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Painting camouflage on Bismarck and Tirpitz

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  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: West Virginia, USA
Posted by mfsob on Friday, July 18, 2008 6:50 AM
Although I'm primarily a 1/700 ship guy, I have found that in either that or 1/350, good photos, a sharp pencil and eyballing things gives acceptable results for camouflage patterns. Of course, if the camouflage is all straight edges that helps! My current build is a 1/700 Haskell-class attach transport in Measure 32, a three-color dazzle scheme. At that scale, while I did mask off the hull for each color, I've been freehanding the superstructure as I glue on each layer and things have been matching up fine.
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Edmonton, Canada
Posted by Ionstorm on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:22 AM
Thanks very much for the suggestions Chris. Much appreciated!
  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Weymouth, Dorset, UK
Posted by chris hall on Monday, July 14, 2008 11:38 PM

Having painted the upperworks in your choice of basic grey, I would I would tack the superstructure parts which are going to need to be camouflaged together, and then mark out the camouflage pattern with a soft, but sharp, pencil. You could almost certainly do this freehand, armed with a good set of camo profiles, such as those provided here:

 http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/paint_schemes/paintbism1941.html

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/paint_schemes/paintbism1941rheinubung.html

Notice how, at the beginning of operation Rheinubung, the upperworks camo stripes had been overpainted. If you were to model the ship at this stage of her career, this makes things considerably simpler.

I would then disassemble the model into its sub-assemblies, mask and spray. This approach is suggested by Tamiya in their 1/350 Prince of Wales, which, as you know, has a complex, straight-edged, camouflage scheme.

You might prefer to spray the camo striping first, after priming but before the basic grey. It would involve less, and easier, masking. I often adopt this approach with things like anti-dazzle panels on aircraft, and boot-toipping on ships.

I would do this before adding any detail parts or etch. Where etched parts needed to be camouflaged, I would paint these freehand. This is the approach I intend to take with the Revell Germany kit, even though the kit provdes decals for the hull camouflage. I intend to use these decals to make templates.

An alternative approach might be to use decal striping - aftermarket black and white striping of appropriate width is easily available. Again, you would need to measure out the width of the stripes, and I imagine you would need large amounts of decal solvent, especially on parts like the funnels.

HTH,

Cheers,

Chris.

Cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly!
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Edmonton, Canada
Painting camouflage on Bismarck and Tirpitz
Posted by Ionstorm on Sunday, July 13, 2008 7:46 PM
Hi all. My first time posting, and hopefully I haven't overlooked the info I'm looking for somewhere on these forums.
I'm working on the Academy 1:350 Bismarck and have the Tamiya 1:350 Tirpitz waiting in the queue. They both have some pretty interesting camouflage patterns and I'm hoping someone can give some suggestions as to the best way of marking these on. I've thought of measuring areas out and marking points, then connecting the dots. Or maybe projecting the patterns on somehow? Painting the black and white diagonal lines on the hull of the Bismarck is one thing but painting them up the superstructure seems a lot trickier.
Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
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