Hi there, there’s been so many outstanding WWII battleship builds on this forum lately that i’m feeling inspired…… although the calibre of some of the builders is also so high that as inspiring as these threads are…. it’s also quite daunting to think about trying to join the party! (i’m looking at you @GewoonWouter @Black_sheep @madtatt @TimReynaga @JJ1973 amongst others…. your build logs of Yamato’s, Bismarck, Hatsuzuki, Gneisenau, respectively are amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing).
I have had my eye on Trumpeters new’ish 1/350 Bismarck kit 05358. Looks quite nice, and has some good reviews.
I’m interested if anyone has any first hand experience of the kit, and if there’s any good build logs I can have a look at? Is there any recommendations for aftermarket for this kit?
Thanks kindly in advance,
Dave.
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Glad to be of inspiration, it’s what we modellers do to each other I guess 
Yamato is my first plungue in the world of ships (I have finished in between one 1/350 u-boot years ago) so can’t say wether it’s a good kit or not. But if that Bismarck ticks your interest I’d say go for it.
There are several aftermarket companies who do upgrades for the Bismarck. One of them is Pontosmodel, which I have experience with. So far their Yamato upgrade is ace, it wasn’t cheap though, but I guess quality comes at a price.
Their aftermarket service is good though, I had a problem where the gun barrels were drilled out offset, and they sent me free replacements.
If you are willing to spend the hard earned cash, invest a lot of time, and endure some frustration from time to time, I’d say- and I quote a famous sports brand slogan - ‘Just do it’
Ahoy Dave.
I’m glad we could all inspire you.
I can’t tell you anything about the 1:350 Trumpeter Bismarck firsthand. Only so much, the ship in the 1:200 version of Trumpeter is really good. Of course most of the money for the model went into aftermarket parts. That was the only way I could build it historically correct. And what wasn’t there was scratched.
For both scales there is quite a bit about this famous ship. Have a look here at scalemates.
Scalemates" German Battleship Bismarck"
And I would like to recommend this book to you. That has often helped me a lot.
Scalemates “Stefan Dramiński - Anatomy of the Ship”
And on my site “modelmarine” have a report on the build. But this is the Revell Kit.
Modellmarine
And then I’m really looking forward to your model construction. If you still have specific questions about the ship, always out with it.
Hi Dave,
a big ‘thank you’ from me, too.
Bismarck is a great ship to build, for sure!
I can’t tell you anything about the Trumpeter kit first hand, however there is a comparison between the Trumpeter and the older and way cheaper Revell kit. The Revell kit came out around 2006/07ish and was the best Bismarck rendering at the time. I do have it in my stash, as the Revell Tirpitz. Aftermarket sets for both are (?) were available, you’d want to check if they are still.
After reading that comparison (ok, German language, but many pictures and google translate might help, too) I decided that I would stick with the Revell kits and build them when time comes, and not sell them and get the newer Trumpi ones, while the newer ones probably are a notch better, I’d think the Revell is the better deal (for Germany: Trumpeter kit around 155 €, Revell below 60 €).
http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php/bausatzvorstellungen/69-tru/5856-trumpeter-deutsches-schlachtschiff-bismarck-1350
But the decision of course is yours. Anyway, I’d be looking forward to your build log!
Cheers
Jan
I do own Trumpeter´s new tool Bismarck in 1:350 scale and I like what I see. Of course you can go “mad” like me and invest in further upgrades like different useful 3d printed pieces from WuLa and blastbags from VERYFIRE
but the real gamechanger will be INFINI´s Upgrade set which a lot of turned and etched parts and even an wooden deck
I would have loved to see a wooden deck from Scaledecks as these are truly the most realistic ones but sadly they don´t offer one for this kit yet.
Cheers
Thomas
