Airfix 1/600th Bismarck

single word: awful ! abhorring ! It's a waste of plastic, there is no single corner of it which is correct.

If you would like to have decent 1/600 Bismarck class, I'd propose Revell 1/570 Bismarck or Tirpitz. Detail is a bit rough (considering their age it's normal) but the kits are pretty accurate and with a bit of detailing they can turn out to be charming models.

My considerations are same for the same scale Scharnhorst/Gneisenau too.

I absolutely agree with the comments on Airfix' Bismarck; the greatest insult is probably the hull which is totally out of shape.

However, the Revell Bismarck, while having a much better hull, comes off even worse as far as superstructure and armament is concerned. The forward superstructure is totally wrong, main and secondary turrets are abysmal, heavy AA even more so. The secondaries from the Scharnhorst kit are much better (even though they need reworking, too).

Currently no acceptable heavy AAs are available in 1/600; those in the Airfix Prinz Eugen kit were an excellent starting point (a good source for other useful parts as well, like a decent aircraft, light AA guns, searchlights etc), but sadly that kit has been out of production for quite some time now. The 105mm in the Airfix kit are unuseable, as are those that come with the Revell Bismarck/Tirpitz. The Scharnhorst pieces aren't much of a help either, but might possibly be modified into something looking remotely like the real thing.

So a 1/600 Bismarck is indeed a momentous undertaking. Starting with the Revell hull one would need some Airfix superstructure parts, reworked Scharnhorst secondaries and either spares from Airfix Prinz Eugen kits or a host of scratchbuilt small parts.

There is one other option: the Monogram box scale Bismarck/Tirpitz which scales out at around 1/600, perhaps a little bit smaller. I don't know about the availability abroad - it's extremely rare where I live at the moment - but overall it is definitely the pick of the bunch.

Jorit

I'll add to the chorus of boos.  I have it currently unbuilt, and compared to Dragon's 1/700 Bismarck which I have in progress, Airfix's rendition seems just bad.  Aside from accuracy issues, just the general level of detail and quality of moldings seems really second rate.  I may some day slap the thing together, but I certainly won't waste my time with any real detailing or PE. 

I think it's a shame that Airfix left the world of ship models when it did.  Its first kits (of which the Bismarck was one) represented something close to the state of the art when they appeared (in the early sixties), but obviously can't stand up to modern scrutiny.  One pleasant thing about Airfix, though, was that its kits almost without exception got better as the years went by.  (Compare the company's various attempts at the Spitfire and Hurricane.)  The Airfix H.M.S. Iron Duke, in addition to being, for a long time, the only WWI capital ship kit available in plastic, could stand comparison with most Japanese products of the time (the early seventies) - though I've never been able to figure out who put those oversized donuts on the muzzles of the secondary battery.  By the time Airfix got around to H.M.S. Belfast, King George V, and Repulse, it had figured out how to make really respectable warship kits.  But that was more than 25 years ago, and Airfix hasn't made a new warship since.

I see the company is offering a 1/600 Queen Mary 2.  I haven't seen it (and I have to say the subject doesn't have much appeal to me), but I venture to hope (without a great deal of confidence) that it may signal Airfix's return to the world of ship models.

As for the Bismarck, though, I can only echo the advice of others:  stick with the newer 1/700 kits.  I know for a fact that the Dragon one is a beauty, and I've heard good things about both the Trumpeter version and the retooled one from Aoshima.

This reminds me of a thought I had lately regarding Airfix.  If Airfix had continued at the forefront of (European at least) model kit production in the 1980s as they did in the 60s and 70s, it seems more than likely to me that they might have expanded their "Classic Ships" range with subjects which were restored or recovered during the 1980s - such as the Mary Rose, Great Britain and HMS Warrior. The latter would have been particularly interesting - there are at least 4 kits of US 19th-century early steam warships (even if all but the Revell Kearsarge are now out of production), but nothing British or even European (to my knowledge). As it is I doubt a kit of the Warrior will ever be seen, other than maybe a resin kit in 1/700 or 1/350.

I'm still hoping for the Iron Duke and/or Warspite to be re-issued. Airfix have been re-issuing a lot of their old, sought-after kits recently - Auster Antarctic, Bloodhound missile, Great Western, etc. - so perhaps there's still hope!

Also, regarding Airfix's return to ship/boat models, a 1/72 scale RNLI Avon-class lifeboat was announced early last year, though there is still no sign of this kit's release a year and a half later.

The Airfix Lifeboat will reportedly be available from the end of this month (June06) - the first test-shots are currently with the RLNI for final evaluation.

Now that is finally a solid piece of good news. I already feared it was going to postponed again into next year.

Jorit

Since the closure of the official Airfix forum (when they were recently bought by some guys who own CORGI), you can find all things Airfix here -

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/

Happy reading

 

Dave(Shipbuilder)

 

EPinniger wrote:

I'm still hoping for the Iron Duke and/or Warspite to be re-issued.

I guess I should consider myself fortunate.  I picked up both those a couple years back.  I haven't assembled them yet, but from an in-box inspection, each looks to able to made into a fine model.

If you have the Airfix Bismarck, then there's nothing to stop you building it. It has its inaccuracies (which maybe nearly terminal!) but when it's finished, it is recognisable as the Bismarck. The kit is over 44 years old. If you're an advanced modeller, you could try correcting the inaccuracies.

I have the Airfix Tirpitz, which of course is the same as the Bismarck model except that it has torpedo tubes. I started building it without reference to the vast knowledge that we have on the interweb, then realised that things weren't exactly how they should be, and tried to fix them up. I accepted a lot of the inaccuracies, and painted it in the dazzle pattern camo, which turned out fine. One day, I'll get back to it and finish it.

It's a challenge, that's for sure.

i know most of you guys HATE this model and that most of you find nothing Right with it.

well.....

if you take the parts off the sprues,  the sprues look real good i'll give them that

this is exactly the problem i have right now lol thought it was me. That hull is well out of shape, ive had to go round the thing with glue, forcing bits to stick wether they want to or not ;) and as someone said, no corners join together.

You would think that maybe they would hire a few people to try out the kit before production?? 

Was ment to be the kids history project, maybe i should burn it;)

 i agree kit is well out of shape.