The Ship Model Forum

Hello everyone, finally after a few months now, I'm back with a new adventure.
After completing a modern ship I've come back to WWII battleship and this time I try with Revell's Bismarck.

This time I tried to do some documentation and here I am fully armed.

In this case I equipped myself like this:
- Revell kit in 1/350 scale
- Pontos kit
- an additional Bismarck wooddeck
- 2 books on Bismarck
- the figures from ION Models (new for me but I will try to do my best)



Compared to the pontos kit of the previous ship I've built, this one has more photo-etched sheets. I read that the Revell kit is very well made, but honestly I found the plastic railings to be very coarse while the photo-etched ones seem finer but also more to scale.



How will I do it? Obviously I thought of doing the classic Baltic camouflage. The only strange thing (for me) is that from this researcher's book I see that the top of turret 1 and 4 are red, something I've never seen in all Bismarck creations,but having decided to stick to "safe" sources I stuck to this color rather than making the tops yellow which honestly I don't like.




Let's get to the wodden decks. Since it's the first time I use a system like this, I decided to get one more in addition to the one in the kit. And here I got some news: although the two kits are both from Pontos and both are for Bismarck Revell, they are slightly different (the ones with the arrow are those from the main kit).




Ok let's get to the first stages of the work.
I've immediately decided about doing something outside the instructions: I've decided to erase those sort of steps at the stern and replace them with PE steps that I had left over from the previous kit. Being still in 1/350 I think they are still fine.
For trying to do things well I took the Pontos instructions for the 1/200 Bismarck and then printed the template to make the fixing points, converting it to 1/350 scale.





I think the idea is good, let's see if I'm able to do this!

One that is on my to do list but the paint scheme is intimidating. Looking forward to your progress.

There are other paint schemes of Bismarck that are less intimidating December 1940:

bism02 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Hi guys, here a little update.
I confirm Baltic camouflage apperas intimidating, but I'd like to do it. So Patience and calm and I think I will do it.

In the meantime I have erased those fake steps at the stern. Ready to put real ones, but I have realized I have to erase those close extrusions, that will be replaced with PE.



Hope to give an update within the end of the week.
Cheers!

Edoardo

Hi all, here I am with an update.

I have glued the bottom parts of the hull and added putty to fill the gap. Then I have sanded, sanded, sanded and sanded again for removing the excess.


If I put the finger over, I don't feel any difference, so I hope having sanded good.

Tied the two parts of the hull and tomorrow I will fill the gap with putty.


In the meantime I have begun on erasing the extrusions indicated by the pontos instructions.


See you soon

Trying to do a little panel scheme

Trying to do my best

Hi guys I nedd your help, so who has already realized this ship with the pontos kit, please help me.

In this sheet, there are many portholes frames but the instructions are very incomplete and there aren't any indications where to put them.


I thought maybe they can be glued on the portholes of the hull but I'm not sure there are enough for the portholes of the superstructure.


I have to take a decision, because I'm close to spray primer on the hull but if I chose to put portholes frames on the hull, I must do it before spraying

So my question is: does anyone had this problem? How has it resolved?
Thanks!!

A little progress: wood deck on main deck done!

Now time to paint or check to the next step is arrived.

The wood deck: paint or not paint?


As you can see I use the copy of wood deck for some tests.
In this case I have painted the copy with the tamiya panel liner brown and then brushed with a cotton fioc filled with thinned water.
You can see a little difference in the colour with the default one.

Here the copy posed over the main one for comparation



Why I'm trying these changes? Because the default wood deck seems to me a bit clear, but I'm not surebecauseit's the first time I use a wood deck.
What do you think??

Last update on the wood deck.
Used tamiya panel liner brown without brushing with a cotton fioc.


Any suggestions??
Thanks

Finally the hull is primered!

Here a global view and details

The hull turned out nice. Clean and sharp. Waiting for more....

Hi everybody here a little update about the hull progresses.
It took so much time because I've made a mistake with the black waterline. Now I have corrected it.
Unfortunately with the white waves, the white colour has gone a little under the curved white tamiya tape. So I need to fix the few smudges in some points.





In the meantime aricrafts have been done but I noticed a problem with the decals. They didn't stick well, and drying they separated more.
What can I use to stick them a bit more without broking them?







Thanks for the tips or help!

You can use dedicated products like Microscale's Micro Set, which helps decals adhere to the model surface better. Follow it up with some Micro Sol, which softens the decal so it'll conform to surface irregularities (like panel lines) and curves better. Then cover it all with a coat of matte varnish do seal the decals in.

Thanks Timmy, I will take a look at those two products

Just a note dear friend: the German Kriegsmarine didn't use black for the waterline stripe but very dark gray. Convince yourself by all the references.

Hi Maarten thanks for the info! I didn't know that! Knowing that before painting all would have been better!
I will try to check if I can cover with dark gray. I have just fixed the little smudges!!!!

It's true that you learn while you're modelling!

Hi guys, I'm back to work on the ship.
I'm having a problem with the main colour of the structure.

Following revell instruction, I should mix 90% XF-75 and 10% XF-20
But it seems to me too dark for the ship.

I mixed 50% XF-75 and 50% XF-20 and it seems to me better.

What do you think??

Before (upside), after (downside)

Hi everybody, little step foward.
Turrets 1 and 2 completed and temporarily mounted.

Nice paint finish. About the amount of portholes in the PE set, these were probably only meant for locations where the hull angle is very oblique or curved. In models the portholes are cast in the direction of the mould, resulting in oval holes when an angle or round exists.