Looks like a Bismarck is next

It's supposed to be a newer and better detailed kit than the Tamiya 1/350 Bismarck. It is more recent in its' molding. The Academy kit is a clone of the Tamiya kit.

I don't recall who, but somebody had a large scale Bismarck (1/350 or larger) back in the 1970's. It was pretty simple and rather devoid of high detail as I remember, and was made for motorization, so I'm thinking Lindberg, but I could be wrong.

ikar01

I went to the store today and the only ship they had in that scale is the Revell version.  It comes in a rather large box and the packaging on the box states that there are 659 parts and it is a level 5 kit.

A much better kit than Tamiya. Cheaper too.

There are no doubt some better kits for orders of magnitude more money from some of the asian co.s like Veryfire but that is a great model.

My general rundown on 1/350 battleship models:

Revell Germany (green box)- fine intermediate kits, good accuracy.

Academy- similar and they come with the basic brass etch,.

Hasegawa- expensive, but if you want a Yamato that is a good choice. Beware the brass will cost you a lot more.

Dragon or Trumpeter- why make a part when 20 will do?

This project will run to some $$$, maybe $ 200-300 per model.

Bill

At least it's not the platinum edition that has more brass than styrene....1500+ parts

When i was looking to get a 350 Bismarck i read all the reviews and the revell kit came out top, so thats the one i went for. Have not built it yet (its penciled in for the end of next year) but it looks a very nice kit with some nice detail. I have never done a ship kit of that type before, a couple of 72nd kits and 350 modern subs and some smaller scale is about it, so to my eyes it does look a bit daunting.

I built the Tam Bismarck years ago, not a bad kit. Like was stated, the Academy is the same as the Tam, still not that bad. My wife got me the Revell and will start it somtime in the near future. All kits will need some extra help with PE and such but OOB, I'd go with Revell.

HooYah Deep Sea

I don't recall who, but somebody had a large scale Bismarck (1/350 or larger) back in the 1970's. It was pretty simple and rather devoid of high detail as I remember, and was made for motorization, so I'm thinking Lindberg, but I could be wrong.

IIRC the Lindberg kit was close to 1/300 scale. I built it 10 or so years ago -- after having been given it, as a gift -- and I can't say it had much to recommend it beyond its size. Detail varied between sparse and lumpy, and there was a major surgery required to correct hull/deck contours in the area beneath the catapult for the Arado floatplanes.

I picked up the new Revell Bismarck Friday.  In justa casual look I noticed the instruction sheet apears to be a bit more complex, with the actual building instrurctions not really getting started until a bouit page 10.

Just a few things, the hull is split down the middle for some reason and the detail on the parts seem to be good.  I will be ordering brass barrels and P.E. for the ship, actually two Ships since I also have to build one for my kid's collection of Battleships.  The parts include the raliing but I think I'll save them for some other project.

One thing I was hoping for would be the Nazi Emblem for teh deck infront of the forward turrets.  Does anyone know where that can be obtained?

After this I'll need a Italian and French Battleship.  Any suggestions, and did I miss any other countrie's ships?

On a side note, I finally found my 1/350th Cerebus monitor.  I have been looking for that thing all over the garage for a couple years.  Aboiut that line of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result..Worked this time.

Revell being a German company is never going to include the swastikas. I believe there are several AM sets on the market, i got the ones from Peddinghaus. And the kit is not that new, being released in 2007 and re-boxed in 16.

You mention the hull being split down the middle. I thought this was normal for most ship kits.

The Tamiya kits I've built normally had a full hull.  This is the first split one I have seen in a long time.

Thanks for the information on the swatika, I'll deffinately look at that one.

I did forget one thing, the person I'm building this for has requested metal props if possible.

Bish

You mention the hull being split down the middle. I thought this was normal for most ship kits.

It certainly was in the era before slide-molding. Haven't seen a really new-mold kit in a bunch of years, so not sure what the standard is nowadays.

I have bought a couple of more recent 350 ship kits that don't have the split hull, but i thought this was a more recent introduction mainly for ships with a waterline option. But then i don't build many ships.

Only metal props i know of are by G-factor, but i am not sure if they are still going.

gregbale

 

 

Bish

You mention the hull being split down the middle. I thought this was normal for most ship kits.

 

 

 

It certainly was in the era before slide-molding. Haven't seen a really new-mold kit in a bunch of years, so not sure what the standard is nowadays.

 

Trumpeter released a new tooled 350 kit last year, i think thats the most recent. I have their Graf Spee which looks nice, i imagine the Bismarck would be a nice kit.

The Trumpy Graf Z carrier is a split hull too, but it's at least 5-6 years old now.

So, split hull models are the norm in plastic ship models that are narrow and deep. Like sailing ships.

Tamiya made some really nice ones of WW2 ships where one side had the first frame or so of the opposite side on the same part.

They are my preference.

In any case, don't let that influence your choice. 

bill

Metal props are considered rough and not accurate, IMO.

If the interest is so specific that the model owner cares aboout things like how a Midway carrier had four-blades on the inner two keelsons , opposite handed, and five-blades on the outer two shafts, opposite handed to each other and also to the inner prop on that side- so be it. 

3D is the way to go there.

But otherwise, use what the kit supplies.

Bill

I've been searching around and have pretty much decided to just do it that way.

The Revell 1/350 Bismarck and Tirpitz are outstanding kits!  The others are good as well, especially the newer Trumpeter kits.  The differences between the two are that the deck planks on the Revell kits are too pronounced but are fine on the trumpy version. However, only the Revell kits have lower hull details of the hull penetrations.  Both are great kits.

Unfortunately, the Tamiya/Academy kits, while being very accurate, suffer from plain bulkheads. The builder needs to purchase photoetch sets to correct this discrepancy. Finally, there is no lower hull detail.

I strongly recommend first, the Revell kits, and, second, the Trumpeter kit.

Bill

GMorrison

how a Midway carrier had four-blades on the inner two keelsons , opposite handed, and five-blades on the outer two shafts,

Hmm, that's opposite to BB practice where the 5B are inboard and 4B are outboard.  G figure.

So I was working from memory. Kinda knuckleheaded.

Here's the real McCoy.

Bill