(deck and superstructure weathering) Bismarck Completed

Thanks Jeff &Scott, will do!!

Purchased the white ensign paints, very nice, and yes the orange is funky, but looks pretty cool when on there.  The green makes the landing strip look like a football field.  Just about to the point where i can weather the Minsk, can't wait to have at it.

Thanks again,

Nate

Jeff Herne wrote:

Heya Chips, The best advice I can give is to contact White Ensign, as they sell all the necessary colors for Soviet Navy, including that funky orange-brown color for the decks. www.whiteensignmodels.com Tell 'em Jeff sent ya, and that I said hi! :-) J

Nice looking model.  I would leave it the way it is.  What Jeff just said about the tarps would mean that all you have to do is make some out of tissues and place over the stern.  I would need to do the same thing with my Bismark when I display it at the local school.  However, mine is far from accurate as well, depending on what expert will look at it.

Just build it, paint it, and display it and ignor the history critics.  Especially when dealing with the Arizona or Bismark.

Scott

Heya Chips,

The best advice I can give is to contact White Ensign, as they sell all the necessary colors for Soviet Navy, including that funky orange-brown color for the decks.

www.whiteensignmodels.com

Tell 'em Jeff sent ya, and that I said hi! :-)

J

Thanks for the reply Jeff, its appreciated.  I will probably just leave the swastika the same color.  i could remask, remove the railing and give it a shot, but my luck would be that red would get somewhere i don't want it to be.  I think i will stick to the "crew didn't get a chance to paint the rear swastika, and they ran out of red paint that day".

Thanks for the good words. 

Now on to my first water dio with 3x1/700 scale russian ships.  Any hints on where to find more painting information, for the Carrier Minsk, Cruiser Moskva, and Heavy Cruiser Kirov?

Thanks guys,

PC

Would you guys get off the swastikas already?? Good grief, give the guy a break.

The model looks great, the deck color is spot-on and you did a great job on the construction. Thanks for posting up the images.

Now, onto the actual deck markings (not the one on the mode). There's no proof that the swastikas were painted out prior to Bismarck leaving Norway. The Baltic stripes, yes, but some experts have argued that the swastikas were covered over with a canvas tarp. This way, when Bismarck returned to the North Sea or Biscay, where German aircraft operated, they could easily remove the covers for identity purposes. The fact that the swastikas are present on the wreck (and are plainly visible), lends more to this theory than the one that they were painted over and that particular layer has worn off.

The use of tarps was a common practice on other German surface units, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Hipper, Scheer, and Eugen. It doesn't make sense to paint out an identifier, especially if it was painstakingly applied. Something that large on a ship's bow and stern is not something you arbitrarily paint out just because you're operating outside of the range of maritime (your own) patrol aircraft.

It's not too late to add them, or...if you want to, cover up the bow marking with a gray tarp. I say leave it as it is. Chances are they didn't paint them both at the same time. The crew that painted the bow most likely painted the stern too...

Jeff

Well I am going to add to you misery and say that the background was red not grey. I know this as I was having a discusion with one of the historians on HMS Belfast the other week who stated that  he was reading the original document from one of the crew of one of the swordfish that attacked her and he described the large red swastika flags on the bow and stern of Bismark.

Wish i found that link before i painted.  Thank you

PC

here's a link with some pics if look tou can see the 2 swastikas http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/gallery/gallbismrhein2.html  hers another link http://www.navweaps.com/index_inro/INRO_Bismarck_p1.htm

and yes you are right about the painting over of the swastikas.

ok, so my history on the ship is flawed and i should have done more research or even better, picked a time frame during its service to represent (lessons learned for next build).  But other than that how is it? 

Thanks for the feed back everyone.  The more the better.

Paintchips

I thought that the Bismarck crew painted over the camo stripes and the swastikas before they left Norway for the Atlantic. I'd think it strange that they would keep such distinctive markings visible in the face of aerial recon.

There was a swastika on the stern - it is visible on the underwater photos Ballard took of the wreck.

I would have put two on if i had seen a picture with them on both the stern and bow.  But since all i saw were peoples models with both, i wasn't going to reproduce it without a real picture. 

Thanks for the reply and i wish i came across that photo.

keep em coming.

PC

She looks fine exept for one thing the Bismarck had 2 suatsika's on the deck one on the bow that you have and one on the stern, besides that it looks good but thats my