Over three weeks once again. Well, you are used that by now… Real life issues keeping me farther away from the workbench than I thought.
I got some fine boat/plane cranes printed from Distefan 3D print, as the cranes are significantly different in shape from Scharnhorst’s. Another thing I never realized until I came to that point of the build.
Only test fitted, of course - as is the whole funnel platform to this time.
A little more work on the boats, I am not really happy with my progress here so far - but any progress is better than non.
Thomas aka Black Sheep asked about types of boats, and looking into that briefly shows that nomenclature ist not entirely straight forward.
However, it is importand to understand that those boats were no lifeboats or intended to safe the life of the crew - they were means for transport and working boats. The big ships often anchored out, and the only means to get ashore for the crew was by boat. Admiral, Captain, senior officers had their more or less comfortable boats, often the seamen had to take the different sized rowing cutters on their way to shore leave. That at the same time was physical training and may have served some sailors to sober up on the way back from their shore leave.
At the same time those boats were used to transport personnel between ships, and it would seem material as well - between ships, ship to shore/shore to ship. Dinghies seem to have been used for working, painting the main ships hull and the like.
While this is far form exhaustive, it may give a quick overview.
And here is a quick overview of where I stand with my boats, two Admirals boats, three “Verkehrsboote” / transport boats / barges and two rowing cutters.
I decided for white upper hull, red anti fouling and wooden structure, just to ad some color spots to the otherwise pretty grey ship. Some references show the boats in a lighter color than the Gneisenau’s superstructure, so white is a real possibility. As I will depict my Gneisenau as in early 1940, it is still early on in the war. Later on all thous boats will have been completely grey and/or blended in with the ship’s camouflage.
From now on the hairy stick will be used, for touch up, details and the PE and stuff to be added.
Thank you all for your patience and looking in, and once again, I can’t promise a swift update.
Cheers
Jan