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

yes you’re right, I may build the PE shelters over the top of them.

the main gun turrets in.

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the armoured Citadel where Admiral Lutjens and Captain Lindemann were killed, had this been a separate part of the kit I may have sparked and cut a doorway with a open thick armoured door. Like that shown in the James Cameron video.

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I think those bolt like projections on the roof are vent heads.

you can see the door here at 12.29
James Cameron’s Expedition Battleship Bismarck documentary english part 5 (youtube.com)

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I may be being anal here, but…in reference to one of your above photos, the port side end of the catapult is not seated well in it’s slot and is a bit wonky! (unless you already corrected it) …just sayin’.
:smiley: :canada:

I think the larger projections are periscope/range-finders, and the many smaller ones are bolt-heads. The armor on that conning-tower was 2 - 3 ft thick (the roof especially had to be proof against up to 16" plunging fire), and took a heavy crane to lift the roof.
:smiley: :canada:

The armored roof of the conning-tower was 200 mm to 220 mm thick or ~8 inches to 8 3/4 inches thick depending on spot and reference source. The CT sides were 350mm thick or about 13.8 inches.

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I slightly over-estimated :roll_eyes:
:smiley: :canada:

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Following with interest, Sprocket :cowboy_hat_face:

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the bridge wing PE parts ready to bend and fit.


placed on the bridge sides.

the house dry fitted to model, but there are wood deck parts to go down first.

it would have been impossible to get the wood parts down with the bridge in the way, stuck down now, ready for some tweeking before moving on to the next step.

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Time for the Coke can scale before I move along.

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Your ladders on Bruno turret (maybe others, too) stick up too far. On a closer examination I see they are positioned too high. The bottom end of the ladder should be flush with the base of the turret, and they should be flush with the surface of the turret all the way to the top. This means they should be bent to follow the angle of the turret side.
:smiley: :canada:

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This scale makes my eyes hurt and my hands tremble. Reminds me of this when I think of the work you are doing.

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Time for the Coke can scale before I move along.

Thanks for that photo, Sprocket - it is so easy to forget just how small 1/700 scale actually is…! :face_with_peeking_eye:

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Thanks for dropping by Gentlemen, it is a trying scale to get right, anchoring PE parts on before bending them down to their correct position, it may look wrong in the meantime, but it’s just one strategy for dealing with tiny pe in this scale, talking of which, here’s the forward radar arrey.

note to self, finish construction of all plastic major structures, then add PE to it, rather than sweeping all the railings and such away in a giant matching up of superstructure. As the Stranglers sang “something better change…”

in 1/700 if a part is .5 of a milimeter out it looks massively out in a close up image…

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Uhhhh…the radar screens were not made to pivot upwards. They were fixed, but revolved with the rangefinder.
:smiley: :canada:

with some tweeks applied, still some corrections to make, removed the bridge wings and applied them lower down so the rails are level with the bridge bulwarks, they need pinching in slightly.


I’m going for mass plastic building first, then adding the PE when it’s safer to do so.

pleased with these bridge windows, I’ll be able to add clear to these and glaze them up.

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Sprocket, really enjoying following your build! A+++

Keeping it book marked for future reference.

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Cheers AB, my progress is slow but steady, this is one of the most fiddly models I’ve even built, and I’ve built quite a few. I’m going to finish this at all costs, then it will go into a glass case, I’ll keep you up to date in as much detail as I can.

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Hi Sprocket,

been following along your nice build for a while, but did not comment as ‘the season’ allowed brief checking of build logs, but no bench time or extended commenting…

Your Bismarck looks really good so far - and wow, 1/700 is a challenge… one thing I would change/add though, DORA turret had range finders installed like BRUNO and CAESAR, only ANTON did not have them.

Keep up the good work,

Cheers
Jan

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Hmmmm…Good eye! :+1: I missed that. Those shelter cabins on the bridge deck look a little high. Any kind of reference material would be very useful. It’s a bit late to mention this now, but it would have been much more convenient to have painted the upper hull, and superstructures before applying the wood deck.
You may think I’m being merciless in my criticisms, but they are CONTRUCTIVE criticisms. Undoubtably, you spent big bucks on what amounts to a Deluxe kit, and you are going to case it afterwards, so you want a model that viewers are going to “Ooooh”, and “Aaaah”, over. :hugs:
:smiley: :canada:

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