Tamiya 1/350 Bismarck - My first ship, looking for tips and suggestions

I agree with the comment about the deck seams. Haven't built my kit yet,but test fitting showed that if I put the bow deck section tight against the bow & the stern section tight against the stern as suggested by the instructions, there was around a 1 to 2mm gap each side of the centre section when it was dropped into place last.

The best solution to me looks to be butting the deck tightly together from the bow & filling a single larger gap at the curvature of the stern, instead of the 4 smaller seams. Looked an easier proposition to fill to me. Not sure what others would think though?

As for extra's for the kit,  maybe have a look at White Ensign's Web Site. They do a couple of photo etch kits for it, one of which is a set of deck plates for the superstructure decks. These have been moulded without any detail in the kit.

Good luck with it!

I can't begin to count the number of ships I've built...but most have several things in common. Here's a few words of wisdom...

First off...make sure you have enough "common color" paint for the entire ship...in other words, don't mix paint for the hull and not have enough to mix for the superstructure. A "common use" color is something that comes pre-mixed in a bottle. This way, if you run out of paint, you go buy another bottle.

Build your major subassemblies first, superstructure, funnel, turrets, etc... if your deck colors (steel) are the same as the bulkhead colors (like IJN ships for example), then go ahead and add your photoetched rails and detail parts. If they're different, add anything that will on the bulkheads, but leave off the rails so you can mask and spray the deck color.

Build all your small components, AA guns, fire control directors, etc., and paint them accordingly. It doesn't hurt to weather as you go either, at least a sludge wash to start with.

Paint the hull, paint the deck, then assemble. Touching up the deck seam is a lot easier than masking the entire thing. In most cases, your railings will cover the seam and in some instances, act as a groove guide for the railing.

When you work on a ship, work from the centerline of the ship outward...this ensures you're not knocking things off the model as you're reaching in to add a part.

Drill the holes in the hull for the finials BEFORE you attach the deck (ask me how I know this).

Above all else, take your time. A ship model is unlike any other type of model. it's far more complex than an airplane, tank or car. Treat each subassembly like it's a kit in itself, and understand that a ship model is a collection of dissimilar parts.

If you have any Bimarck-specific questions, let me know.

Jeff

I have built all the Tamiya 350 ships. I would get a cheap badger (I think 250 single action) about $14 on the net. You will regret trying to brush paint large sections. I mask using pactra 1/2 inch masking tape then regular masking tape holding custom cut old newspaper over that.

I used superscale swastika decal set  for the deck bow. Its a fantastic kit. Gold medal models has an etched set for it.

I also used a combo of Testors model master enamels or  Tamiya acrylics , whatever it took to get the right shades I was looking for.

Take your time. I will generally assemble as much as possible before painting, the only exception being very small guns etc which I will super glue last.

Masking can be tedious.

The result can be spectacular, however.

I love these ship models, and will post some photos sometime.

One tip I read many moons ago is that if you are going to brush paint a ship, there is a very strong temptation - when painting the hull - to sweep the brush along from stem to stern horizontally.  It is far better to brush paint all vertical surfaces vertically.  If you do this, any lines of differing thicknesses of paint will look like weathering streaks anyway! Although I would always use an airbrush now, I have painted a couple of ships using the brush and the difference using the vertical strokes is amazing!  Hope this is of value

I have built both the Tamiya and the MinniHobby "knock-off" kit.  The Tamiya kit is a very forgiving kit compared to the cheaper kits in 1/350.

You will still get some deck seams that you will need to fill, but other than that, the kit is great.

For a base coat, I use automotive primer from the can.  I also use acrylics so this give the paint a good grip.  The Tamiya plastic doesn't craze from it but still do a test spray on the inside of the hull.  After your base coat, for accurate colors, you can either brush paint or mask and airbrush.  I have a large automotive detail gun, a dual action airbrush, and a $14 Badger single acution.  I did all my painting on this kit with my little Badger with ease.  White Ensign Models makes a whole line of Kreigsmarine paints.  John at WEM, who visits all of these model sites, can get you hooked up with what colors you need when you decide what time frame to paint the ship in.

We all paint details, PE, and decks differently.  I usually paint deck first, then mask, paint the large superstructure, then add details and PE, then mask and paint again.  Then again, I'm kinda Sadomasochistic.  If your interested in PE, then check these sites to see how others have built this kit.  There are multiple PE sets out there.

If you havn't yet visited this site, do so;
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/

And this site, as was mentioned in the above post, has a lot models of the Bismark in all sorts of schemes; It also has a thread dedicated to the Bismark model;
http://www.modelwarships.com/index1.html

Scott

Hi all

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions

 

I'm not a particular expert on warship modelling myself (only started a year ago), but one tip I can certainly give you for question 2 is to ALWAYS paint the deck and superstructure parts before gluing the smaller fittings (AA guns, davits, searchlights, etc.) in place. This applies to any ship model from 1/1200 scale to 1/72 and there are all too many times I've forgotten this rule to my cost

Even if you normally paint with a brush, airbrushing or spray painting the base coat of grey (or whatever the base colour is) on the hull + superstructure is the best way to get an even overall coat. You can then paint the details + camouflage etc. by hand.

Regarding aftermarket parts, photo-etched metal railings will improve the appearance of a 1/350 ship a lot, though they can be very tricky to work with especially if you're not used to PE parts. There are plenty of other AM details you can get for ship models including metal barrels, resin details, etc. - other forum members will be able to advise you better on this subject, I'm not much of an aftermarket user myself!

Two very good ship modelling websites are www.modelwarships.com and www.steelnavy.com. Looking at photos of completed models in the gallery section of these sites will give you useful tips on weathering, painting and detailing.

osjohnm wrote:

4. Basics of ship weathering or links to sites which focus on ship building? Thanks

If you are book collector you could obtain the following book for a couple of dollars from amazon:

Basics of Ship Modeling: The Illustrated Guide by Mike Ashey (Paperback - May 2000)

I own the book but I must honestly say I would have liked it the book to include some more coloured images. Coping with black-and-white images is often hard.

Regards,
Katzennahrung

osjohnm wrote:

2. Any suggestions on the approach to painting this monster, never painted anything this     this big before?

I would have been also particularily interested in whether guys need an airbrush for this kind of task when building larger armed modern warships.

For my historic plastic sailing ship kits I am pleased with a bigger brush for painting larger sections, e.g.  half the hull sides.

Is it important for modern warships modeling to get a flat and perfect coat of paints?

Regards,
Kater Katze Felix