I know apart from the York I haven’t commissioned a ship recently, still it is never a bad time to lay the keel of something new, especially as I have recenly aquired the Black Cat 37mm and 20mm for the Hipper.
The Trumpeter 1/350ht kit.
A well packed box.
A lesson of not putting the etch with kit, I bought the Eduard set not long after I aquired the kit, promptly forgot about it. Bought the White ensign set at Telford a few years later.
As Eduard and WEM seem to have slightly different approaches, there is some value in having both.
A pontos deck set, with some nice black anchor cable.
A closer look an the Black Cat parts.
Not easy to photograph still in the boxes.
This camoflage scheme looks interesting, did manage to find one picture on line of the ship in this scheme on line.
This comes from "German Naval Camouflage Vol 1 1939-41 by John Asmussen and Eric Leon. I need to do a little research on her operational history in the period she wore that scheme, as there may be an opertunity for air recognition colours on the Turret tops.
Keel laying sometime within the next week or so.
Cheers, Si
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Wow Si - keel laying for another one…and the Hipper would be about my favorite ship, if I had to pick a single one.
I have her waiting in my stash, with Eduard, WEM and Flyhawk, Pontos deck…well, basic idea is, to use some of the surplus etch with Prinz Eugen and Blucher someday, hereby only have the Eduard or WEM…
Are you really going to pick that paint scheme? It sure looks great, but pretty complicated to do I would say, I’m counting 5 shades of grey, hull and superstructure in the typical dark/light as with my Gneisenau and then at least three more shades. But as it apparently was done ‘in situ’ with whatever was available, you should have a good degree of artistic freedom…probably more than with one of the geometric schemes. I’d say it follows the same principle as Gneisenau on her transfer back after being hit by a torpedo in her stem, page 53 or cover of the book you mention.
I’d certainly think there is ‘room’ for air recognition markings on the turret tops, red or yellow, would make look even more interesting!
Next weekend at home I’ll have access to my books, I should have some information her operational history for the time in question. Out of my head I would say August 1940 was a rather uneventful period, with her typical ‘consorts’ Scharnhorst and Gneisenau about finishing repairs after their torpedo hits…
Looking particularly forward to that build of yours!
Cheers
Jan
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This is cool, Si! Prinz Eugen and his brothers were a handsome class of cruisers. I look forward to following your build of this one!
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Si,
Looking forward to watching another one of your amazing builds - can’t wait!!
David
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Hi Jan, I have always like the class, I reckon they are the most handsome heavies of their era. I have picked that scheme, it is very different from any other Kreigsmarine schme I have attempted, and I think it will not be easy, and will have to b done pretty puch freehand, I have found a second photo of the ship in that scheme on line, this one the main turret tops are in a much lighter colour than any other part of the ship, I reckon they are yellow, so I think I may well go for that, plenty of time yet. 
Thanks for looking in, I do appreciate the support,
Cheers, Si
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Hi Tim welcome aboard, glad to have you along for the ride,
Cheers, Si
Hi David,
Welcome aboard, glad to have you along for the ride.
Keel will actually be laid towards the end of this week.
Cheers
Si
That’s a great camo scheme. If I live long enough, I hope to do Hipper with this scheme myself, so I’ll be watching with great interest.
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Hi Martin,
Welcome aboard, This scheme did take my fancy as it is so different from the usual Geometric Kreigsmarine schemes. The aplication is going to take some thought, likely building up basic sub assemblies of the superstructure as markers for the different greys, also the old start from the middle and work towards the bow and stern.
Cheers. Si
I would assume the 1/200 Yamato reviewed on MW will come first ? I would love to see you work your magic on that …
( hope I haven’t derailed your thread Si … )
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The 1/200 Yamato is a thought, although I rather think Mrs Duster might not be too pleased with me if I brought that home. Next 1/200th build will be HMS Rodney, but that will involve back dating the Trumpeter kit to 1941 and the final battle with the Bismarck.
Got something out of left field that has been in the stash for over 25 years coming towards the end of the year.
And don’t worry, you haven’t derailed the thread.
Si
look forward to your build
Welcome aboard, keel should be laid tomorrow, will post an update over the weekend.
Cheers,
Si
The keel has been laid.
The upper and lower hull halves did a slight fit issue, worse at the stern.
Joining the two sections wasn’t too tricky, in about 4 sections allowing the glue p;enty pf time in between. The stern needed a little filing to get place, then quite a bit to finally fet it flush.
The plan is to get the base colours on over the long weekend.
More soon,
Cheers, Si
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You are a braver man than I, attaching the struts, shafts and rudder before joining the hull halves together. I’d have broken half of that off!!
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there are some pictures of the Hipper in Norway for sale on this site you may want to view
https://www.ebay.com/sch/koelsch333/m.html?item=180940691952&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2
Hi Martin,
Well, they say there is fine line between barvery and stupidity. I might have made my life easier when it came to cleaning up the join as the fit could be better. I have got the anti fouling red on, and overall looks ok.
Thanks for looking in.
Cheers, Si
Thanks for looking in, and the link, some very interesting photos on there, not just of the Hipper.
Cheers.
Si
I’ve bought from him, good service
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Always good to see a keel laying Si 
Am back and following along with interest.
These ships were ambitious designs for their day, using many new technologies.
I believe the Hipper kit from trumpeter is very similar to their Prinz Eugen kit which I completed some time ago. If memory serves, the kit requires a fair bit of elbow grease with filler and sandpaper to bring into line, with a fair bit of cussing.
I too used the the WEM PE set, but needed to add in extra sets of water tight doors and so on to complete her, so having the Eduard set on hand will be a bonus!
Watch out for the cranes, because, if anything like Eugen’s the PE in the WEM set were totally off, and a fair bit of creativity was required to get them up to spec, using a combination of the kit parts for the main armatures and AM for winches and cables.
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