harvey1847

I finished shading  three of the six guns that I am working on.  I could not wait to finish all six so I put three of them on the ship.  They are not glued yet.  

 I wanted to face the guns straight forward and straight back but the center gun hits the lifeboat crane making that impossible. I am forced to set them at  and offset angle sticking out beyond the bow which I do not like. I will leave them unglued for now in case I think of somthing. Wow the pictures do not do this ship justice, the ship is starting to look really cool and really detailed. 

 
 

A  Little bit of progress is being made today. first I painted all the plastic bags. 

 then I started shading.  Here are a couple of before and after's. 

 I'm going to continue working on these now. Hopefully I finish them today because I really want to see them on the Bismarck. 
 

Hello Egen!
 
Beautiful work as always. A table saw is one of the machines on my list for this year...
 
I am kind of "slow" so I have make a sketch to see if I have understood the idea of your device. Tell me if I´m right or wrong please. I´ll erase the post if you want. I do not want to confused the people...
 

 
best wishes!
 
 
Daniel.

The main guns. As you can see from the reference there are multiple panels on the rear of the turrets, I imagine, for servicing. The kit and Pontos makes no reference to them at all. 
 
I have Soo many spare IJN ammo boxes I had an idea. 
 
 

Octtuplet 20mm cannons. Over a day’s work to do 6 of them, individual barrels, ammo cans, brass and resin. 
 
I wanted to do these up first to see how they fit on top of the main and secondary guns to measure up the railing stanchions that go on top of them. 
 
You can see the three piece gun in the centre is just no comparison 

Now it feels like I’ve done a lot on this ship, until I do a dryfit 

Sigh, to prove a point that Pontos did not use the KVG for their KVG upgrade, the bridge piece is s not the same. I’m about cross eyed from the wind deflectors. It is easier to break the piece apart and instead of a 1 piece requiring 15 bends, it’s 5 pieces requiring about 3 bends each. 
 
As you can see i had to use a razor saw on the flybridge to get the side panels on. The Instructions say this piece is flat. 
 
 

For some reason the Pontos instructions are not for the Tamiya KVG. The main gun director is a different piece to the ones used in the instructions and is about 3mm too low and both are utterly devoid of details at the front. I used the main turret lug to lift it up enough. The secondary gun directors had a radar between them in the Pontos 41 version but not in the 43 version. It also gives you some gantry that go beneath them that are on the POW but never on KGV. 
 
Next will be the bridge facade and wind deflectors. I can’t glue it all up yet as I want to prime it then do the decks on this piece as there are binoculars, search lights, signal lamps, more MG directors, flag lockers. 
 
 
 

Thanks Cog,  I took the week off and I dont  have to go back to work till tuesday

A  Little bit more progress today. Six more guns assembled and ready for paint. Along with the replacement radar. 

crooked ladder rungs

straighter ladder rungs

 I hesitate to close up the radar box before painting for fear of not getting all the nooks and crannies. 

The main guns are done and installed onto the Bismarck!  And only 3 months after starting on the guns! They are not glued on yet... not sure if I should even glue them on.  I like having the option of aiming them anywhere I want at anytime.  Anyway here are some high quality iphone photos. 

thats not my nail polish in the back ground. 


notice the 2 railings on the deck. They just fell off while she was being stored. I never thought CA glue could just let go like that. 

just a cool view of the detail

 
 

Hello and thank you all for your comments and likes,
 
I was not very busy the last week, but I made the hawse hols with the linings and bolsters.
 

 
 
The next things are the trail boards between the cheeks. I have a trail board, all in ocker but only the little dragon in green, in my mind. I saw it somewhere, but I did't find that picture again. If anyone has that picture, or know where I could find it, tell it. 

Hello,
 
and thank you all for your likes.
Today I finished the long feared paint job  I do not like it very much, but to the end my hands get more calm and I think the result is not sooo bad 
 
At one of the pictures with the cheeks not painted, you may have seen that the left one was a little higher than the right one. That came because the treenail was in a wrong hole. I saw it first at the picture and went immediately down into the basement to see what had happens, but all is ok. 
 

 

 

 

 
And here you see why I do not like the job very much, it's all so small.
 

 

Hello,
 
it is done, the cheeks are mostly ready. First some pictures before I have painted them.
 

 

 
Here I started painting them. That was from the feeling more work then building them. But this is only the basis paint  The real hard work begins tomorrow,  all these small acanthuses.
 

 

 

 

 
 

Hello,
 
thank you Nils and all others for your likes. Today only a small update. The men installed the waterway and thereby the planking of the deck is ready. Now the paint and varnish can dry. 
 
Next I think I must made the cheeks.  The head has the tendency to bent to the left. It's now only a little, but nobody knows what will come in the future. There went something wrong when installing the head and I hope I will stop that with the cheeks installed.
 

Hello and thank you all for your likes,
 
today I finished the planking of the gun deck and I made also the spirketting. I think that I need the next week for relaxing my fingertips and let here and there some new skin growing  These riding pices are very hard and stable.
 

 

 

 

 

 
I build the deck without the margin plank, you would't see it later. The waterway I will install in the slit between the deck and the spirketting. 
 

 

 
 

Thank you Amalio and hello to all, also thank you all for your likes. 
 
Today only a small update. I started planking. Around the riding bits it was really a challenge, but at least I got it. If you see there some irregularities in front or behind the hatches, that is sawdust. So don't worry. 
 

 

Hey guys, sorry I've been so slow, I've been so busy. I'm all caught up now for weekends so I have free time again. 
Anyway i found one of the radars from the bismarck on the floor and stepped on. Lucky me I still have trumpters photo etch radars. Time to paint and assemble 1 more radar. 

Thanks to all for kind comments and likes.
 
Mounting the parapet with belfry.
 
Karl
 
 
P a r t   2 7

 
 
 
 
 

Hello,

just a short update:

Hello Carl,
I followed your recommendation.
Therefore, I have received further interesting information from Patrick @Jouff on "Bouée de sauvetage". With his permission I can show you.




And here I started with the realization of this lifeboye in 1:48 scale.

Hello Alberto,
thanks for the compliment and all others for the LIKES.
Here is a short update:

Hello,
in the meantime, I have made a lifting gear for the gig.
The historical picture is from the "Manuel du Gabier", which I took as a template.

Hello,
today a short update.
I hope the pictures speak for themselves.

Continuing along....
 
For those familiar with this design concept from my Queen Anne Barge kit,  you will recognize the two-piece build board.  I have however, tried to make some improvements with each new project based on watching others build them.  In this case,  I have added some slots for bracing blocks.  Two for the transom and two for the bow/stem to stabilize them while planking.  These pieces can be seen below.  But do NOT glue them into the slots.  These will need to be removed at some point in the build.  It will be easier to remove the boat after planking without these in position.  They are a press fit.  If they are too snug....sand them a bit thinner because remember you will be removing them after a few planking strakes are completed.  So make sure they are loose enough for that.
 

There are two types of frames on contemporary models like this and the barge.  One piece frames and two piece frames.  Th etwo piece frames have floors and top timbers.  We will be doing the one piece frames first and there are 5 of them.  Another tip I was given by an individual can be seen below.  You can see thin strips of packaging tape along the inner cut line.  I used heavy and sticky packaging tape.  You can fold over the end to make a tab and place the tape so it spans across the seam.  This will give it added (temporary) strength while fairing and planking.  The tape is put on both sides.  The tabs will make it easier to remove the tape before breaking the inside of each frame free when it comes time to do so.
 

Then once this is finished you must test the frames in their slots on the build board.  They will be very snug by design initially.  You dont want these loose and falling out of the build board.  But you dont want them too tight either.  You want to be able to easily remove them at any time.  The best way to achieve the best fit is to sand the two tabs that fit into each slot just a little at a time until they are the perfect thickness.  You will know when they are good because they will be firmly seated and yet be somewhat easy to remove.  Be careful not to break the small tabs that hold the frame centers in the frames.  No need to clean any laser char.
 
In addition, test the fit of the bottom of the frame so it fits the same in its notch on the keel.  Not too tight and not too loose. The three single piece frames at the stern are shown below being test fit. and the two at the bow should be as well.  Dont glue these into the build board.  That would be a huge mistake.

 
With this completed, lets test the keel assembly on the build board atop the frames.  Carefully place the keel assembly into the stern half of the build board first.  This is a bit tricky if you havent done it before but once you do it a couple of times you figure out the little nuances.  Slip the stern post between the two braces first as you carefully guide the keel onto each frame.  Dont push to hard in each notch of the keel.  You have have tested and filed those so they slide into each notch easily but dont fall out because they are too loose. NOTE the two small additional braces waiting to be installed next.

The two transom blocks in the slots can be moved forward or aft so you can get a good fit against the transom.  Remember that they are not glued in.  The slots for them are longer than needed so they can be adjusted to best advantage.  But once in a good position, you can add the two smaller brace blocks.  These can and should be glued onto the build board. Use a little glue and push them into position against the transom.  But DONT glue them to the transom.  Just glue them to the build board.  These will stabilize the transom even more while planking.  Also use the laser etched lines on the build board to help make sure the transom is straight and not askew.  This method differs from the one I used on the barge kit but I think its an improvement.  Time will tell. 

Then repeat the test fitting of the keel in the bow half of the build board.  Do it the same way except there are no additional stabilizing blocks. These two will do the job and keep the stem from wandering while you add the first few strakes up there.  
 

How it all looks at this stage.   You will be removing and testing the keel many times before its time to glue the keel in position for good.  Now to do the two piece frames.  I also want to point out to those interested....look at the laser char edges of the frames.  You will see how they are not dark and black.  Yellow Cedar is very forgiving thanks to the oil present.   It doesnt effect the gluing either and I am using Titebond II for all my joints.  The build board is just basswood and you can see how dark that gets when laser cutting.   I find it very enjoyable to work in Cedar and removing the char is much easier in my opinion....as Cherry and Basswood burn like crazy.