Academy's 1/350 Admiral Graf Spee.

EXELLENT  !!!

I can only hope, that when I "eventually" get around to doing my water dio, that mine turn's out just like your's .......

( let's face it , if mine is at least close to the right color Blue I will be happy. )

I love the diorama! Thanks for sharing how you did it. I've got to try this on my next ship. Will come back to your post for reference! Plus the extra info everyone chimed in with will be good to have.

You have done a lovely job on her. You should be well pleased.....Cheers mark 

A tiny nitpick--gun directors ought be rotated around to target bearing.

Not worth changing the build now, it looks fine.

Yeah Stik, is right, I should've done the camo, I went with the box art and some of the other pics I checked didn't have it. Hey I found it to be a very good kit to build and it was my first time using PE on a ship and doing rigging with EZ line.

Hey Steve; well I built the base with long enough and thin slats of wood and glued them together. Since I built the ship full hull I used the half hull parts to mark the cut out of foam and poster board. Once they were cut I measured to make sure the ship fit in correctly. I airbrushed a mixture Tamiya Sea Blue & Flat Blue onto the poster board. The beauty of the ocean is that you can make it as dark or light as you want. I like using a Midnight Blue with the Tamiya Sea Blue, but I ran out. I put the ship back in place and use Liquitex Gel Medium to cover the whole base and "TRY" to get the right ocean look. The gel medium is like Modge Podge; it goes on white but dries clear and the blue comes thru naturally like the ocean. Then using Liquitex gel varnish and cotton and Tamiya White paint I painted and shaped the extra wave effects. For the rear of the rear churned water I also used Tamiya's Medium blue to offset some of the white. Hope this helps.

Tiger,

Great build and sea, very nicely done. If you’re interested in the actual colors, they are as follows with ColourCoat paint numbers in parentheses.

Steve

tomwatkins45

And the float planes, aviation gas and supplies in the hanger would burn fiercely, which was learned the hard way.

Tom

 

 

This is USS South Dakota’s remaining Kingfisher after the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The other two were blown overboard by the blast of the aft 16” turret firing upon Kirishima. Floatplanes on board and surface actions do not mix well....

She was (Plate). Langsdorf realized the if they were interned in Montevideo, the government would allow representatives of the British Admiralty to inspect her.

HMS Exeter also lost her floatplanes and related hangars and fuel in the battle.

   Wasn't the Graf Spee sank or scuttled on the mouth of the river Platte? Great build and and awesome into, really sets the scene for a IMHO dificult dio. One of those in my stash. Someday....someday.

And the float planes, aviation gas and supplies in the hanger would burn fiercely, which was learned the hard way.

Tom

modelcrazy

It's intresting the Arado is burnt.

 

Caught in the middle of a surface engagement... the same thing happened in many of the Solomons fights off Guadalcanal.

Here is a link to a site with the full evolutions of the Graf Spee paint schemes.

http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=467

This link has far more photos. It was a three tone scheme on the superstructure with medium and dark gray over the light gray base.

http://www.deutschland-class.dk/admiral_graf_spee/gallery/gallgrafspeemontevideo.html

this photo gives a good view of three colors on the forward superstructure 

It's intresting the Arado is burnt.

GMorrison

 

 

stikpusher

Graf Spee was wearing a multi tone camo scheme at the time of the Battle of the River Plate.

 

 

 

Can you link that source? The best I can find is a false bow wave.

 

 

I can’t find the link now to the site I used when I built mine. But I’ll keep looking. It was something of a “float around” series of photos taken in Montevideo Harbor after the battle. I don’t think that they took the time to add a camo scheme after the battle. In the meantime, here are a few photos  of her in Montevideo and the camo is clearly visible.

stikpusher

Graf Spee was wearing a multi tone camo scheme at the time of the Battle of the River Plate.

Great work! Fabulous diorama. Thank for for posting...

beautifully done tiger , love both the build and the dio water base . any clues on how you built your base ?

Both ship and base are nice!!

Son of a..........

Stunning work. Thanks for sharing.

Hi;

 Well that is nice. Did you know that the ships at flank speed are lower in the stern because of the screws digging in more? The slight turn gives it life . I like the water. Do you wanna do a base for my Tamiya Destroyer? Just Kidding . LOL.LOL.

Whoa! That is very nicely done. You have done yourself proud my friend.

By the way, I like it.

Beautiful build and display! The water base is gorgeous!

But Graf Spee was wearing a multi tone camo scheme at the time of the Battle of the River Plate.

There you go! Nice job, love the seascape base.

I have that kit, how is the fit and detail.