German Battleship Bismarck 1941 1/700 kit including wood deck, 600 PE parts and brass gun barrels

[Sprocket]

Time to get stuck into this.

lift the lid and take a peek.

the wood deck and some of the PE

The injection kit parts come in their own internal box.

there are two sets of instructions, one in Black and white, basic construction, and one larger colour set for the PE,Brass and wood deck.

lets see how I get on with this little lot

[TimReynaga]

This looks to be fun! What is “I Love Kit” - a Trumpeter clone, perhaps?

[Sprocket]

looks like you were bang on target Tim.
German Bismarck Battleship 1941, I Love Kit 65701 (2020) (scalemates.com)

[Sprocket]

the hull halves making it easy to build full hull or waterline, I’m going full hull, she will be displayed in a glass case with her rudder on show, a real talking point, as her lucky hit on Hood was as much a roll of the dice as the Torpedo hit on her rudder.

so, starting with the lower hull, some prop and hull red

[Biggles50]

Seeing as the I Kit is actually Trumpeter, the Deluxe version of Flyhawk Bismarck is a better choice, even though I Kit comes with a wood deck. I would even recommend Dragon’s Bismarck as better than Trumpeter, but I think it’s no longer available.

[Sprocket]

What’s your point Biggles, I’m not after a recommendation, I’ve already started this one. Anyway, onward an upward, the lower hull in primer then overcoated with black.

[Biggles50]

It’s called a comment, or an observation…take it or leave it! Have fun with your Trumpeter kit.

[Sprocket]

moving swiftly onward with this big little kit, all the parts sprayed initially in white primer.

the lower hull painted in matt black, masked using cut down Tamiya tape, then given an overcoat of hull red.

the kit has many parts, lots of them spares, replaced by their pe counterpart, all given a light coat of matt white primer, to be followed by light grey.

[Sprocket]

upper and lower hulls joined together with masking tape holding them tight together while the glue dries.

quite a reasonable join, no mis alignment,

the daft instruction sheet suggests leaving this assembly till right at the end with all the fragile topside detail in place, not a chance.

[Sprocket]

Some areas of moulded on detail need to go, to allow the wood deck to lay flush.

the detail that remains has pre cut panels that push up and are easily peels away with a scalpel blade

the peel and stick wood deck.

[Sprocket]

the wood deck is accurate, leaving space for the PE superstructure cladding.

and the break waters on the bow.

[TimReynaga]

Quick progress! Bismarck is already starting to look good with those wood decks!

[Sprocket]

Thanks Tim. appreciate the support.

first PE deck down.

Next wood down, needs the edge of my thumb nail to press it into place.

[Biggles50]

Why did you level off the raised location ridges for the funnel, and hangars?

[Sprocket]

the midships area has a aircraft catapult launch rail that sits flush with the deck. the nearside half has slotted neatly into it’s groove.

as excellent as it looks, and this is just what PE is great at, it’s mostly covered over by deck plating.

with just the ends projecting toward the edge of the deck. The removable deck plating needs a weight to squash it down flush

[Sprocket]

Well done Biggles, I wondered who would be the first to spot that, all part of the Darstardly plan you know.

[Sprocket]

this is the pe part for the forward waterbreak, not tiny, but the supports for it are. They needs bending and twisting without breaking off.

this is where it will go, I’ll glue it down, anchor it in place then fold those tiny forward braces down to the deck in front.

[Sprocket]

Dora, first of the four main turrets fitted out with the brass gun barrels.

[Sprocket]

the four main turrets ready for an airbrushing of thinned paint, don’t want to mar those muzzles.

focs’l deck house bonding together, held tight with a clothes peg

trim the PE deck to allow the moulded lockers to stay, they should be chopped out and PE’d, but I made a judgement call about the possible damage to the surrounding area getting those out cleanly.

[Biggles50]

Those are actually little shelters for personel, sort of like sentry boxes.