75th Anniversary of 1943 (World at War)

Look at all that PE!  Nice choice, Steve.  Should be a great build!  I've updated the build roster.  

And, as far as 1/700 PE goes--it's nothing that some Guinness can't handle!

Check,

I want to order a wood deck for the Scharnhorst so I'm holding off on that for the moment, but can you add this to the roster? I received it today and am stoked to get started.

It's three kits in one so technically I'm going to do 3 separate builds, the Pz IV ausf.F2, Sdkfz 7 and Flak 88...and Rommel. I  don't know if all three will end up in one dio or not yet.

I believe the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 43

Steve

taxtp

Nice choice Bish, I built that kit years ago without any PE additions, yours will be much better. I still have the Gneisenau kit to finish off the class. Cheers Tony

 

I am looking forward to getting started on it Tony, just got to wrap upmy 109 and i can get on it.

modelcrazy

Check,

I want to order a wood deck for the Scharnhorst so I'm holding off on that for the moment, but can you add this to the roster? I received it today and am stoked to get started.

It's three kits in one so technically I'm going to do 3 separate builds, the Pz IV ausf.F2, Sdkfz 7 and Flak 88...and Rommel. I  don't know if all three will end up in one dio or not yet.

I believe the Afrika Korps surrendered in May 43

Steve

 

 

Steve, you are correct about the date of the Axis surrenderin N Africa, and Rommel was still in command up until march 43. And the F2, or G as it was renamed, was in production until mid 43.

Great, I'll start on them soon then, after the 190 and Type 95 which should be done before the weekend.

Steve:  build-roster is updated with your latest.  Couldn't read the scale though.  Are these 1/35 or something else?

1/72, Romel is 1/32.

Thanks, Steve.  I'll add the information right away.

But--how's he going to fit into his vehicle! 

Made a start on my 251, this one has been in the stash a while and been itching to build it.

I will be building a vehicle from the 1st Pz Div in Greece in 1943. This Div was sent to Greece as a result of the British Operation_Mincemeat. This lead to the Germans to believe the Allies would be landing in Greece when in fact they were going to invade Sicily and Italy.

Ashide form a couple of Eduard PE sets, i will be adding some Trumpeter figures. I only need 7 of these and have not yet decided on which 7 i will use.

I also have AFV clubs ammunition set for some extra ammo. The 251 kit comes with one sprue from this ammo set but no decals, so this ammo set gives me the decals as well.

I made a start on this on Tues. Our model club has started doing a build night once a month in addition to the normal club night. This weeks was the first time i have been to the build night and i was surprised how much i got done in 3 hours without any distractions of a TV or computer. Even though i took my PE, i decided i didn't want that pinging across the club room so while i would normally start on the interiour, i focused on getting the sides in place and the running gear started.

Then last night i was able to focus on this kit fully, after finishing off one of my shelf queens. I have concentrated on the drivers section, leaving out the drivers IP and seats to be added after painting.

And got the rear section of the floor fitted.

Next i will work backwards on the lower hull inside before then switching to the upper hull and then painting.

This is my 5th 251 and my 2nd AFV kit, the other being an Ausf D.I have noticed with both kits lots of thick pour stubs. These are not anywhere that would be seen but they have to be removed to allow parts to be fitted. But that being said, the AFV Club 251's are already my favorite of the 3 brands i have built. I did like how the lower sides were fitd on this, much better than Dragon. Its quite lucky fort me that the AFV club kits are my favorite. Our of the 26 251's in the stash, 15 are from AFV.

This should be a spectacular build, Bish, with all the figures and the added detail.  Looks like you've already made some great progress.  Well done!

Looks like a good start Bish. I'll be interested to see how the AFV Club builds up.

I decided not to get the wood deck for the Sharnhorst. After looking at pictures of the product it looks just too thick in 1/700 to look plausible. It does look nice if you don't look closely. I'll brave the seams at the bow and stern.

While at Hobby Town this weekend I bought the 1/700 Tamiya German Z Class destroyers Z37-Z39. With a 10% discount I just could not find a better price. It contains two kits which you can make 2 of the 3 versions. I also ordered a PE set for German destroyers made by Tom's Model Works which should arrive within a week.

I looked at several sites and found that Z37 accompanied the Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen on 23 Jan 1943 out of Gotenhafen Poland to attempt a dash to Norway. They were detected by British planes and returned to the Baltic. I want to add it to the Scharnhorst dio but not sure how I'm going to show them both.

Don't add it to the roster Check. If I get it on there it will be in combination with the Scharnhorst

Cheers guys. Check, i hope so, i have had this dio in my head a very long time, so i better get this right.

Steve, this should be an interesting one. I have the Artwox wooden deck for the 350 Bismarck and it is very thin, but not sure how it would look at 700.

Going to be interesting to see how you do the 2 ships. Have you thought about doiung them on 2 seperate bases.

Bish,

The wood decks for 1/350 look great and are almost necessary but on 1/700 they seem to swallow up the fine details on the deck such as bollards and hatches. At a distance you can't see those details anyway and the overall appearance is improved so it's kind of a tossup.

I bought the destroyers to use with the Sharnhorst, and Z-38 with the Tirpitz for the 44 GB next year. After some thinking on it I believe I'm going to place the Sharn slow ahead while the Z 37 is passing close aboard at 1/3 or something, sea state 1 or 2.

Ye, i can well believe that about the decks in that scale. I can't imagine they could get them any thinner, the 350 ones are almost paper thin already, but i am sure you can do a great job on the kit one.

That sound slike a good idea, i guess at that scale you can still leave enough space between the ships that they would not be to close. And i know you can oul off the water effect for it.

Glad to see i am not the only one planning ahead. I have a ship lined up for the 45 build, but a slightly bigger scale, the 72nd S-100.

Sleek looking destroyer, Steve.  I like the camouflage scheme.  Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Hey Bish, that is a good start on that 251.  I don't have any 251 kits, but will some day.  Your review is helpful.

Steve, looking forward to seeing your dio.  They are always beyond excellent.

Not going to be able to start the SU-85 for a bit yet.  Have a Wildcat to finish for the Midway GB and a KV-1 for the Russian Armor GB.  I haven't even pulled the kit out of the stash yet.

Hey Check,

I'm looking for a reason to join a GB, and I just got my Dragon Lexington, so I guess I'll join in.  She was commission in February of 43 and I was planning to build as launched.

Picture Source:US NAVY PUBLIC DOMAIN

It will complete my Lexington collection

Steve,

The wood deck on the Scharnhorst would be a challenge in making it look scale.  I somewhat completed the Tamiya Gneisenau and the actual total deck space shown was minimal except on the bow and stern.  I say somewhat completed because it was the deck masking I messed up on.  I plan to correct someday when I get back into the mood.  Probably to practice before tackling my 1/700 Prinz Eugen.   

Welcome aboard the GB, Scott.  Nice to have another ship.

Great collection of Lexingtons.

I'll add yours to the build roster.

ManCityFan

Hey Bish, that is a good start on that 251.  I don't have any 251 kits, but will some day.  Your review is helpful.

Steve, looking forward to seeing your dio.  They are always beyond excellent.

Not going to be able to start the SU-85 for a bit yet.  Have a Wildcat to finish for the Midway GB and a KV-1 for the Russian Armor GB.  I haven't even pulled the kit out of the stash yet.

 

Cheers Dwayne. Well, theres plenty of 251 kits to choose from.

Thanks Check,

Yup, another blue bird farm on the ways. Although I hate making all those little planes, I think I have a strange obsession with 1/700 aircraft carriers.  

I have been working on my Constitution,in its final stages of rigging, and is on the bench right now, then I might try the Prinz Eugen (1941 GB) at the same time as the Lex.

Scott

scottrc

Thanks Check,

Yup, another blue bird farm on the ways. Although I hate making all those little planes, I think I have a strange obsession with 1/700 aircraft carriers.  

I have been working on my Constitution,in its final stages of rigging, and is on the bench right now, then I might try the Prinz Eugen (1941 GB) at the same time as the Lex.

Scott

I started on the Scharnhorst and I'm going to have to deal with these deck gaps.

I have the interiour completed and ready for painting. I had to make some alterations to the rear doors. The locking mechanisim on the left door is set in the closed position, and when i adjusted the handle so its set to open, the locking rods were to small. So i cut them away and used stryene rod in their place.

When i fit the door above, i realised the door would not move how it should it that it would not open fully. I noticed a piece sticking out that was jamming on the door. It had already been removed when i took those pics, but you can see it circled here on the hinge piece for the other door.

I cheked the doors on the Dragon kit i had built a few years back as i knew they had ful range of movement, and they did not have this. And i checked all the ;pics and none of those show anything like this. So i am not sure where AFV have got this design from. So i simply sniped them off. If you have the door closed, then you don't need to replace the locking rods and could get away with not sniping that piece off.

So with that done, both doors were fitted as well as PE brackets.

The upper work on the upper hull included replacing the kit hand rails which run along the top inside edge with PE and styrene rod. The Eduard PE said to use 0.5mm but i could not get this to fit so used 0.4.

And adding a few bits to the inside. This includes vision blocks, radio mount, which the instructions say not to fit for the /4 but according to my referances should be in place for a vehicle in 1943. And the long thin item on the left side in the pic are the rods for holding up the tarpaulin when placed over the vehicle. AFV club are the only company i have found that includes this. And despite have done their Ausf D which has it a few years ago, i over looked this item when i did my Dragon and Tamiya kits more recently, so thats a lesson i will take next time, that wil need some scratch work.

And i have just realised i had not taken any pics of the lower hull Well, its all now in the shed having been primed and painted along with seats, seat backs and otehr items kept lose for fitting later. And while thats drying, i will be getting the weapons painted tonight.

More soon.

Those are nasty gaps, Steve.  How to deal with such a thing without destroying deck detail is a mystery to me.  

Nice work, Bish.  Lots of fussy detail going on, and you're overcoming it valiantly!

Thanks check. Though in removing those little extensions i may have been premature. Ixion, on my build thread, posted some pics showing some with it. It may have been a late addition to restrict the movment of the door.

Steve, those gaps don't look good. My first thought would be to fill and sribe in the decking.

Steve,

Not only I had the gaps on the Gneissenau, but the stern part sat too low, and had to be shimmed to sit level to the rest of the deck. I never did seem to get it even.  
After I painted it, I noticed a slight tilt of the deck piece to port.  

CM,

I'm making a list of things I need for the Lex build.  Since its 1943, I need to order a set of SBDs.  The kit only has F6F, TBM, and SB2Cs. 

Hee Hee, I also I get to attempt the three tone blue camo on 1/700 planes.   

Hi guys,

I finished the seams and you can't tell they are there unless the light hits just right. I'm going to light sand the deck, add a wash and dot filters. I usually don't like working on the decks this early in the build but I have so much I want to do to it that the superstructure would be in the way.