Bismarck by ted99 - FINISHED - Amati - 1:200

[ted99]

Just completed the second layer of planking.  This was fun.  I deviated from the planking layout shown in the manual.  I continued using the curved planks all the way to complete--you may be able to see this in the photos.  I found that the curved planks conformed to the step between the sides of the hull to the flat bottom very nicely.  Also, the triangular joins are at the hull centerline King plank at the flat area.  I think this will use less filler in the end than having the triangular joins at the rounded part of the hull.

 

Rod--saw your comment on the flat bottom.  I think that this is now standard practice on large displacement ships like container ships, large ferries, cruise ships and bulk carriers.  It provides the minimum draft for a given displacement.  If one thinks about it, the rounded hull best served a sailing ship that spent a lot of it's time heeled over on it's side.  Another example of German engineering being ahead of it's time.

 

I'm including the best picture I found of the hull sides armor plating layout.  This armor plating was intended to be sacrificial and relatively easily replaced in shipyard after battle damage.  As such, I think that the joins would have been visible, unlike welded joints, and I'll attempt to scribe them in before final color coating.

 

Next step is to clean the workbench.  Then use wood filler at the poly/wood interfaces and in any obvious planking gaps and start sanding.  I expect the sanding to be less difficult than the first layer.  We shall see.

[ted99]

Completed sanding of the second layer.  Took most of Saturday.  Seemed like it took about half as long as the first layer.  Brushed on a coat of Gesso today.  I like gesso as sanding sealer for wood hulls.  1)  It's great for stiffening the little wood fibers that stick up so they can be sanded down.  2)  It's thick, so it fills minor cracks.  3) It's white, so all imperfections show up.  I use 60 grit for the first wood sanding.  It removes stock quickly (especially important when hand sanding) and leaves a surface with a little texture to give better grip for the next wood layer's glue or for the Gesso undercoat.  I'll use 150 grit for sanding the first coat of Gesso and any minor wood filling the white color shows is needed.  This I sand down almost to bare wood and any low spots needing filling will be evident if you use a sanding block.  Then comes a second coat of Gesso and another 150 grit sanding.  At this point, I don't expect any imperfections, but a little filler will take care of them.  Sand the deck upper surface so that all the edges are even,now.  If you had some Gesso buildup over the edge this will be sanded away and the edges of the deck will be ready for paint.  A little of the edge of this subdeck shows around the printed wood deck planking, so it's good to have this edge perfectly flat and color-coated (except break the edge slightly with sandpaper to ensure good paint coverage in this area--it's where one drills the holes for the deck stanchions).  Now, it's automotive primer from a spray can (don't have my compressor/detail spray gun any more) and finish sanding with 220/400 grit.  I'll scribe in any panel lines I decide to use with a #11 Exacto blade, mask and color coat.

 

Lessons learned from the second layer of planking and sanding:

 

Do a trial fit of the deck pieces when checking the clearances listed below as it's easier to sand the top planks of the first layer for second plank clearance without the deck permanently glued.

 

TRIAL FIT all the 1mm porthole backer ply pieces allowing an extra .5mm for the PE pieces so that they are even with the deck surface and the poly pieces.  No problem if the deck is a little proud of these pieces as you sand the edge of the deck down to be even with the hull sides, later.  The problem is if the porthole pieces extend beyond the edge of the deck.  If this happens, you'll be gluing stripwood to the deck edges.  I cut a small piece of excess PE brass to hold over the 1mm ply to make this exact.  Check that the poly pieces are about .8mm proud of the first layer of planking at both ends of the hull.  The time to do this is when you are sanding the first layer of planking .  This will save a lot of fiddling later when you are sanding the second layer.

 

If you are going to bevel the second plank that goes just below the armor belt, sand it before gluing it onto the first plank.  I found out about this detail too late and had to carve/sand the bevel while the plank was already glued the first layer of planking.  Photos of Bismarck show that the top of the armor belt was canted 30-45 degrees from horizontal.  This detail is not in the Amati instructions.

 

This is the time to glue the deck pieces on to the deck framework, or screw them down if you are making them removable.  I glued mine down.

[ted99]

I have a question I'd like to pose in case someone knows the answer.  As I understand it, the Teak decks of US battleships were removed and stored when the ship was battle deployed.  This was because there was a severe splinter risk from ordinance hitting the teak.  If the Germans did this for Bismarck and if we build the Amati model with it's teak deck one presumes one is modeling the ship at some pre-war point.  That comes to the deck "bands", then.  The Amati instructions show two athwartships plain black bands across the bow and stern decks.  I've seen other models with these bands painted red, with a white circle and a black  swastica.  I've read that this was a distinguishing feature to identify the ship as German to potentially attacking German airplanes.  Were these bands (color?) a feature of the pre-war period and if so, what color were they?

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

The reference material that I have and that I have seen is a Black Swastika on a White circle surrounded by Red rectangle extending to the sides of the Deck.

 

Don't know about removal of wooden Decking prior to Battle.

 

Anyway, just my humble observation/opinion. 🙂

 

BTW: That Hull of yours looks great!!

 

Cheers....HOF.

Edited November 18, 2021 by hof00

[rvchima]

Ted,

 

Your model is coming along beautifully, and quite fast. Thanks for posting all the helpful hints.

I was in St. Louis for a wedding and a long weekend. I just completed my first layer of planking and will post photos soon.

Rod

[ted99]

The sanding continues.  I coat the hull with white gesso (shows problems very well), sand with 100 grit till wood starts showing, and recoat.  Each time, there are fewer problems and when I do a gesso recoat and don't see problems that need correcting, I will do a final sanding with 150 grit that leaves the gesso intact, in preparation for automotive primer.  That will get a 220 grit sanding.

 

Some observations:  I ended up with only 6 second planks left over, so be mindful of this when planking.  The nine large planks in the center of the deck are of even more variable thickness than the hull planking.  Fortunately, I had the planks that are a full 10mm thick in the center, so it was easy to squeegee a layer of filler over this area to get the deck level.  This is the surface that will be the base for the printed teak decking, so absolute level from board to board is important.  Most of the deck is the 10mm ply, so there is not a lot of sanding/leveling necessary.  There is some hogback to the deck profile, so I found that a 6" sanding block was the most effective, as contrasted to a 12" sanding stick.

[rvchima]

Ted,

 

I just completed my decks and anticipated the problems with unevenness. Instead of gluing deck to frame piece-by-piece, I glued the entire deck together on a flat board, then glued the complete deck to the frame later.

 

The mid-deck is incredibly complicated with 12 pieces to glue up. The whole thing could have been laser cut in one piece of plywood and still fit in the box. I suppose that the complex construction results from the original kit being packaged with an A4 magazine.

 

I used Famowood filler like you recommended. It fills very well and sands nicely. Thanks for the recommendation.

[rvchima]

On 11/17/2021 at 7:47 AM, ted99 said:

I have a question I'd like to pose in case someone knows the answer.  As I understand it, the Teak decks of US battleships were removed and stored when the ship was battle deployed.  This was because there was a severe splinter risk from ordinance hitting the teak.  If the Germans did this for Bismarck and if we build the Amati model with it's teak deck one presumes one is modeling the ship at some pre-war point.  That comes to the deck "bands", then.  The Amati instructions show two athwartships plain black bands across the bow and stern decks.  I've seen other models with these bands painted red, with a white circle and a black  swastica.  I've read that this was a distinguishing feature to identify the ship as German to potentially attacking German airplanes.  Were these bands (color?) a feature of the pre-war period and if so, what color were they?

 

Here is a link with drawings showing 6 different paint schemes for the Bismarck. The swastikas were painted over after the sea trials and before the battle of the Denmark Strait.

http://www.kbismarck.com/drawings.html

 

[ted99]

Great pictures, Rod.  They imply that the wood decks were in place throughout.  Also, one picture shows the deck of the photographing ship and the wood deck is visible.  I found a source for decals of the deck swastikas on red background.  Custom Hobby Decals of Queensland Australia.  A$22.50 + 9.90 ship (about $25 US).  Just ordered a set "backordered".  I think I'll model at the start of the Norway campaign.  I like that camo pattern where they attempt to make it look like a shorter ship and the red on deck.

[ted99]

I've sanded all the filler seen in earlier pictures off.  Would have been simpler to have just worked with sandpaper alone from the beginning.  Still sanding, gessoing, and sanding again.  I think your planking pattern is better than the one shown in the manual, Rod.  Puts the majority of "joins" at the side/bottom interface.  This is an easier area to sand to the proper profile.  The manual technique results in the planks having both a curve and a twist as they lay aside each other and the twist makes for an edge sticking up at every plank and lots and lots of sanding.  Most of my pain with hand sanding on the second layer has been with this raised edge.  It's easy to sand filler put in gaps between flat planks, compared to using filler trying to level with raised edges.  The technique I used on the second layer at the bottom of the hull has a similar join at the centerline as that you achieved at the hull bottom/side join and it was a breeze to fill and sand.  My judgement is that the best planking technique has as little "sideways" curve as possible in planks.  Many of the planks in my technique had simultaneous sideways curve and hull shape curve.

 

Rod--good move on gluing the nine center deck pieces together on a board before gluing them to the deck frame.  Much easier, that way, to get this section exactly centered on the frame.  I wonder if the mid-deck is in so many pieces because of the hogback?  But, that doesn't explain the nine planks.

[rvchima]

1 hour ago, ted99 said:

Great pictures, Rod.  They imply that the wood decks were in place throughout.  Also, one picture shows the deck of the photographing ship and the wood deck is visible.  I found a source for decals of the deck swastikas on red background.  Custom Hobby Decals of Queensland Australia.  A$22.50 + 9.90 ship (about $25 US).  Just ordered a set "backordered".  I think I'll model at the start of the Norway campaign.  I like that camo pattern where they attempt to make it look like a shorter ship and the red on deck.

 

I am not an expert on warships but I learned a little while building my Prinz Eugen. Early in the war the range for the guns was determined using optical range finders that sighted on the bow and stern of the ship, then triangulated. I suppose that you would need to estimate the length of the ship as well. If the ship looked shorter because of the camouflage  it would appear to be farther away and the guns would overshoot. Later in the war radar range finders made the camouflage obsolete. (Forgive me if you know all this and correct me if I've got it wrong.)

 

For the deck markings on my Prinz Eugen I masked off the stripe and sprayed it red. I drew the swastika in Photoshop Elements, printed it on good paper, sprayed it with clear, cut the circle, and glued it on the deck. The rest of the model was painted in the March 1941 Baltic  scheme - not for historical reasons but simply because I liked  the dazzle camouflage and the red gun turrets. I suppose that I'll have to paint the Bismarck for the same time period.

[ted99]

Rod--you are right about needing to know the hull length.  That info was available for major warships from pre-war public (or MI collected) data.  When I went thru Sub school, there weren't enough nukes to send one for a week for newbie training, so we had the last of the old WW II diesel boats for a week of training near Puerto Rico.  They had the old analog Torpedo Data Computer for setting up the data to the torpedo.  This required a lot of data to be entered by three people at the settings of the TDC, gained by the person on the periscope.  You would estimate speed, angle on the bow, range and bearing through multiple periscope observations.  The TDC would "track" the target based on those observations.  Each subsequent observation would then be compared to what the TDC estimated from the last input and the person on the scope (Sub Captain IRL) you would adjust his "estimates" for speed, AOB and range based on the difference between what the TDC predicted and what you observed at the next sighting.  A lot of "art" and mental calculations for this.  When you were satisfied that the parameters entered in the TDC were equal to what the target was actually doing, you would fire the torpedo when you were within range.  I'm sure that this TDC was very similar to what was used by the German Navy.  A battleship had much better data than could be obtained thru a periscope because of wide-base rangefinders, and then radar.  But a Battleship was engaging at the horizon miles away while a sub engages at much shorter ranges.  I'm proud to say that I was top of my class with a MOT hit (middle of target) with an old steam-powered torpedo.  Today's torpedo's are all guided, but with a much smaller explosive load.  A modern nuclear sub is an anti-submarine weapon, where even a small explosive charge is lethal.  The watchword in the submarine service is that if you are detected, you are dead.  A nuclear sub engaging a surface ship is off-mission.  In the rare case where it happened, the sub would launch a undersea-launched cruise weapon from a stand-off range.  I particularly like the painted-on bow and stern waves.  I can tell you from experience that it probably would work for a target at the horizon being observed thru a periscope.  Visibility in North Sea weather ain't great from periscope height.
 

[rvchima]

Very interesting! I will ask you next time I have questions about ships. Have you made any models of subs?

 

I am a retired aerospace engineer with 34 years at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. I developed numerical methods for predicting performance of jet engine components, so I don't know much about ships but I am pretty good at trigonometry and can guess how a range finder works.

[rvchima]

Early in my career I attended a meeting at the Naval Postgraduate school in Monterey to discuss ways to use numerical methods to submarine noise problems. It was a little premature - the numerical methods weren't sophisticated enough and computers weren't powerful enough yet. But I made several friends in the Navy and eventually did a lot of work with students at NPGS and Pax River.

[mikegr]

22 hours ago, rvchima said:

Very interesting! I will ask you next time I have questions about ships. Have you made any models of subs?

 

I am a retired aerospace engineer with 34 years at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. I developed numerical methods for predicting performance of jet engine components, so I don't know much about ships but I am pretty good at trigonometry and can guess how a range finder works.

The sub in the lake (Michican?) was a really cool site when i visited in 2004.

[ted99]

Rod--Coincidence.  I started at NASA as Deputy Director for Facilities Engineering at NASA Hq as part of the Challenger recovery efforts (went to Glenn many times before it was Glenn), became Special Assistant to Richard Truly when he was Administrator and when he was fired by Bush 41 I assigned myself to be NASA Representative to Australia at the Embassy in Canberra.  Retired from there in 1997 and remained in Australia for the first five years of my retirement.

 

Been a while since my last post.  First, because I was waiting for shipment of a particular color spray can of paint; and when it came, waiting for weather.  Attached pictures are of my "spray booth" on the balcony of my 18th floor apartment.  Of course, the weather was perfect (Houston) while I was waiting and then turned lousy just when the paint arrived.  Perfect today: 60 degrees, bright and sunny with no wind.

 

After a little research, I've decided to model my Bismarck as it appeared on May 19, 1941 when it departed the shipyard at current-day Gdansk (occupied Gdynica in 1941).  It had the hull camo, only, with dark fore and aft and the false bow and stern waves plus the red white and black swastikas fore and aft.  This was Bismarck's first (and last) combat deployment.  It stopped near Bergen, Norway on May 21, 1941 where the crew painted over the hull camo.   On May 22, 1941 Bismarck departed the harbor near Bergen and while underway the deck swastikas were painted over.  Robert Ballard photographed the wreck of the Bismarck in 1989 where he found that the black paint over the deck swastikas had dissolved, exposing them.  I guess that the crew hadn't used a heavy-duty black paint expecting to restore the deck swastikas when Bismarck returned to where "friendly" (read German) aircraft cover was available.  He reported the teak deck planking as being in excellent condition, as contrasted to the pine decking of the Titanic; so that answers my question about whether the Germans removed the teak decking during combat deployments.

 

As I mentioned earlier, my "workshop" is a corner of a bedroom and I've gotten rid of all my spraying equipment, so I'm slave to what is available in spray cans.  I concluded that the Tamiya color "German Grey" is good for the near-black ends of Bismarck and the grey camo stripes plus their "Matt White" for the other camo stripes and false waves.  The hull grey is describes as RAL 7000 in the color chart in the instructions and an internet search reveals this as "squirrel grey".  I couldn't find any source of spray cans of this color, but I did find a Rust-oleum color called "granite" in a satin finish that looked pretty good.  This was the color I couldn't find locally and ordered from Amazon.  I've included a picture of the paints I am using.  The rust-oleum dark grey automotive primer (almost black) has worked well and does not cover up detail.  I'm going to try the rust-oleum satin "claret wine" as the underwater color.  We'll see how that works out when I do it.  I've also gotten a can of rust-oleum matt clear to do an overall spray at the end for durability and to be sure that the finish has a consistent "gloss" from color to color.  I'll see if I do that when I get to that stage.  Pictures show the model with the granite grey spray done and the ends plus stripes masked off.  What looks like darker patches on the hull are in fact shadows. I'll give the grey paint a couple of days to harden off before I mask off the center to spray the ends "German grey".  I'll use that time to mount the ladder rungs and deadeyes in preparation to spraying.  With regard to the "Flexy 5K " CA glue:  I've been pleased with the thick for attaching the larger PE brass sheets to the wood hull.  I think the residual flex is good for the differential expansion rates of wood and brass, which might cause eventual fatigue to a hard-setting CA glue.  I am less happy with it for the small details like the ladder rungs.  I'd like a hard set up for them because the profile of these rungs are such that one needs to file the PE sheet "tab" off the middle of the rung after the rungs have been attached.  This works a lot better if there is a hard set between the rung and the brass undersheet.

[rvchima]

Ted,

 

What a coincidence that you've been to Lewis/Glenn before. Most people have never heard of it but I really enjoyed working there. I've been to Australia twice but never Canberra. It looks like a beautiful city, and should have been a nice place to work and retire to.

 

I like the photo of your spray booth, AKA balcony. I am always surprised at how much over-spray paint dust accumulates after a big paint job. Your neighbors on 17 are probably wondering why their deck is all grey. I have used Rustoleum Colonial Red satin on several ship models and think it looks pretty good. I am curious to see how yours looks with Claret-wine.

 

I just finished my second layer of planking and am now sanding, sanding, sanding. I will post some photos in a day or two, but have some questions for you in the meantime.

• Did you sand over any of the PE brass porthole pieces, and were you able to clean that up with filler or primer?
• Same question for the resin pieces.
• Should the deck edges be flush with the last plank on the step? I assume that it should be but I have some overhang here and undershoot there, and wonder whether to correct that now whole I'm sanding.

Rod

 

[ted99]

Rod--Senior moment for me.  I was having trouble remembering what Glen's name was before (Lewis in my time).  Worked many times with the Center Director, who I remember as Larry, but can't remember last his name.  He ended up being "fired" by Carl Lewis after Truly (who was protecting him) got fired.  Why is another story.

 

Your questions:

1.  I sanded up to the edge of the PE brass, but there was always a little sanding overlap at the edge of the brass and filler for the gap between the PE and second layer.  Of course, the porthole eyebrows were scuffed by the sandpaper.  I was able to use a #11 hobby blade to scrape off the filler that obscured the eyebrows and that got into the portholes.  None of the 150 grit sandpaper marks or knife scratchings showed through the paint/primer.

 

2.  Most of the time, the filler went into the 1 mm gap I left between the second layer and the poly pieces and I sanded right up to and over the poly with 150 grit paper.  I too had to build up the bow poly piece in exactly the same place as you with filler.  It was a chore to get the filler fillet sanded down to the feather finish needed for painting, but the Famowood did this perfectly.  My final sanding before priming was #150 and I didn't have any sanding marks after the primer was on.  The gesso I used as the final sanding sealer coat to give a uniform absorption surface for the primer was also done with #150.  I originally planned to use #220, but didn't seem necessary.

 

3.  Yes, the deck edges should be even with the upper edge of the hull.  Fill any visible seam and the final result should be just a little rounding at the deck edge to facilitate paint adhesion.  The wood decking pieces should come up to about 2 mm from the hull edge.  That gap is painted the same color as the grey hull.  Later on, the deck railing stanchion holes will be drilled into the 2 mm gap right at the edge of the wood deck.  Looking at pictures of the Bismarck, there was a steel edge around the outside of the wood decking and the stanchions were attached to this steel edge.  I dry-fit all of the wooden decking and traced the edge of the decking onto the deck and used that as my guide for where the hull/deck edge should be.  I sanded down the edge of the hull/deck to 2 mm of where the edges of the wooden deck were.  When I painted the hull grey, I made sure the paint extended over the edge and about 1/4" into the deck for this grey edge that will show after the wood deck is placed.  I'm doing the camo stripes and I masked the deck edge so that the 2mm grey edge remains grey.  No pictures, but in my experience, no Bosun would bring the camo color up over the deck edge.

[ted99]

My principal goal in this builder's log is to provide the benefit of hindsight to other builder's of this kit.  Places where: "Now that I've done it, I see where I could have done it better".

 

To that end, while waiting for painting weather outside, I've looked ahead and begun building some of the superstructure assemblies. Having never done PE before, I decided to build the "Front Control Station", whose assembly is described on P. 75 of the instructions.  It has PE brass adhered to a wood base, is small and has a combination of curved and flat PE brass for good learning.  I suggest that any future builder annotate your instruction book at the appropriate page with these notes, so that you can consider them when you reach that stage of the kit construction.  After completion of Step 364, I suggest that you fill the gap between upper and lower step wooden pieces (after PE brass #781 and #783 are attached) and smooth it.  If you wait until the top cap #785 is attached to do this per the instructions, you will have great difficulty filling the gap without a lot of mess and there won't be much support for the filler.

 

Secondly, PE pieces #781, #782 and #783 should be glued exactly even with the tops of the wood supports, or a little over so that they can be filed down to flush with the wood.  The two top PE pieces #784 and #785 are exactly flush with the outer edges of the PE brass sides and if there is no gap between the top and those brass pieces, the two top pieces will be so closely aligned with the sides that they look like one piece.

 

I'll follow up with a picture of this in a new post--I forgot to load the photo in my computer.

[ted99]

As promised.  You can see the mess that the filler left by waiting until the top PE brass piece was attached to fill the gap.  Waiting for a small brass wire brush to come from Amazon to remove this excess.  If I had filled the gap before the top was attached, I could have used a thin smear of Tamiya putty to level the gap at the top of the filler with the top of the PE brass --only the thickness of the PE brass to be added.  I filled the exposed wood base and painted with Tamiya light grey primer awaiting further construction.

 

For those of you not looking at a construction manual, this may not be clear; but you aren't the intended audience.

[ted99]

Got a break in the weather today and I was able to "complete" the above waterline painting and strip the masking tape.

 

VERY disappointed in the Tamiya spray paints and in particular, the 10mm wide masking tape.  I used this around the white camo stripes thinking that it's thinness would make it very compliant at the belt line armor.  NOT.  It's much worse that the green "Frog Tape" that I used at the waterline and grey stripes.  You can see all the bleed thru at the joints of the white stripe.  I used the green frog tape everywhere else I had a had a cut line and no bleed thru.  Looks like the Matte White Tamiya paint needs three coats over light grey primer, rather that the 2 it's gotten, so far.  I also had some crazing--again over fresh Tamiya light grey primer.  The Tamiya paints are relegated to the "non-critical" bin.  The Rust-oleum paints have a better spray nozzle, better coverage and cost half that of Tamiya.

 

The provided "stencils" for the camo are pretty close to useless.  The stickum isn't very strong making bleed thru possible.  Also, if you are going to use the "wave" pattern at the bow, do not mount the ladder rungs in the area of the cutout.  The stencil will not adhere in that area over the rungs.  Do the rungs after the stencil painting.

 

I'll be masking for a matte black waterline stripe next, after some cure time, and then the bottom paint.

[mtaylor]

Here's a trick for the taping.   Apply the tape and then brush on some matt varnish over the seam and extend it a bit onto the tape and the surface to be painted.  When dry after applying the paint, carefully remove the tape. 

[mikegr]

when comes to hull painting i "reverse" the hull. For example to paint the freeboard area, i put the hull upside down to make sure paint overflow wont go underneath the tape. For under the waterline, hull is sitting properly. In both cases spray can in pointing downwards

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

Your post to Rod piqued my interest,,,,

 

"Did you bevel the top edge of the belt armor?  Can't tell from the pictures of your model.  All of the pictures I have seen of the ship has the top of the belt armor at about a 45 deg angle down.Did you bevel the top edge of the belt armor?  Can't tell from the pictures of your model.  All of the pictures I have seen of the ship has the top of the belt armor at about a 45 deg angle down."

 

I have also considered this and am still doing so.... Personally, I need to weigh up the pros and cons of attempting this at the stage of the Hull that I am at. (It's possibly more a case of "What could possibly go wrong.... 🙂)

 

Are you going to attempt this?

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

 

[ted99]

9 hours ago, hof00 said:

Hi Chap,

Your post to Rod piqued my interest,,,,

 

"Did you bevel the top edge of the belt armor?  Can't tell from the pictures of your model.  All of the pictures I have seen of the ship has the top of the belt armor at about a 45 deg angle down.Did you bevel the top edge of the belt armor?  Can't tell from the pictures of your model.  All of the pictures I have seen of the ship has the top of the belt armor at about a 45 deg angle down."

 

I have also considered this and am still doing so.... Personally, I need to weigh up the pros and cons of attempting this at the stage of the Hull that I am at. (It's possibly more a case of "What could possibly go wrong.... 🙂)

 

Are you going to attempt this?

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

 

I was fortunate in discovering this at the final sanding stage.  I used a #11 knife to cut the outer edge on a bevel.  If I had discovered this at the planking stage, I would have been able to sand in the 45 deg bevel before gluing in the 1 mm board.  By doing it later, I was reluctant to do the bevel across the whole top of the board, because of the risk of grooving the 2mm board at the juncture of the bevel.  Looks OK as is, but could look better if I had beveled the top 1mm second layer plank before gluing it.

[ted99]

Another manual error.  On Vol 1, page 45, plate 201.  The picture shows the rear of the bow superstructure aligned with the edge of the printed wood deck.  WRONG.  If you do this, none of the subsequent pieces will fit.  It's too far back.  Glue piece #79 (manual has this at a later time) to the rear of piece #76 and it is the rear of this piece #79 that aligns with the edge of the printed decking.  Otherwise, the rear part of the front superstructure will be 4mm too far aft.

[rvchima]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:33 PM, ted99 said:

Rod--Senior moment for me.  I was having trouble remembering what Glen's name was before (Lewis in my time).  Worked many times with the Center Director, who I remember as Larry, but can't remember last his name.  He ended up being "fired" by Carl Lewis after Truly (who was protecting him) got fired.  Why is another story.

 

Ted, that would have been Larry Ross. I never interacted with him directly until after he retired. Someone brought in a group of "old timers" to talk about lessons learned on the Centaur upper stage program. Not really my area but I attended and found his comments very interesting.

 

It's great to see some superstructure coming together on your model. I'm dying to get past the hull but still have some major painting to do. And with the holidays coming up I'm getting less free time to work on the Bismarck.

[ted99]

Got some 70-80 deg weather last few days, but more wind than was optimum; but I went ahead and painted (with the can closer to the model than desired).  Results shown.  I used the technique described by Mark Taylor to avoid leakage under the tape and it worked a charm.  Used some Badger matte clear polymer paint and had zero seepage under the masking tale--many thanks, Mark!  I need to go back and do some touch-up from earlier painting where I did not use Mark's technique--mostly the Tamiya matte white.

[ted99]

I spent three hours hand sanding the prop shaft fairings so that they conformed with the "as-built" hull.  No filler necessary after gluing them on.  I'll wait until all the hull work is complete and superstructure is ready for attachment before I put the shafts, struts, props and rudders on.  All are conformed to the hull so it's just a glue job.  All those parts look very fragile so I'll leave them off for now.

[hof00]

Nice!!

Looking very good Sir.

 

Cheers.....HOF.