Scharnhorst by greyhawk - Hachette - 1:200 - parts work

[greyhawk]

The Scharnhorst is Germanys first battleship built after world war 1. This is a 140 issue partwork published by Hachette and developed by the designers of the Bismarck partwork. Note me not saying Amati. It seems Amatis former design guy went and opened up a design studio of it's own. 

 

Which maybe explains why this build is kinda wonky. I needed three issues 1s to get one where the included gun turret was actually buildable instead of being a mess of gaps and wrongfulness. So I think that's a terrific start to something that will either be totally awesome or a horrible horrible letdown. Either way, we'll be entertained.

 

Updates will be weekly, even though I have subscription, I'll build each issue only when it has also been released in the shops. This is an effort to get a bit more organized. I'm also breaking this rule in about two days because you get a two-for this week with all the replacement issues I had.

 

Stage: 1

 

 

Oh good, it's MDF. Fun. I love my wood dust being toxic. Remind me to get some new breathing masks.

 

First phase. We build up part of the forward framework and the body of the rear gun turret. This one has the bonus of actually fitting together for the most part. The turret will be height adjustable, so that's nice. It's a bit bare right now, but that'll change next issue

[greyhawk]

As promised, here's update 2 to catch up with the current issue.

The hull structure is expanded lengthwise with another segment and two frames are added. 

Now I already hear the gnashing of teeth about my lack of a building slip, but with the thickness and density of these MDF boards and the amount of supports and strengtheners that will be added starting next issue, I'm convinced I won't need one. I built the hull of the Bismarck without a slip and never had an issue and that one was much less robustly built. 

I also get to add a bunch of photo etch parts to the rear 28cm gun turret.

[CDW]

Love the Scharnhorst. Will follow with enthusiasm.

So wish the Hachette partwork series were for sale in the USA, but alas.

[RGL]

I'm in 

[greyhawk]

Glad to have you, guys. It's a shame Hachette doesn't do partworks in the US. I guess it has to do with how subscription models run in the US where one has to actively extend a subscription after one year as opposed to the rest of the world where subscriptions run until you actively cancel them.


 

Issue 3

 

 

Side beams and lateral supports are added to the hull structure. The rear turret is fitted with barrels. Those are are cast not lathed, which made some people unhappy, but after a quick rub with 400 grit sandpaper and a polish with steel wool, they look totally fine for me.

 

This is the last of the teaser issues. The build will now concentrate on the hull structure.

[Mike Conway]

The Scharnhorst was a battle cruiser instead of a battleship.  A very interesting book is "The Death of the Scharnhorst" about its sinking by a British battleship and several cruisers.  One of the cruisers involved (the Norfolk, I think) is permanently moored in the Thames where you can board it.  It may be the last big gun British warship from WW II in existence.  But read the book, by all means.

[Beef Wellington]

Count me in as well, great start!

2 hours ago, Mike Conway said:

The Scharnhorst was a battle cruiser instead of a battleship.  A very interesting book is "The Death of the Scharnhorst" about its sinking by a British battleship and several cruisers.  One of the cruisers involved (the Norfolk, I think) is permanently moored in the Thames where you can board it.  It may be the last big gun British warship from WW II in existence.  But read the book, by all means.

I think you are referring to HMS Belfast, a Town class light cruiser which has a very storied history being also involved in the sinking of the Tirpitz.  Her largest guns are only 6in , so maybe 'big gun warship' is a little bit of a stretch 

 

Edited August 7, 2017 by Beef Wellington

[greyhawk]

You're quite right Mike, the British classified the Scharnhorst as a Battle cruiser. The Germans classified her as a battle ship. Quite likely a bit of aggrandizing what with her being the first of a new breed of ships for Germany. I'm keeping with the classification the partwork gives her as a battle ship. It is a German release after all ;-)

 

After the usual bout of logistical problems at the start of a Hachette partwork, I'm back at building. Issue 4 lets me add 2 frames and side beams to the front structure of the ship.

 

I actually was aboard HMS Belfast some 25 years ago. It was quite an interesting experience, especially since they had some interactive battle simulation running on the bridge.

Edited August 9, 2017 by greyhawk

[CDW]

How many issues are required to complete a model like this? 

I'm guessing these are much like the DeAgostini kits offered here in the USA, only there are more issues required to finish a model.

[greyhawk]

This is a 140 issue partwork. The big old ww2 partworks (Tiger, StuKa, Bismarck, Hood, Prinz Eugen) usually are 140 issues. U96 is a notable exemption at 150 issues (this one's sitting in my basement waiting to be built). 

 

[CDW]

Wow, 140 issues. Those must be more frequent than monthly, right? 

[greyhawk]

Yes, a new issue is in the news stands every Wednesday.

 

Partwork models in the US can't reasonably be run like in the rest of the world. In Japan, Russia and Italy there are entire shops that sell nothing but partworks. In the UK and Germany, news and tobacco shops double as outlets for partworks. From what I gather there is no logistical setup available in the US that could be reasonably employed to use this approach. Which is why Hachette Collections is outright refusing to even publish in the US and DeAgostini only sell a subscription based scheme with monthly delivery of a few weeks worth of content.

[yvesvidal]

That is very true. The only way the Partwork model could work in the USA, is to sell them in gas stations. It is the only place where people "have" to stop on a regular basis. But again, most of the US folks hanging in the shopping section of their local Gas Station are not likely to build anything....

 

Therefore, it is a lost cause and a great loss for a few aficionados like us.

 

Yves

[CDW]

Who or what company actually produces the Scharnhorst model? It looks like a Woody Joe kit to me. The 1:250 Yamato and Akagi kits sold by DeAgostini, which sells in installments, are actually Woody Joe kits. But I have not seen the 1:200 Scharnhorst model in any other form except Partsworks. Maybe it's an exclusive done for Partsworks? 

Edited August 10, 2017 by CDW

[greyhawk]

It's an exclusive done by a group of former Amati people centered around Sergio Marletti, who have gone and made their own design studio. They apparently were the designers of the Bismarck partwork when they were still at Amati.

 

Amati are absolutely NOT amused that Hachette is advertising this kit as "designed by the team that designed the Bismarck". They've even released a video where they wash their hands of any connection to the kit in a LOT of words.

Edited August 11, 2017 by greyhawk

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst 5

 

The middle frame is extended, another crosswise frame is added along with two lateral supports. Everything still fits nicely, there's no wiggling or jamming.

A second crosswise frame is delivered but not yet installed. This'll go into storage for a while along with a 2mm part for the gun turrets delivered in issue 1. The last one will be needed in issue 9, already the first cries of "Wait, we were supposed to keep that part?"are echoing through forums and Facebook groups. Yes, yes you keep all of the things.

 

One thing that is integral to partworks is you keep getting things you can't actually put on the ship yet. This time they used the available space on the plate of wood parts to deliver a frame we won't need yet. For the gun there are minute differences between turrets (one part is going to be needed twice on one turret but not on the others), so they produced one sprue for issue 1 from which you take all the parts but this one and are sending the second identical sprue for the second gun in issue 9. Whoever threw away their issue 1 sprue is now one part short for gun 2. Mind you, they tell you to keep the sprue, but people never read.

 

This type of delivery before actual use can reach extremes. Most notorious is U96, where you received the swordfish logo decal in issue 1 and only used it in issue 150 three years later.

[greyhawk]

 

Issue 6: With 3 more frames and another two side beams, the Scharnhorst has now reached roughly 3/5th of her total length.

 

This is the point where a lot of novice builders start complaining about the side beams not fitting, them having to sand out lots of material or having to go at it with a hammer. The problem here is that those builders assume the side beams to be symmetrical along their length. 

 

They're not. 

 

Stick em in the wrong way around and one slot will be ever so slightly out of phase. Force them in and now you've got tension forces running all throughout your internal structure. "Fun".

[greyhawk]

7: So someone at Hachette was nice enough to acknowledge my request for a sped up delivery to cancel out the start difficulties I had so here's an unscheduled update straight out of the men flu quarantine zone to get us a bit closer to the actual release schedule. 

We see here the addition of another middle frame segment as well two crosswise frames and lateral supports. We've reached the 5 percent completion point with this issue.

[yvesvidal]

56 minutes ago, greyhawk said:

 We've reached the 5 percent completion point with this issue.

This is the point of no return....... Great job so far.

 

Yves

[CDW]

Being mesmerized by your 1:200 Scharnhorst part works kit (which I cannot buy in the USA), I am looking closely at buying the 1:200 Scharnhorst card model along with all the extras. It's probably way over my head as a card model, but I am bitten by the desire for one.

[greyhawk]

I wholeheartedly encourage taking on projects one thinks of as way over one's head. It's what I've been doing for years now and it's worked out pretty well so far.

 

Back to your regularly scheduled Scharnhorst update, with issue 8 I have now extended the build to the full length of the hull. Now do be careful, if this thing eventually goes on sale internationally (at least in Europe) and you decide to build one yourself, do yourself the favor of waiting for issue 9 and fit the side beams at the same time.
 

As you can see in the picture above "officially" the entire stern segment is only kept in line through two little tabs on the middle frame. No side beams are present. This a the perfect recipe to make a banana. Wait for issue 9, then fit everything together at the same time. You'll be much happier. I've just left them off in the picture for demonstration purposes.

[greyhawk]

Issue 9

 

 

 

The last side beams arrive and are added to the hull structure (As mentioned I already did that together with issue 8 to be sure everything sits ok)

 

I also get to build the base of the second 28mm turret "Bruno". This one differs a bit from "Caesar" which was built in issues 1-3 in that there are 2 small parts added to the upper back (we suspect these are storage containers for tarps). One of the parts came with this issue, the other one is the one you needed to retain from issue 1. 

Edited September 6, 2017 by greyhawk

[maaaslo]

oh gosh, this plywood is of some thickness...

[BLACK VIKING]

Wow she is turning into a beast Greyhawk great update 

 

Martyn

[greyhawk]

On 9/9/2017 at 6:49 PM, maaaslo said:

oh gosh, this plywood is of some thickness...

It's not plywood. It's an MDF board. I'm glad I'm not planning to make this swimable - The ship is ridiculously heavy already at this point.

 

Scharnhorst Issue 10

Photo etch is added to the second 28cm gun turret and the barrels are test fitted

Both 28cm guns done so far side by side

[maaaslo]

i think you would do great justice to this model if you swap the barrels for some turned...

 

[greyhawk]

So far I've only went and done a coarse removal of casting lines on the barrels.

 

They will get a nice proper rubdown with steel wool yet before priming and painting.

 

I've looked at some sample turned barrels and I'm not a big fan. There's apparently only one Polish company offering Scharnhorst turned barrels in this scale and their offer looks to me like they quickly redesignated some other barrels as Scharnhorst barrels to quickly cash in on this. They certainly don't look like a good match to the barrels in historic photographs to me. 

 

In any case, I expect after a proper cleanse, priming and painting these barrels will look their part well enough for now. Who knows what the aftermarket will release. We're only a few weeks into this multi-year-project :-)

[CDW]

When I ordered the 1:200 Halinski Scharnhorst from GPM, bought all the extras including the barrels. As soon as I receive them, will take some photos and post. I have no idea what they look like at this juncture. But I think you are right, with a good clean up and primer, your barrels are going to look fine.

[CDW]

The 1:200 Scharnhorst items arrived in the mail today. Here are the turned metal barrels that came with my order from GPM.

 

 

[greyhawk]

Nice barrels, but yeah, I'd have to redo the entire interior of the turrets to make these fit correctly. I'm going to stay with the one's I got. 

 

Scharnhorst part 11: Every 4th frame is doubled up with 4 support parts each. This will make it easier to lay down the first planking (which is still a ways off). It is now that one will see if one worked cleanly enough while putting together the hull structure. Any dried glue will interfere with placement of the supports.

 

One of the Youtube model builders doing this kit will have a lot of "fun" with this as he tends to drench his models in glue until they look somewhat akin to dripping candles.

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by greyhawk