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

[Cathead]

This is a really neat project. Being from the American Midwest, I had never heard of this type of kit before. It seems a very intelligent and interesting approach. Can you share any more about how this sort of thing works? 

 

In any case, being of partial German heritage and fascinated by this era as a kid, I'm excited to follow along on this.

[greyhawk]

Basically what happens is that every week there is a magazine at the newsstands with articles on the topic you're building and related materials. You also receive a number of kit parts with the magazine and the corresponding instructions to add these parts to your model. You have the option of taking out a subscription instead where you will receive a pack of four issues every month. This is what I did and is also why we have no update yet this week. I've been calculating a bit too close to comfort and have no parts yet. Delivery should hopefully arrive over the weekend and we should be back on track next Wednesday.

 

The instructions are also online for ease of access: https://scharnhorst-bauen.de/vorschau/ (though it's in German)

Edited September 28, 2017 by greyhawk

[CDW]

I assume that magazines and parts purchased at the news stands or book stores are available on a first come, first served basis. Is that correct? How long from the time of the 1st issue date can one purchase a subscription?

From comments I have seen from others on parts works sets, some are searching for back issues they missed and are trying to complete a collection, so it appears there is a limited time frame in which the sets are available. 

[greyhawk]

We have a very well organized system in place throughout the country for news agents to order issues. Basically you can walk into any newsagent anywhere and ask them to supply you with any magazine they don't carry. Man-in-the-middle suppliers make sure you get the issue 1-2 days later. They also keep back issues, in the case of partworks for about 2 months. If you missed that timeframe they will get the issues from the publishers archive (about 1-2 years worth of issues are ususally kept on hand). I have a standing order with my news agent for another partwork, where he will simply grab the newest issue out of his delivery and keep it behind the counter for me, even collecting them for several weeks. Most agents offer this service

 

A lot of partwork modelers for reasons unfathomable to me just collect until the entire run is finished and only then will start building. That's the point in time where they notice they forgot to buy issue 34 of 120 and there's a broken part in issue 62. Then they try to find these issues which at this point has become difficult. The UK has specialiced partwork resellers that will collect and sell individual issues. And then of course there's Ebay.

 

Usually you will have to subscribe within the first year with Hachette. You have more time with DeAgostini, they like to convert magazine runs into a subscribable product some time after the run is done. The HMS Victory partwork for instance has been available (with intermittent pauses to allow for new production) for over 10 years now.

 

Edited September 28, 2017 by greyhawk

[greyhawk]

Back on track with the Scharnhorst after the quick bout of delivery problems.

 

Scharnhorst issue 12: 

 

Now usually at this point we would start planking the hull, but this kit does things a bit differently, so instead we start building the stern deck structures. I guess they want to get the easy stuff out of the way first.

 

[Cathead]

That seems like it would cause problems later on. I've always liked planking when I can turn the hull over and work on it; if there's more delicate structures on the deck, won't that make it harder to work on planking later? Or at least require the construction of a proper supporting rig to protect those structure?

[greyhawk]

The deck structures are not yet fixed to the hull. I just like to store stuff where it will eventually sit on the ship. 

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst issue 13.

 

 

More parts are added to the aft deck structure. Little tabs on the bottom slot against the hull support frames and keep the deck structure in alignment.

[yvesvidal]

Arghh... It must be hard to wait for so long in between work sessions....

 

Yves

[greyhawk]

Well, I'm also building a 1:95 Gorch Fock, a 1:70 Soleil Royal, a 1:200 HMS Hood, a huge brass StuKa in 1:32 and a plethora of smaller kits at the same time, so it's not like I'm getting bored inbetween.

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst issue 14

 

Work begins on the middle deck structures.

 

The kit is now 10% done so here's a a look at everything built so far.

 

[Old Collingwood]

Taking shape.

 

OC.

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst Issue 15

 

Added a few additional layers to the middle deck structure. Not very exciting.

 

What is exciting though (to me, at least) is that two weeks ago I got my hands on an unbuilt partwork kit of HMS Hood (the original UK edition, not the botched German one) at half price. This gives me the unique opportunity to build both cruisers with aspirations of being battleships in sync side by side and have a look at the differences between them and the way they are built up.

 

 

So I quickly went on a building rampage and got the Hood built up to issue 15 too (here in the foreground with Scharnhorst in the back). One can readily see the size difference between both ships. The Hood has the option of being made RC capable, so she features an open design with detachable deck structures, making the build so far more complex (165 parts vs Scharnhorsts 118 at this point).

 

Comparison shots between ships will be made every month. 

[BLACK VIKING]

Looking forward to seeing these huge ships come together and the differences between the two 

 

Martyn

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst issue 16

 

Those parts of the deck structures that will later be "outdoors" are decked with a thin sheet of lime wood (not quite a veneer though).

 

You may notice I have only temporarily fitted the side panels in the middle structure. That is because I have found an error with the precut pieces affecting the entire run which will make installation of a piece of secondary armament impossible/awkward in about two years time. Let's see if you can find it, apparently I was the first/only one in Germany to see it. Hachette has acknowledged and is currently discussing whether to replace the panels or have us do the necessary changes ourselves later down the line.

Edited November 1, 2017 by greyhawk

[Cathead]

Is it that the slots at upper and lower left don't extend to the edge of the surface?

[Robin Lous]

Okey...build a fleet, why not? 

 

Great stuff! These things must weight a ton I guess?

 

Robin 

[greyhawk]

12 hours ago, Cathead said:

Is it that the slots at upper and lower left don't extend to the edge of the surface?

Almost. The main problem is that they are in different places. Both should be situated like the one on the upper left. So the lower one will need a redrill and fill or the secondary artillery won't fit later down the road.

 

5 hours ago, Robin Lous said:

Okey...build a fleet, why not? 

 

Great stuff! These things must weight a ton I guess?

 

Robin 

I've not weighed them. I'd guess the Scharnhorst is somewhere north of 3 kilos right now. The Hood is still rather light. Maybe a kilo and a half?

[Cathead]

I'm an idiot. That's so obvious once you pointed it out. I stared and stared at that and never saw it.

[greyhawk]

No one noticed, including the designers and publisher. I almost missed it myself. I already had the wood glue in hand when I suddenly went "Waaaaaaaaaait a minute, this can't work."

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst issue 17

 

 

We begin working on the front deck structures and this is where this kit gets weirder than anything else I have seen in ship building. Usually one would put up some vertical walls and put a roof on top.

 

Instead in this issue we get the roof and some vertical internal supports to build some kind of drunkenly dysfunctional carport, then will proceed to add horizontal panels over the next few weeks to build the whole thing up into a massive weighty blob of "What? Why would they...? This is weird."

[CDW]

I guess there are limitations and constraints on how and when to issue part sets on parts works kits. It looks like it's upside down.

[greyhawk]

Yeah, it's being built top to bottom. Very very weird.

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst Issue 18

 

Instead of putting up vertical walls around the forward upper deck structure like normal people we begin to install a number of suspended ceilings to build up the structure. 

 

I can only guess the German engineers are mightily drunk and fear the sky dropping down on their heads.

[cog]

Reinforced ceilings against heavy armour penetrating bombs ...

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst 19

 

 

The next round of horizontal layers is slotted in, this time extending the forward deck structure quite a bit. It's starting to look like  an actual thing found on the ship.

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst 20

 

We stick yet another roof onto our layercake of roofs. We also build a couple of side roofs to stick into the recesses because there's an obvious lack of roofs there.

 

I realize this is incredibly boring being stuck at doing minute and invisible things to the forward deck structure week after week. Luckily next week is the last one to deal with this particular section for a while.

[cog]

I wonder if the Bismarck was built in the Orient ... i.e. considering all the roofs ...

"Luckily next week is the last one to deal with this particular section for a while."

So you can start on another set of roofs ?

[greyhawk]

You are not too far off, though there is a single non roof related episode in between.

[greyhawk]

Scharnhorst issue 21

 

 

We finally finish working on the foreward deck superstructure by sticking in the little "side roofs" we built last week and extending the forward platform with some small bits.

 

We're reached the 15% point in this build so I guess it's time for another look at the whole thing so far.