Actually, WEM produces exquisite p/e sets for the Heller 1/400 range. Also, I hate to nit-pick, but the funnel cap on the aft funnel is on backwards. Most of us have done similar gaffs.

Bill

the only prob with 400th scale is aftermarket parts  p/e and resin conversion parts are very limited

there is at least 3 versions of type 36, 36a, 36a mob & 36b destroyers: flagship version, 4-15cm(4x1) version, 5-15cm(3x1 &1x2) version.

Including the three completed already, Ive procured a total of 13 total kits to put together:

*Gneisenau

*Unterseeboot VII C 31

*Zerstorer Z-32

6 Schnellboots

2 Torpedoboats

1 Minesweeper

Prinz Eugen

Kits I plan to procure:

Bismarck

Tirpitz

Scharnhost

Admiral Hipper

Graf von Spee

several more Zerstorers

several of the Light Cruizers

maybe the Graf Zepplin (a planned aircraft carrier that Germany scrapped when the war turned against them)

I fully expect this to take a couple years of modelling and I think I might build a second Gneisenau with the skills I've learned after building all these boats.

The second stage is to fit the Capital ships with lights shining out the portholes.

The third stage will be taking the ships and placing them in interconnectable diaramas displaying them at sea.

I have found sources for all the models at the 1/400 scale but the hardest one to find will be the Admiral Hipper since Heller no longer produces it and the Prinz Eugen.

Related models that I want to build include the Swordfish biplane responsible for the rudder damage that lead to the sinking of the Bismarck.

So in totally a fleet of 25+ depending on how many variants of the Zerstorers and the Unterseeboots I decide to build.

About how many models you figure it'll take to complete your project?

Zerstorer Z-32

Almost Done with a Z32 Zestorer

You have a very ambitious project going and good luck Sir......Cheers Mark

Ambitious project, and very cool!  Good luck, and keep us updated with photos!

Congratulations! There are some minor issues with the kit (as there are with any kit) but simple online research will help you out. Good luck!

Bill

Got me a Prinz Eugen. Cant wait to get it in the mail!

You may wish to cruise through this site heller-story.lebonforum.com

A number of Heller 1/400 kits are demonstrated in various stages.

HELLER PRINZ EUGEN 1.400 BATTLESHIP  

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Resin kits cost so much because they are so labor-intensive to make the molds, and the molds don't last beyond about 50 kits.  But, many of us have found that, with the price of a plastic kit and the cost of after-market detail sets that come routinely with the resin kits, the costs balance out. We have also found that the level of detail found in resin kits frequently far exceed that of injection-molded plastic kits, although this seems to be changing. Check the paper-card sites; the costs are far less.

Bill

I found a source for 1:400 German Light Cruisers but the kits are made of resin and are almost 200 EURO a piece!

HP-models of Germany 
http://www.hp-models.com/index.php/shop/schiffe/wwii-warships-1-400

The page makes my Specialist wallet cry! 

Unterseeboot VII C31

The Heller 1/400 Prinz Eugen and Hipper are not currently being manufactured but you can find them on sites such as eBay.  They used to cost an arm and leg, but, since the Trumpeter 1/350 releases of these ships, they are more reasonable. I just bought the Eugen for $36.00 on eBay, although there is one listed right now for over $100.00. You can get them far cheaper than that!

Heller does have a great selection of the larger Kriegsmarine ships, and they have a few destroyers and torpedo boats. Concerning Deutschland, they do produce Lutzow in mid-war configuration. The problem with Lutzow is that the bow and foc'sle are far too narrow and sharp. I am converting that kit to Deutschland by kit-bashing the Lutzow and Graf Spee kits.

The major issue with trying to build the entire Kriegsmarine is that there are no plastic kits in any scale of the light cruisers. However, you can find several among the paper-card ship modeling companies. These build into outstanding ship models; you can even use the card parts as templates and scratch-build using plastic stock. Many of these kits are printed in 1:400, and, by using your printer, you can rescale any kit to 1:400. These are also very reasonably priced. Hipper, Prinz Eugen, and Blucher can be found.

Bill

Pony down to the 1/700 and you will do better. Not only no Prinz Eugin, but no Deutchland, and on in 1/350

I've hit a little snag. I cant find the Prinz Eugen in stock on line. Can you all keep an eye out for 1:400 Prinz Eugen? I would like two of them so that I can also have the Admiral Hipper.

The Prinz Eugen is a deal breaker, if I cant get that one I will probably pony up to the 1:350 scale. I also want to do the AMI on these ships and I dont care if I need to redo the Gneisenau. Your thoughts?
 

The company is Mirage. There is an excellent review of the U-803 on www.steelnavy.com under the submarine section of the Model Gallery. It will show what beautiful little kits these are, and they will complement the Heller Kriegsmarine kits well.

Bill

There is a Polish line that makes many of the U-Boat variants in 1/400, although the company name escapes me for the moment. I'll check them out at my LHS. These kits include variations in armament and hull configurations, and include Type II, VII, IX, XIV and XXI. They also have PE frets. If you are interested, I will get a full listing of the available kits.

Bill

marceau - 81009

z31 -1048

z31 1942 - 81010

ddp - what is the kit number? 10 of them?

UPDATE : A little more painting; a little more glueing. Too bad you can barely notice!

UBOAT VII C 31 

Maybe you can use the pool out back for a harbor display? That's a very ambitious project; I'm looking forward to seeing it built up!

Sounds like a great plan. I have an old 1:350 Tamiya kit of the Tirpitz I've been working up the courage to tackle. Ships make some of the best display pieces. Best wishes, and please keep the pictures coming.

that is what i'm going to do with the 10 heller 1/400 z31 destroyers.

ddp - as many as I can in the 1:400 scale. 

are you going to do the different versions of destroyers like type 36 & type 36a?

Well, now hearing something like this makes me think "full time job" instead of  "hobby".

Anyhow, I wanted to help with the lighting. 22V? I don't see why you should do something like this. Please remember, that you don't have to connect all the LEDs in series - you can also connect them in parallel, as long as every "string" has it's own resistor. You could, for example, take two white LEDs (4V drop each), and connect them in series with 100 Ohm resistor and power this with 9V supply. Now connect x such strings in parallel and you can have 2x diodes while still using 9V supply.

Hope it helps, good luck with your project and have a nice day

Paweł