Scharnhorst build review from the beginning.

Tracy, THANK YOU! Well, even this old dog has learned something new then. I retract my diss of the planking then! Wood? Somehow I never caught that in any of my reading and I thank you very much for preventing me from looking like even more of a fool than I can be.

I accept the explanation for the featureless hull too, but even faked plating would have been nice. As I pointed out, the Tamiya Mogami had perhaps the most beautiful lower hull I've ever seen. Rivets, plating, inlets and all the rest. Was it accurate? Doubtful but it didn't matter, it still looked good. Sadly Tamiya's beautiful detailing stopped at the lower hull. The rest of the kit didn't measure up to the lower hull.

Yes, I'll probably be shading and at least hinting at plating on the lower hull, I like my ships will full hulls and that means the hull is very visible on the shelf. However, I doubt that the viewer will make it past the multi-color camouflage and all the rest of the detail on the ship. Maybe the lower hull isn't that important? 

Thank you again for enlightening me! 

Hi Bruno... a couple of points. First, the chain raceways were actually wood and not steel; same as the Deutschland class. With regards to the details below the waterline, efforts were made to find details regarding their construction and location while the CAD was being designed but we were never able to locate any plans or photos. Better to leave off the details in that case than falsify them.

Hull plating is a matter of taste in this scale; it is impossible to accurately represent it. It was felt that even with their high molding skills it would not be possible to pull it off up to their level of perfection, so it was left off. Those that REALLY want it already have methods and techniques that will work fine.