"Sink The Bismarck!"

[The Smythe Meister]

Blimmin Eck that looks impressive,
Just had a cracking little catch up on this one.... Gorgeous is how I'd describe it
Lovely stuff Ron,
Andy

[spanner570]

Wow!
Boys, thanks ever so much for all your encouraging comments. :thumb2:

I'm starting the rigging tomorrow. I'm normally happy enough doing rigging, it's just that the masts on this model are so thin...Hey ho!

Just to give a good indication as to the small size of the ship and the masts, I've taken a few pictures of the thing resting in me mit....












Steer well clear tomorrow. no prisoners taken!

Cheers.
Ron

[rtfoe]

Apologies for the late intrusion...as you know snails often overtake me so the catch up took a while. Lovely build Ron. That's all the size you get with a 1/700 kit. The Haruna I built is roughly the same and I haven't rigged her yet. You go first and I'll take some pointers.

Cheers,
Richard

[Allen Dewire]

Still with ya here Ron and loving what I see. She sure is tiny for such a big float thingy. I just wonder how many cold ones it will take to rig her up. Patience, nerves of steel and a bunch of swearing might help a bit too. Good luck Sir, may the string be with you...............

Prost
Allen

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
Can I ask where you bought your ginormous hand. I would like one too so I can also fool the populous into believing my moggels are so so tichy. :hungry:
Jim
Looking great

[spanner570]

Richard, Allen and Jim. Thank you for your humorous posts.

I've done the rigging on KGV. Totally imaginary. I haven't the skill to do an exact copy, so as long as it looks something like rigging, I'm happy.

Done with ezee line and G.P. glue.







Cheers.
Ron

[Tim Marlow]

Imaginary or not, looks good to me! Certainly gives those sticky up bits a reason to be there anyway.

[Jim R]

Hi Ron
Whether it is accurate or not it looks great.
Jim

[spanner570]

Thanks chaps.
I've just spotted that I've forgotten to add the crane jib cables.....:upside:

[Niho]

Room for one more, a blast from the past even.......
Hi Ron

[spanner570]

I've realized this post should be in this thread and not where it was yesterday in my 1/700 Bismarck build. I've just managed to swop it over to here.... Sorry for any confusion chaps.

On Easter Sunday, my wife and I planned to visit my son and exchange 'Eggs'. His lady is head honcho at a local nursing home, so as a precaution I took a home made Covid test...

Guess what? The test proved positive! How the hell I contracted the thing is anyone's guess. I ain't been nowhere. Luckily the bride is o.k. -Thus far.

However, it won't stop an old fart like me from battling on at the bench doing summat. I don't fancy doing the rigging on Bismarck just yet, so I've turned my attention to the sinking ship. She went down stern first and leaning to port, before capsizing.
My first idea was to build the sea around the complete ship. Using my usual method this would be too complicated and I would need some kind of box to accommodate the invisible stern section, so I intend to build the full hull, superstructure and stick on only what will be seen, which is roughly half the ship. Then once I'm happy with what is glued in position, I'll cut the whole issue in half at a suitable angle. That way, the ship will be sitting on, rather than half under the surface. I will add the odd bit just under the surface, I'll see what's what at a later stage.

Now here is the clever bit, :nerd: I will save the stern section and once the sinking ship is photographed, I shall reunite the hull halves, add any missing bits and use that to try and model the Bismarck on the sea bed. Smart or what?

Here's where I'm at....

Hull halves joined together.

There are two stiffeners for the hull (top right) As it will be a full hull to start with, I try not to use these. I prefer to keep the hull/ deck joint flexible, so any gaps can be easily skwosed up.

Cheers.
Ron

[stillp]

What exactly is a "home made covid test"? Anyway, hope you and t'missus get well soon,
Pete

[scottie3158]

The rigging looks good to me mate. Hope you both get well soon.

[adt70hk]

Ron,

Using your hand for scale purposes blew me away. Knew it would be small but it was a big old ship, do I thought it would write quite a bit bigger than it actually is.

Very well done indeed.

ATB.

Andrew

[spanner570]

Thanks for the input boys.
I'm on the mend and I think I have got away with it rather more than the wife, who is still in bed.

One good thing to come out of this covid lark is I have to isolate, so where better than up in my den.
As a result, since Monday morning, I've managed to get stuck in and complete the model. It was my intention to model just the part above the waterline, but I decided to complete the whole ship, just in case I changed my mind as to how I would try and model the sinking......

As I've recently built this same ship only a short time ago, it seemed pointless doing a full build all over again.....

This is my best shot as to what she might have looked like for her final battle on the 27th May 1941. I write "Might" because no one has 100% proof as to her appearance on that day.

No primer and all brush painted using various Vallejo 'Air' acrylics. I haven't been too fussy with the final detail finish for obvious reasons......

The main turret roofs painted pale yellow.
For fear of fire, the Arado floatplanes were dumped overboard.
I have presumed the ship's boats were still on board.
No rigging, as I would think most of it would go poing! I will still add a token of the stuff.
I have removed the moulded in bow anchor chains. I will replace these with 'Real' links, so I can introduce a bend in them as the ship will be badly leaning to port.

There could well be other things to attend to as the build progresses, but the above is a start.....




















All ready for some serious destruction. :sad-face:

Cheers.
Ron