The Ship Model Forum

Very nice details!

...and a few more details

More pictures will also be available at:

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

..in a few weeks from today (17 Jan / 2021)

Thanks for watching!

Thank you, Steve

A few more pictures

Brilliant.

Hangar area and Arado's

And some pictures of the funnel: I scratch-built the ammo-lift from deck to the searchlight platform.
Original pictures show posters on different lockers etc informing about content, hazard etc. It was not possible to produce those with correct lettes/words in 1:200 (!), so I had to guess color and produce something to make it look like letters/words...

PCB5656:
The davit you are referring to is, I take it, the one marked with a red circle in photo above. Well, it is a boarding ladder support. This support is also shown in raised position in another photo above.
The support is mounted to the wall as in picture below.
I have not been able to find such support(s) in other positions- sorry!

Regarding deck-mounted boats etc: Yes, they were removed before Rheinübung. I have not spotted any boat davits in any picture. The cradles were probably also removed as they were mounted on top of the teak deck and (I take it) easy to remove. As mounted, they would only be in harm’s way.

There are a lot of such issues that you will face during your build. Detailed pictures can be found in Internet, but the very best sources (at least to me) are the books “Schlachtschiff Bismarck”, vol 1: Das Modell , and Vol 2 Das Original, by Josef Kaiser. In “Das Original” all sides and installations of the ship is described (in German) with pictures of the different gear. The photos originate from German sources and is mainly showing the ship as it appeared as delivered to KM.

First off, beautiful work. I am also working on my 1:200 Bismarck, being built and painted as she was on 21 May 1941 when she left Norway. I only hope I can do half as good a job as you are doing.

One thing you have spotted which I haven't seen on anyone else's models are the racks for mounting the Davits or support cranes. I thought the one between the S1 and S2 turrets shown in your photo was for the boat davit. You have a boarding ladder davit or crane mounted there. How did you determine it was the boarding davit not the lifeboat davit. I know the main deck boats were landed before she left Norway, were the davits landed to? And more importantly, I have searched every photo I can find and I don't see another set of brackets for the stern ladder or boats. Any idea where they might be?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

This is the problem with PE kits, there is in one what there is not in the other, and vice versa. One would think that there is agreement between them... And not only for this one.

I had bought two kits for the Bismarck, the complete MK1 Design and BigEd kit from Eduard, the budget was going through the roof...

Nice destroyer!

Thanks for all nice comments!
The railing from MK1 is nice!
Pontos includes separate stanctions both with and without supports. To make "chains" - which are not available in this scale, I used copper wire .2mm fra elektrical cabling.
But to drill and install this railing all around the main deck was too much labor of love for me, so I stuck to the other option- the simplified "fence".
To make this railing absolutely correct is probably too much to undertake in this scale as the railing is in no way "standard" all along.
Pictures are from my destroyer Z11 in 1:100 scale where I had nice documentation that alloved me to construct the railing to a good standard compated to the original (still probably not 100% accurate )

Great work, some details are amazing!

On the other hand, there is damage to the main deck railing, which can be dismantled at sea so that it is not washed away by the sea and is made of cables or chains between the uprights. MK1 Design kit offers this option.

Great work. Love the details you've added.

great work

More details from 1st level

Long time, no time..but here we go again:

The superstructure is well detailed by Trumpeter, so it was a pity to remove all details just to add new (and more detailed) ones.
First level:

Some more detail:

105mm inner gun for practice firing with 15” main guns:
Ever wondered what is the purpose of these cannisters? Several comments seem to suggest they are for storing cleaning rods for the main (15”) guns. Well – they are not!
Each such cannister contain a 105mm practice gun that was used for live firing practice with the main guns. I have seen such a gun myself: Not in a cannister, but inside the gun housing og the 15” gun housing in Møvig, Kristiansand in Norway. The 15” inch gun in Møvig is a gun museum, complete with a Bismarck/Tirpitz gun, bunker etc, etc. I must see if visiting to Norway!
So, what about the cannisters? Well, take a look at the picture from Tirpitz after an aerial attack: The picture shows the barbette of gun Bruno. A bomb hit has blown the cannister open, and beside it – the inner gun! The larger, huge section at the end og the tube has a broad ring around it. This is the liner that centres the 105mm inside the main gun.
Such inner guns in quote common. I have used it myself in 14mm calibre inside a 155 mm M109A3G-howitzer to practice direct firing.

Lanterns:
Picture is showing some of the lanterns hoisted and used for signalling. Also notice the flag signalling platform.
Bismarck bars are simply an arrangement for mounting lanterns in patterns for signalling at night. If you study pictures of Tirpitz, you will not find these bars, but instead an (seemingly) electric arrangement to fulfil the same purpose.

Very nice. I love the attention to detail of the particular day.

Little did Bismarck realise on May 21st that she was already in the last week of her life.

Wreck of Z2 close to Narvik before it broke further down some years ago. Not my own photos by the way, but here you can quite clearly see the colour of the capstans- red and green.

Close to the stern, almost at the boot-topping, there are two outlets. Those are outlets for smoke screening. Check your ref and drill the holes.

Some deck details

I use to disagree strongly with a friend about the colour of the capstans in German warships in general, and in Bismarck in particular.
I do have original colour pictures form different Kriegsmarine ships supporting my view: They were (often) coloured in red (BB) and green (SB). See picture from a destroyer (and I have actually seen the colours myself on the wreck of Z2 in Narvik.
I do not have any colour pictures showing the capstans on Bismarck, but I decided to use colours in my model. Anyone that can provide evidence whether I am right og wrong?

Yours is a superbly beautiful build, Stein. As are all your builds.