Tirpitz Photo Etch question

its only money....right?????

its all ordered. now to just get the current build off the desk so I can start the Tirpitz.  

Now, now, if the PE didn't cost at least twice as much as the kit, what would be the point of it all?

Wait ... don't answer that.

Well.....I finally found good pics of the Eduard set. I compared them to the WEM sets. I have poured over them for the last two days. I compared them to my unbuilt Tirpitz and my built (OOB) Bismarck. It looks to me like the Eduard set would be more applicable to the Bismarck. I noticed that the Eduard set doesn't have the large crane gantries (or whatever there called). Also, and this is purely my taste, I'm not too keen on the railing that is attached to the deck plates in the Eduard set. Overall, I like the way the WEM set is designed to go together. Thats just me though. We all know that the Eduard set makes a beautiful reproduction. Unfortunately for the WEM set, its 2 and a half times the price.

As for the tread pattern, I have a book that has two pics that show that portion of the deck. While they're not the best angles, it does look like there were some large "treads". I wish I could post the pics, but if you have the Tirpitz pictorial from Classic Warships Publishing, you can see the ones I'm talking about. They're on page 61.

Anyway.....after hours of comparing the two sets to my two kits, I've decided to go with the WEM sets. The PE is 3 times the cost of the kit..........

.....man I love this hobby.

I have the Trumpeter 1/700 Tirpitz in the stash, and the tread pattern looks way overscale on that too. Thing is, I know Trumpeter are capable of finer work, not just because I've seen it on some of their other kits, but also because they've done it in other parts on this kit itself!

I have the WEM etched set for this kit, which doesn't include tread patterns for the deck - something which would be easy to do in etch, and requiring etching to far lower tolerances than WEM have shown themselves capable on other parts of this fret.

I also have the Revell Germany 1/350 Bismarck. while the tread patterns on this kit are finer than those on the Trumpeter Tirpitz, they still look overscale - more like 1/144 than 1/350. IN this case, however, they are approaching the limits of what's possible with injection-moulding.

Maybe, therefore, the tread pattern really was that large on the real thing?

Cheers,

Chris.

Hi. I'm doing the Tamiya Tirpitz and have the Eduard, White Ensign, Gold Medal Model, and Tom's Modelworks PE sets.  I agree, the "diamond plate" tread pattern does seem overly large, but for those that have the relevant pieces they all agree on the scale of the tread - except the WE platform associated with the stack cranes has a smaller tread pattern.  ?  I've seen no pix either of the ship itself nor of any models that have used a samller pattern - but I've not yet seen the Blohm & Voss shipyard specs, either.  I've got queries out and will post when I get more info.

Good question.

Good luck with it! Please provide pics as you go.

Bill

I could not find a review or even just good pics of the frets so I'm going to do the only thing I can.........

....I'm ordering the Eduard set and review the cotton-pickin' thing myself!

It looks like a lot of good stuff there and for a pretty good price. We'll see.....  

So, which set are you going for . . . WEM or Eduard?

Bill Morrison

I think I may have found my answer. I just received a book on the Tirpitz and found 2 pics that show an interesting "design" for the deck. It looks like a sort of large diamond plate. So I guess the photoetch sets are correct.

Now to order.......  

Wow! The WEM set seems to be outstanding! I particularly liked the pieces for the after superstructure with portholes, details that are noticeably missing from the Tamiya kits. As for the decking details, they seem fine to me. The price seems very high, but from what I saw, it could be worth it. If you decide to build this project, please provide photos. I recently sold my Tamiya Bismarck and GMM set, bought the Revell 1/350 Bismarck, but still have the Tamiya Tirpitz. I may decide on the WEM set myself. Thanks for providing the pictures!

Bill Morrison

DOHHH!!!!!

I should have posted it earlier. I hope this doesn't cause any problems, but here is where I went to get som pics:

http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/pe/whiteensign/wem-3529-bis-ultimate/ultimate-set.html

I am not familiar with the WEM set but I have seen pictures of the Eduard set. Honestly, the Eduard set looked good to me. If you have pictures of the WEM set, please post them.  Thanks!

Bill Morrison