I had intended on waiting to post any pics on this build until it was finished due to my tortoise like build speed but a friend persuaded me to go ahead and do it as a WIP. So here it is! I have always had a fascination with this ship ever since reading about her antics in the Atlantic and her demise in the River Plate. I still think Langsdorff could have taken all 3 cruiser in Force G had he stayed and fought. That's not to say she wouldn't have been sank by one of the other Forces chasing her but still. On a personal note of interest, the commander of Force G, Commodore Henry Harwood, and myself share the same surname!
The kit itself is basically a pretty good kit with some inaccuracies that I will try to correct. The addition of a quite large etch fret, wood deck, dry transfer draft markings, anchor chain, turned barrels for the 28cm main turrets, 150's, and for the 105's really boosts the quality of the kit.
As with all the ships I build, work starts out with the base as I am a full hull kinda guy. Love those curves on that bottom!!
I chose a piece of the same rosewood that I used on my Arizona build as I really like the color and the unfinished look of it. I used the markings on the kit for the Academy stand and drilled them out to accept the mounting hardware. Sadly, once again, I dont have pics of the hardware inside the hull but it basically consists of a small block of wood with two threaded inserts similar to these.
This allows me to remove the ship from the base at need. After the base was sanded, planed, and routed, the holes from the hull were matched and drilled through. I used a forstner bit on the bottom matched to the diameter of a pair of 1" fender washers to spread the force out to a bigger area.
I picked up some basic lamp hardware from Home Depot for the finials. I am not a big fan of large shiny finials as I want people focused on the build rather than the mounting hardware. Less is more for me in this area. A dowel of similar diameter was sanded down and drilled then cut to length and inserted into the lamp hardware to keep the bolts straight as well as to keep the posts centered on the brass washers.
And here she is mounted on her new home with hull halves glued and sanded, bilge keels glued and faired, and prop shafts and hubs mounted. The deck was also fitted and so far everything has fit perfectly.
I picked up the Flyhawk replacements for the single 20's and the dual 3.7's. Man were these things tiny! I think the differences in them and the kit parts speak for themselves in the pics below.
...and the 3.7's
Stay tuned as there is much much more to come!