see a well done Bissy wreck though... that would be a cool project!

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The underwater volcano didn't erupt and the back section sheared off as the Bismarck sank. When it got to the bottom, the ship hit the slopes of an underwater volcano like a ton of bricks and caused an underwater avalanche, then ended up digging a huge trench through the mud before coming to a rest well down the slope.
 
Not as fun I guess... but it's interesting that Bismarck ended up on the bottom more or less in one piece. All the other sunken WW2 battleships in deep water seem to be just heaps of unidentifiable wreckage. I suppose it's because they imploded as they sank but Bismarck was reportedly scuttled by her crew at the end to stop the Brit bombardment in the last battle.
 
Would love to see a well done Bissy wreck though... that would be a cool project!

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The underwater volcano didn't erupt and the back section sheared off as the Bismarck sank. When it got to the bottom, the ship hit the slopes of an underwater volcano like a ton of bricks and caused an underwater avalanche, then ended up digging a huge trench through the mud before coming to a rest well down the slope.
 
Not as fun I guess... but it's interesting that Bismarck ended up on the bottom more or less in one piece. All the other sunken WW2 battleships in deep water seem to be just heaps of unidentifiable wreckage. I suppose it's because they imploded as they sank but Bismarck was reportedly scuttled by her crew at the end to stop the Brit bombardment in the last battle.
 
Would love to see a well done Bissy wreck though... that would be a cool project!

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Made more progress this weekend... My hull "remodel" took way more work than I thought it would... looking forward to getting the hull painted up and diving into the more fun stuff to do above the waterline.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The underwater volcano didn't erupt and the back section sheared off as the Bismarck sank. When it got to the bottom, the ship hit the slopes of an underwater volcano like a ton of bricks and caused an underwater avalanche, then ended up digging a huge trench through the mud before coming to a rest well down the slope.
 
Not as fun I guess... but it's interesting that Bismarck ended up on the bottom more or less in one piece. All the other sunken WW2 battleships in deep water seem to be just heaps of unidentifiable wreckage. I suppose it's because they imploded as they sank but Bismarck was reportedly scuttled by her crew at the end to stop the Brit bombardment in the last battle.
 
Would love to see a well done Bissy wreck though... that would be a cool project!

... Like I said earlier, I'm going for broke on aftermarket add-ons: 
 

 
Got the complete Pontos advanced set, a KA MK 1 set, all the resin Veteran models DKM sets and a bunch of other random bits + whatever I need/want to salvage from build #1 to work with. 
 
I'm especially excited about the scaledecks wood deck:
 

 
The individual planks are printed onto the wood rather than burnt on with a laser, giving a far more convincing result than before (KA deck left, Pontos deck middle and Scaledecks right)
 
In between bouts of sanding the hull I've also been preparing the first tier of the superstructure for photo-etch heaven... or hell, depending on your standing with the stuff!
 

 

 
I did a couple of PE vents just to make sure I could do them... fiddly stuff but they are gonna look great in the end. 
 

 

 
Finally, did some work on the propshafts/rudders: 
 

 
And some "eye candy" with the messed up superstructure of build #1 to give me hope for the future:
 

 
More to come...
 
 

My first job has been to improve the shape of the kit hull to make it look closer to the real thing while still allowing myself some artistic license and not getting too bogged down in making it 100% exact. In the end, aside from simply chasing accuracy in scale I guess it's really all about making the model more "mine" instead of the work of some nameless grunts and a huge injection molding machine. 
 
Here's a smattering of Bismarck hulls to illustrate:
 

 
Top is a 1/100 fiberglass Bismarck hull, middle is my original hull and bottom is the hull I'm gonna use to finish this build.
 

 
I used the plans of the 1/100 version scaled down as a guide to get a fair approximation of the hull shape and built up/shaved down the hull from stem to stern to match the plan profile using reverse cross-sections as a guide. 
 
I also replaced the bow portholes by drilling fresh circles in styrene sheet and inletting them into the hull:
 

 

 
I did this because the kit portholes are warped due to the curvature of the hull and the realities of molding the hull in 1 large piece.
 
I was able to drill and grind the stern portholes from behind to get the same effect:
 

 

I also re-profiled the stern itself as the kit interpretation is too sharp and narrow. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm bringing this project back from the dead if that's OK with y'all. I'm also doing a log on another site but I thought I'd  share my misadventures here too for those who are interested. 😁
 
I've been through a rocky past few years when it comes to scale modeling... I've started several ambitious builds but only finished one (a 1/200 HMS Nelson) and ran into enough frustration/burnout that I ended up boxing up my modeling stuff and walking away for quite some time because of it. 
 
(edit) Here's a couple of pics of my Nelson, just for fun...
 

 

 

 
Anyway, the world spins in circles and me along with it... The bug has bitten again and I've come back refreshed and renewed with an urge to succeed where I failed in the past... and I'm restarting where it pretty much all began for me: superdetailing the Trumpeter 1/200 Bismarck.
 
The original subject of this thread is pretty much trashed... I accidentally dropped it in an icy self-storage parking lot during a move about 5 years back and it's been sitting in a box getting even more broken and loosing parts ever since. Luckily for me, I'm a big spender and bought 2 of these kits back then... the aftermarket has since put out a metric crapton of add-ons for this kit which I've collected a lot of over the years too. 
 
Here's the main plan... I'm still aiming to do Bismarck as she appeared late in 1940 with an emphasis on doing a clean and extremely detailed build.  There were quite a few minor improvements/ completion of elements of the ship and paint scheme changes made to the Bismarck between the fall/winter of 1940 and Operation Rheinübung the following spring and I'll point them out as a go along. I'm expecting a long-term project of a year or so... we'll see how it goes. 
 
 

... Like I said earlier, I'm going for broke on aftermarket add-ons: 
 

 
Got the complete Pontos advanced set, a KA MK 1 set, all the resin Veteran models DKM sets and a bunch of other random bits + whatever I need/want to salvage from build #1 to work with. 
 
I'm especially excited about the scaledecks wood deck:
 

 
The individual planks are printed onto the wood rather than burnt on with a laser, giving a far more convincing result than before (KA deck left, Pontos deck middle and Scaledecks right)
 
In between bouts of sanding the hull I've also been preparing the first tier of the superstructure for photo-etch heaven... or hell, depending on your standing with the stuff!
 

 

 
I did a couple of PE vents just to make sure I could do them... fiddly stuff but they are gonna look great in the end. 
 

 

 
Finally, did some work on the propshafts/rudders: 
 

 
And some "eye candy" with the messed up superstructure of build #1 to give me hope for the future:
 

 
More to come...
 
 

... Like I said earlier, I'm going for broke on aftermarket add-ons: 
 

 
Got the complete Pontos advanced set, a KA MK 1 set, all the resin Veteran models DKM sets and a bunch of other random bits + whatever I need/want to salvage from build #1 to work with. 
 
I'm especially excited about the scaledecks wood deck:
 

 
The individual planks are printed onto the wood rather than burnt on with a laser, giving a far more convincing result than before (KA deck left, Pontos deck middle and Scaledecks right)
 
In between bouts of sanding the hull I've also been preparing the first tier of the superstructure for photo-etch heaven... or hell, depending on your standing with the stuff!
 

 

 
I did a couple of PE vents just to make sure I could do them... fiddly stuff but they are gonna look great in the end. 
 

 

 
Finally, did some work on the propshafts/rudders: 
 

 
And some "eye candy" with the messed up superstructure of build #1 to give me hope for the future:
 

 
More to come...
 
 

... Like I said earlier, I'm going for broke on aftermarket add-ons: 
 

 
Got the complete Pontos advanced set, a KA MK 1 set, all the resin Veteran models DKM sets and a bunch of other random bits + whatever I need/want to salvage from build #1 to work with. 
 
I'm especially excited about the scaledecks wood deck:
 

 
The individual planks are printed onto the wood rather than burnt on with a laser, giving a far more convincing result than before (KA deck left, Pontos deck middle and Scaledecks right)
 
In between bouts of sanding the hull I've also been preparing the first tier of the superstructure for photo-etch heaven... or hell, depending on your standing with the stuff!
 

 

 
I did a couple of PE vents just to make sure I could do them... fiddly stuff but they are gonna look great in the end. 
 

 

 
Finally, did some work on the propshafts/rudders: 
 

 
And some "eye candy" with the messed up superstructure of build #1 to give me hope for the future:
 

 
More to come...
 
 

My first job has been to improve the shape of the kit hull to make it look closer to the real thing while still allowing myself some artistic license and not getting too bogged down in making it 100% exact. In the end, aside from simply chasing accuracy in scale I guess it's really all about making the model more "mine" instead of the work of some nameless grunts and a huge injection molding machine. 
 
Here's a smattering of Bismarck hulls to illustrate:
 

 
Top is a 1/100 fiberglass Bismarck hull, middle is my original hull and bottom is the hull I'm gonna use to finish this build.
 

 
I used the plans of the 1/100 version scaled down as a guide to get a fair approximation of the hull shape and built up/shaved down the hull from stem to stern to match the plan profile using reverse cross-sections as a guide. 
 
I also replaced the bow portholes by drilling fresh circles in styrene sheet and inletting them into the hull:
 

 

 
I did this because the kit portholes are warped due to the curvature of the hull and the realities of molding the hull in 1 large piece.
 
I was able to drill and grind the stern portholes from behind to get the same effect:
 

 

I also re-profiled the stern itself as the kit interpretation is too sharp and narrow. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'm bringing this project back from the dead if that's OK with y'all. I'm also doing a log on another site but I thought I'd  share my misadventures here too for those who are interested. 😁
 
I've been through a rocky past few years when it comes to scale modeling... I've started several ambitious builds but only finished one (a 1/200 HMS Nelson) and ran into enough frustration/burnout that I ended up boxing up my modeling stuff and walking away for quite some time because of it. 
 
(edit) Here's a couple of pics of my Nelson, just for fun...
 

 

 

 
Anyway, the world spins in circles and me along with it... The bug has bitten again and I've come back refreshed and renewed with an urge to succeed where I failed in the past... and I'm restarting where it pretty much all began for me: superdetailing the Trumpeter 1/200 Bismarck.
 
The original subject of this thread is pretty much trashed... I accidentally dropped it in an icy self-storage parking lot during a move about 5 years back and it's been sitting in a box getting even more broken and loosing parts ever since. Luckily for me, I'm a big spender and bought 2 of these kits back then... the aftermarket has since put out a metric crapton of add-ons for this kit which I've collected a lot of over the years too. 
 
Here's the main plan... I'm still aiming to do Bismarck as she appeared late in 1940 with an emphasis on doing a clean and extremely detailed build.  There were quite a few minor improvements/ completion of elements of the ship and paint scheme changes made to the Bismarck between the fall/winter of 1940 and Operation Rheinübung the following spring and I'll point them out as a go along. I'm expecting a long-term project of a year or so... we'll see how it goes. 
 
 

... Like I said earlier, I'm going for broke on aftermarket add-ons: 
 

 
Got the complete Pontos advanced set, a KA MK 1 set, all the resin Veteran models DKM sets and a bunch of other random bits + whatever I need/want to salvage from build #1 to work with. 
 
I'm especially excited about the scaledecks wood deck:
 

 
The individual planks are printed onto the wood rather than burnt on with a laser, giving a far more convincing result than before (KA deck left, Pontos deck middle and Scaledecks right)
 
In between bouts of sanding the hull I've also been preparing the first tier of the superstructure for photo-etch heaven... or hell, depending on your standing with the stuff!
 

 

 
I did a couple of PE vents just to make sure I could do them... fiddly stuff but they are gonna look great in the end. 
 

 

 
Finally, did some work on the propshafts/rudders: 
 

 
And some "eye candy" with the messed up superstructure of build #1 to give me hope for the future:
 

 
More to come...
 
 

I'm bringing this project back from the dead if that's OK with y'all. I'm also doing a log on another site but I thought I'd  share my misadventures here too for those who are interested. 😁
 
I've been through a rocky past few years when it comes to scale modeling... I've started several ambitious builds but only finished one (a 1/200 HMS Nelson) and ran into enough frustration/burnout that I ended up boxing up my modeling stuff and walking away for quite some time because of it. 
 
(edit) Here's a couple of pics of my Nelson, just for fun...
 

 

 

 
Anyway, the world spins in circles and me along with it... The bug has bitten again and I've come back refreshed and renewed with an urge to succeed where I failed in the past... and I'm restarting where it pretty much all began for me: superdetailing the Trumpeter 1/200 Bismarck.
 
The original subject of this thread is pretty much trashed... I accidentally dropped it in an icy self-storage parking lot during a move about 5 years back and it's been sitting in a box getting even more broken and loosing parts ever since. Luckily for me, I'm a big spender and bought 2 of these kits back then... the aftermarket has since put out a metric crapton of add-ons for this kit which I've collected a lot of over the years too. 
 
Here's the main plan... I'm still aiming to do Bismarck as she appeared late in 1940 with an emphasis on doing a clean and extremely detailed build.  There were quite a few minor improvements/ completion of elements of the ship and paint scheme changes made to the Bismarck between the fall/winter of 1940 and Operation Rheinübung the following spring and I'll point them out as a go along. I'm expecting a long-term project of a year or so... we'll see how it goes. 
 
 

Here's some more pics:
 

 

 

 

Progress update:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Instead of doing this the smart way and focusing on specific areas start to finish and/or following the instructions,  my Bismarck is "growing" rather organically across the entire ship. Every week it's sprouting new parts, paint and modifications all over the superstructure, depending on what part I feel like working on that day... and damn there are a lot of little parts to put on this thing!
 
I had troubles getting the black "baseboard" to look good; I finally resorted to (hopefully) permanent black pinstriping tape. Thankfully I finished the last porthole replacement yesterday and cut out the windows of the admiral's bridge, which means I am finally done with my modifications and the hard part is over!
 
Until next time...