just sowing a sign of life… real life, especially my 1:1 frigate, is particularly demanding these days and weeks, I barely see home, not to speak of time for my workbench. Motivation is still high, even time I walk by my workbench and get a quick glance at my Gneisenau sitting there and waiting, I wish I could recommence work immediately. However, that is probably taking a little longer. So no worries, this build log is alive and will be continued, only I have to ask for some more patience. (same with commenting on all your fine builds, however, I try to watch and follow, mostly on my mobile phone…)
and Bill,
they are really fine models, I have both, too, with ‘sufficient’ aftermarket stuff, and they are high up on my to do list - only that can mean several years until I get there…
Thank you all for your patience and cheers for now
Please forgive the intrusion of an interloper, but I’ve just stumbled over this thread and had a browse through.
This may have been mentioned before and I’ve missed it. Given you are in north Germany, have you ever managed to visit a couple of surviving bits of “Gneisenau”? I’m talking about the two twin 15cm turrets at Cold-War Museum Stevnsfort in Denmark. Apparently they were last fired in 2000! Given that you are replacing the twin 15cm turrets on your build, the spares might make a little diversion project, a diorama on land… Before they were moved to Stevnsfort in 1952 they were at Battery Graadyb on Fanø, where the emplacements survive too. I’m sure you are familiar with the ModelCollect 1:72nd scale kit of turret “Cäsar” at Austrått Fort in Norway, but others reading this thread may not be: http://www.modelcollect.com/austratt-fort-coastal-artillery-site-triple-28cm-turret-caesar-one-v1-missile-include
I did know about the 28 cm turret in Norway, but somehow not at all about the Stevnsfort Museum - that’s actually not too far away. Well, nothing for a day trip, but, once CoViD is gone, something for a weekend. I have to visit that, thanks for pointing it out!
On the Gneisenau business, sorry, still no chance for some quality workbench time…
But did you know that “Cäsar” is not the only surviving 28 cm turret from a German Battleship? There are two in Turkey at the Turgut Reis Tabyasi, and comprise the aft and midships turrets of the Pre-Dreadnought SMS Weissenburg. The Aft turret mounts two 28 cm MRK L/40, while the Midships turret has two 28 cm MRK L/35.
Krupp also exported these guns for coastal defence on single mounts. One such 28 cm MRK L/40 survives in China, while three 28 cm MRK L/35 are preserved in Norway at the “Oscarsborg Festning” where they played a part in the sinking of DKM Blücher.
It would be too much to call it real progress, but I got back into my build. Needed some time to remember where exactly I had stopped and where to start. The last things I did were a bunch of Veterans AA guns, but somehow I want to come back to the ship first.
So just a little small stuff, some tidying up where I painted the deck with oils and giving some small stuff a first coat of light grey. And considering where to get those hatches that Gneisenau has all over her mein deck and Scharnhorst does not - I’ll try to get them 3D printed, as they are fairly simple boxlike structures, but I need about 30 of them, all exactly the same size.
I’ve been enjoying your Gneisenau build from the beginning, and it is great to see you back at it! And so what if the construction is slow? It isn’t a race, and any work is progress, even if it does it add up slowly. The trick is to keep at it over time, even with all the other calls on your attention that life throws at you!
As for the hatches, have you considered casting them in RTV resin? 3D printing is an option too of course, but RTV is unmatched for precision and detail.
I scratchbuilt one of the davits for my USCG Taney and cast the rest in resin. The copies are so exact you really can’t tell the difference.
Either way, I look forward to seeing your magnificent build progress!
a very brief update as I am pretty much again on my way to Kiel, where my 1:1 waits…
I got a little more small stuff installed - quite a lot is pretty similar on Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, that helps.
But other things are not, so when re-starting I stumbled upon something, the forward superstructure. While I decided not to check every porthole, doors are of some significance and ladders as well. So som parts have to go and/or be modified. A little more destructive work.
On other significant detail are those hatches all around on the main deck that only Gneisenau has. Scharnhorst has just a few, like those left and right of the bigger construction, that I will scratch build for Gneisenau.
and once more I got mail from fine gentlemen Steve Larsen aka Model Monkey, he produced those hatches for me and sent them over. As soon as I have them in my hands, I will present them here. Thank you again, Steve, you are just great!!
Removing those ladders from the superstructures can be quite a challenge, not to remove other detail. Yet it is worth the effort as after market ladders would add to the detail.
Well, no worries, Gneisenau will continue and I’m looking forward to get back to work on her.
But it will take a couple more weeks, and it will be on a different shipyard (same workers, though…).
As it is with the military, all postings, may they be good or bad, come to an end, and so has my four years tour in command, as Captain of one of our new F125 type frigates, the F225 Rheinland-Pfalz. My change of command was about a month ago, it was covered in the local media and the navy media channels posted it, so it’s ok for me now to share this with you here on MSW.
My XO reporting my ship’s complement ready for muster one very last time
Well, so much for real life, ship-related, that’s why I think I can post it here in the middle of my build log.
Now it’s time to move, actually, I’m in the middle of it, setting up a commuter home in Berlin and starting with my new posting (not MoD, there’s more in and near Berlin).
The place for my model shipyard in the commuter flat is already assigned, it will be built up within the next weeks and Gneisenau will move to Berlin. So I hope you’ll all stay tuned, thank you all for your patience - with my own build log as well as with my very rare presence her commenting on all your fine builds!
Jan, well done on completing your tour as Captain, a great achievement and I am sure you handed over a superb ship and crew to the new skipper… I hope the next job goes just as well. …
I have been watching the whole build so far and as my knowledge of floaty things is limited I stay silent most of the time but I do love the German WW2 ships of the line, they have such beautiful sleek lines… Looking forward to the next installment
Congratulations on completion of your tour of Command and beautiful work on the model as well .
Now I must ask which is more fun - model warships or real warships ?
Cheers - Richard
Thank you so much for your kind replies, for your wishes and that you are still following my build log! I promise I won’t disappoint you, so far I ‘maxed out’ at about three years with my HMS Hood that was hampered by a similar moving in between. But so far I have never abandoned a project, and my motivation on Gneisenau remains high, only real life is in the way more than usually…
Tim, you’re so right - and the workers are busy, setting up a new shipyard in Berlin, and than preparing and executing the transfer of Gneisenau herself… I’ll post a few pictures of my new workbench in Berlin soon, but before I can effectively recommence work I’ll have to ask you for a few more weeks of patience. I’m doing the moving all by myself on the weekends while I’m already working in my new job during the week, so that’s a little tedious. But I’m getting there!
Congratulations on your successful completion of Command. I know it is an emotional time handing your command to the new commander. I wish you the best of luck in your new assignment.
As far as your build, the enjoyment of watching your build demands the patience requested. I for one will be happy to bide my time until you get the new shipyard established in Berlin. Looking forward to it.
