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1/350 Dragon Z-38 German Destroyer from WWII http://shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=396774 |
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Author: | Eric Bergerud [ Sun Feb 23, 2025 4:37 am ] |
Post subject: | 1/350 Dragon Z-38 German Destroyer from WWII |
Briefly - the kit was Dragon. Mostly good but too fiddly and plagued with bad instructions. I didn't think a vessel serving in the Baltic would have smelt of fresh paint so I mottled the hull with "black basing" and faded with the superstructure with oils. I also exaggerated the difference between the hull and superstructure colors out of craftsman license. I do wish I would have made the masts from brass. I like EZ Line - it's out of scale but that's okay. But the masts were too weak to stretch the line and it's too thick. Next time for sure. I guess the German Destroy Z-38 (why the Germans didn't give names to warships almost as powerful as a light cruiser must remain a mystery) could be considered a "lucky ship." She was commissioned in mid-1943 and barely dodged a fatal bullet at the North Cape in December when Scharnhorst met doom. She then spent 1945 in a frantic campaign in the Baltic shelling Russian forces, laying mines and escorting merchantmen carrying tens of thousands of civilians away from East Prussia - with no serious harm. It survived the war and served as a Royal Navy guinea pig until 1949. However in February 1945 Z-38 became icebound near Konigsberg and had to be freed by a tug. I've done several winter dioramas with armor and I couldn't resist trying to emulate an icebound destroyer. I used the excellent artificial snow and ice washes from Precision Ice and Snow - a Brit company now kaput. The ice was made from epoxy resin which cracked up like ice and given an Krycell Ice and Snow wash. (There's a pic below - one of the hundreds I viewed - that served as a kind of guide). The components of the base worked well enough - the snow is crackerjack - but the overall effect is not to my liking. The tableau is too small - maybe 600 X 150 feet. It might have worked better with a 1/700 ship (Trumpeter makes Z-39). The base was definitely too big for display - and I put my ships and biplanes close to my computer and like to look at them - so I created a basic water base with canvas board with Woodland Scenics Ripple Effects and rayon to emulate a ship moving through water. It's on that base that Z-38 will rest. Looks okay from 10 feet - that's my wheelhouse. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Author: | SG1 [ Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:10 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: 1/350 Dragon Z-38 German Destroyer from WWII |
Beautiful! Great icy-seascape, thanks for sharing your technique! ![]() |
Author: | Dan K [ Wed Feb 26, 2025 8:04 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: 1/350 Dragon Z-38 German Destroyer from WWII |
Agreed, great icescape. |
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