Kriegsmarine GB

Coming along nicely Fordboy! 

Sad to say, I haven't even started my Bismarck yet.  I have so many other projects going right now, and I must admit I don't feel ready yet to tackle all the PE that came with the three White Ensign Models PE sets. 

Some shots with the tape removed and the deck installed.

Regards

Fordboy

Regards

Fordboy

Here is a picture of the lower hull on the stands

Regards

Fordboy

Pictures of the portholes under the deck installed

Regards

Fordboy

A picture with the portholes in place

 Regards

 Fordboy

The latest progress shots - the bow glued and tape etc. removed.

Regards

Fordboy

Here is a picture of the deck and portholes to be actioned.

Regards

Fordboy

Here are some pictures of the bow gap to be attacked:

Regards

Fordboy

Here is a picture of the hull taking shape.

Regards

Fordboy

A picture with the tape removed from the stern:

Regards

Fordboy

Further update here are some shots of the work on the rear third of the hull and with the bow glued in.

Regards

Fordboy

Jeepers Chuck I feel for you buddy.

Better luck with the second attempt.

A further update on my E -Boat.

Here is a picture of gluing the middle section of the hull.

Here is another picture of the front hull gap

Here is another picture of the rear hull gap 

Here is a picture of the hull drying

The next step will be gluing the rear section and stern section.

Regards

Fordboy

  Just to give everyone a good laugh I thought I'd post a couple pics of my "progress" **cough cough**.

In this first image you can see my careful masking job as I paint the bulwarks on the first level, carefully masking the deck as well to keep from filling up the plank detailing with paint. In tho foreground you can see some of the sub assembly peices being prepped by filling seams and removing molded on details that will be replaced by brass:

In the second picture you see the deck progress well under way, hundreds of individual tape strips replicating individual planks in four different shades of tan:

And in this final picture you can see the deck stripped of ALL paint in preperation of doing it all over again:

After the stripping EVERYTHING will have to be repainted, well at least the camo pattern is still visible on the hull, that will save a couple days work.

   Let the snickering commense.

You maybe right Chuck but I think I have worked out a way to avoid too much putty and too much sanding.  Lets see how it works out.

Here is the hull ready for action

Here is the hull after I have removed the pegs from the bottom

Regards

Fordboy

Progress update

The hull review after being pulled from the box.

The hull

Front Hull

Rear Hull

I think there is going to be some modelling troubleshooting on this hull to get no gap in the hull.

Regards

Fordboy

Progress update.

The box is open.

The stands are prepared and completed.

I suspect my work area will shortly be covered in a film of blue sanding dust.

More progress to follow.

Regards

Fordboy

  I'll put up a series of pictures showing the process when the main deck is fully painted. In 350th scale I think it looks better than actually using wood planking. (imo)

Chuck0 wrote:

So where did everybody go? I've got my first deck plank color down and nearly masked, I figure there are somewhere around 600 individual strips of tape one inch long by .020 inches wide involved so far. When I go to spray the fourth color there will be 1800 strips of tape layed down.

Zoinks! you've been busy!  Looking forward to seeing some pics 

  Thanks Dan.

  My photoetch just arrived today, I love opening that stuff up for the first time. I've already used the WEM set on Bismarck so I left those closed for now but I just had to go through the Eduard set. They add a huge number of details that WEM left out, and vice versa, the two sets, while there will obviously be a lot of parts the same, are going to compliment each other very nicely.

   After a minor setback painting the hull after my dullcoat clouded over and I had to sand it down and repaint I'm back on track. (with half a bottle of Testors dullcoat in the trash)

Good to know our crew hasn't died yet

Chuck, who cares about deadlines anyway ??? I certainly don't, so, welcome aboard

  Well, since me Bismarck is nearly finished and can't be entered in the group build I'll have to start my Tirpitz next. She will have the Eduard and WEM detail sets along with other details.

    Preliminary research shows that the Tamiya Tirpitz is pretty much just the Bismarck with a couple different peices. The Eduard set seems to address many of the problems. Up first though are the vent collumns present on Bruno and Caesar turret barbettes. From what I can find they should be removed on Tirpitz but frankly I'm not sure I could do that to my satisfaction. I guess they may get left and simply dressed up as on Bismarck, not accurate, but will look better than gouged and scarred barbettes.

   I doubt she will be finished in the timeframe of the group build though.

Archangel Shooter wrote:

Hi Chuck..did you encounter any major problems using the WEM set? I'm certain the AA gun set was a bear to do but they do look good! What did you used to prep/prime the PE parts? Looking at your Bismark is making me want to put my U-boat project on hold and start work on mine. Scott

   The pe is pretty standard fare, shouldn't be a problem for anyone used to working with photoetch. One thing I really wasn't prepared for that you might want to take into account was the amount of splinter shielding that has to be removed when utilizing the brass deck plate set.  The weapons set isn't too bad to do, most people say the quads are the hardest but I think the doubles were a little more involved and there's a whole lot more of them. I used GMM parts for the singles, the shoulder rests, sights, and elevation wheels from the Oerlikon detail set. Shoulder rests and wheels are similar, and just cut off the mount on the sight and fixed it all onto the plastic kit part. Used the magazine and the counterweight from the wem set but the wem fixture with base was just a little too two dimensional for my taste. 

   The only priming on the brass I do is a light coat of the primary color airbrushed on. 

Hi Chuck..did you encounter any major problems using the WEM set? I'm certain the AA gun set was a bear to do but they do look good! What did you used to prep/prime the PE parts? Looking at your Bismark is making me want to put my U-boat project on hold and start work on mine.

Scott

 Well, I still have to detail the float planes, add a couple more peices of rail, flags, and make a display case, but yeah, almost done. I have the Tirpitz in my stash, which should come out a bit better.

  There are two or three things on Bismarck I could have done better, the main deck ended up with WAY too much paint on it, when I glued the sub assemblies down there was some gappage I didn't notice until the glue was dry, a couple of seams on the back of the bridge assembly I let go that in retrospect I should have made more effort to finish. I'll post the photo bucket file with the build pics in it if you like, starting from the end and working toward the front you can see pretty much the way I put it together.

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d197/coberg1/Bismarck/