Bismarck and Prince Eugen

Bismarck first what scale do you want it? Tamiya makes the 1/350 which is a good kit, then there is the Dragon 1/700 which is a nice kit comes with photo etch railings for the top deck but none for the bottom, and the Trumpter 1/700 but I have need seen any thing about it.

For the Prinz Eugen there is the Heller 1/400 but I dont know any thing about it. The Tamiya 1/700 which is a great great kit should build like any other Tamiya kit quick and easy, and stay away from the 1/720 Revell it is a not so good kit with lots of parts wrong here is mine I just built its a real dog of a kit. I guess I would go with the Dragon Bismarck and Tamiya Prinz Eugen.

     Actually, Airfix made a decent Prinz Eugen at a 1/600 scale as well as the Bismarck but it would be hard to find one now except possibly on E-bay. The Tamiya kits are probably the best on the market right now.

Three new 1/700 Bismarck kits have appeared on the market fairly recently:  Dragon, Trumpeter, and Aoshima.  (The latter, as I understand it, is a completely new kit - not a reissue of the one the same company made back in the seventies.  That one was pretty bad.)  The only one I've bought is the Dragon one.  I haven't built it yet, but I'm extremely impressed with it.  The level of detail is excellent, and it seems to be quite accurate.  Some people have expressed reservations about the fact that some of the parts are molded in an odd, slightly flexible plastic, but those who've actually built the kit say that isn't a problem.  I can recommend the Dragon kit enthusiastically.

I've heard that the new Trumpeter Bismarck is also excellent, but I haven't seen it.  The Tamiya Prinz Eugen is really the only game in town in that scale.  Fortunately it's an outstanding kit - worthy to escort the Dragon Bismarck, and, I assume, the Trumpeter one too.

 

I totally agree with Prof Tilley on the buildability, so to say, of the vinylish plastic parts that come with the Dragon kit - these are definitely not a problem.

I'd also recommend the Dragon Bismarck, but with one caveat - the light AA guns, particularly the 20mm ones, seem to me to be inferior to those that come with the Trumpeter kit. Other smaller parts also seem to be crisper in the Trumpeter kit than in the Dragon kit. Of course one can always replace the light AA guns with aftermarket items (or get a Trumpeter kit which might be the cheaper option!).

The main drawback of the Trumpeter Bismarck is in my eyes the way the deck has been split up in three parts. I couldn't imagine how to put this together properly without getting seems, so I opted for the Dragon one instead where the seam of the two-part deck is cleverly hidden below two secondary barbettes.

By the way, as far as the Tirpitz is concerned, only the Dragon kit builds into a correct one out of the box - Trumpeter put the same heavy AA fit into the box as for the Bismarck, which is obviously wrong.

Jorit

Awesome!  Thanks for the info gentlemen.  I'll let you know which one I end up getting. 

armchair sailor wrote:

Actually, Airfix made a decent Prinz Eugen at a 1/600 scale as well as the Bismarck but it would be hard to find one now except possibly on E-bay. The Tamiya kits are probably the best on the market right now.

I can't speak to the Prinz Eugen, but I do have the Airfix Bismarck, and it shows its age and definitely looks to be at best a fair kit, perhaps only a bit better than typical Revell fare of that period.  I also have the Dragon Bismarck which I will be starting on it next week, and it looks to be vastly superior to the Airfix Bismarck.

I recall reading an article in Sea Classics magazine about 15 years ago.  The author and some other researchers did a detailed studied of all the photos taken during the engagement with Hood and all the records of the battle.  Their conclusion, based on the firing sequences, time-of-flight for the different guns and observed shell splashes, was that it was Prinz Eugen that actually sunk the Mighty Hood.  Whether no one realized it or it was credited to Bismarck by both sides for propaganda purposes is not known.  But we've all seen similar re-interpretations of historic events, like the football star-gone Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire, then the Army said he was killed by Taliban fighters.

 

Any thoughts?  Anyone else remember that report?

I remember having seen a few articles suggesting that it may have been Prinz Eugen which caused the damage that led to the aft magazine explosion that destroyed HMS Hood.  My recollection was that the supposition was that Prinz Eugen's shells started a fire which then lit off a torpedo magazine which then cascaded to the main magazine.  I certainly don't recall all the various points and counter-points to the arguments, but I do know at the time I was unconvinced that it was Prinz Eugen rather than Bismarck struck the fatal blow.

Even if it was in fact Prinz Eugen's shells lit off Hood's magazine, I certainly don't think that there was any sort of conspiracy or cover-up in order to give Bismarck erroneous credit.  Bismarck woud have to be considered the obvious culprit unless there were overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Even under the best of circumstances, conducting a proper post-mortem into such an event would be very difficult.  In 1941 while fighting a war and most of the witnesses are dead, it's all the more difficult. 

i remember reading about it in the late 70's or early 80's that prinz eugen might have been the 1 that started & if not destroy the hood.

Kangnam Bismarck is 1/400 and a copy of the 1/350 Tamiya Bismarck. So Heller's 1/400 Prinz Eugen can match it as well. Plus correct scale German DDs and TBs,etc. + There are RN adversaries in 1/400. Heller 1/400 Bismarck is a bit plain.

But any kit needs PE to dress it up. So the Heller can be nice as well.

There it is.

espins1 wrote:

Are there any decent kits out there of either the Bismarck or the Prince Eugen?  I want to try my hand at a ship model in the near future.  Any recommendations would be most appreciated.

Slippin' over to the dark side there Scott?

Hippy-Ed wrote:

espins1 wrote: Are there any decent kits out there of either the Bismarck or the Prince Eugen?  I want to try my hand at a ship model in the near future.  Any recommendations would be most appreciated.  Slippin' over to the dark side there Scott?

My problem is I have waaaaay too many interests, and not enough time.    

espins1 wrote:

Hippy-Ed wrote:  espins1 wrote: Are there any decent kits out there of either the Bismarck or the Prince Eugen?  I want to try my hand at a ship model in the near future.  Any recommendations would be most appreciated.  Slippin' over to the dark side there Scott? My problem is I have waaaaay too many interests, and not enough time.

...  at least ya have yer priorities straight