Revell SMS Dresden and SMS Emden. 1:350

[Shar2]

SMS Dresden and Emden

Revell 1/350

During the FIRST WORLD WAR - two of the Imperial German Navy's "light cruisers", SMS Dresden and SMS Emden waged a trade war against British ships far from home. The Dresden initially operated off the East Coast of South America and the Emden in the Indian Ocean. In order to avoid British Warships the Dresden made its way into the Pacific to join the German East Asia Squadron. In the first naval battle of the First World War, a Royal Navy Squadron was able to narrowly avoid defeat in an action in which two British Warships were sunk. The subsequent attack on Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands failed however and all the German ships except the Dresden were lost. Crippled the Dresden hid in bays around the South of Chile until 14 March 1915 when she was discovered by three British warships and fired upon. The Captain decided to scuttle his ship.

The Emden however, cleverly avoided enemy contact and was thus able to destroy the Oil Storage Unit at Madras. During later actions, two small British cruisers and many merchant ships also fell victim to the Emden. The Emden was however, rendered unfit for action whilst under fire from the Australian cruiser Sydney on its way to the Coco Islands (early in November 1914). The captain was forced to run his ship aground in order to prevent her sinking. Later as a special commendation, all surviving crew members were permitted to bear the additional title "Emden".

The model

Originally released on their own, the SMS Emden in 1994 and the Dresden in 1996, both were well regarded kits at the time. Since their original release they have been re-popped a couple of times, but this is the first time that they have been released together in a kind of box set. Inside the deep end opening and rather feeble box you find two poly bags each with a complete kit inside. There is no other protection for the parts but they don’t seem to have suffered any damage, just a few parts have come adrift from the sprues. The 4 sprues, two hull halves and separate main deck part of rather odd greeny grey styrene appear to have been well moulded, with no sign of flash, but with quite a few moulding, (overrun), pips on the smaller parts. Detail is nicely done with some very fine engraved plate lines and open portholes, which could need some backing to avoid see through issues. The wooden decks though are a little disappointing in that they seem way out of scale, with the grain looking something more akin to the wooden dashboards you find in some cars, so probably best to get a nice real wood deck from the likes of Artwox or Pontos. The rest of the parts look good and even the gun barrels are nice and slim, but you could always change them for brass items should you wish. Apart from the lower rear hull around the props there isn’t any discernible difference between the kits, so if you were to waterline the hulls, the parts used would be exactly the same. If displaying them in full hull configuration then you would notice that the Dresden has four screws whilst the Emden only has two.

With that fact now known the build described below will be for the Dresden, but can easily be used to describe the Emden build with the only difference being the colour scheme.

The build begins with the fitting of the longitudinal bulkheads onto the main deck structures foreward and amidships along with the addition of the capstans, bollards and deckhouse vents. The bridge consists of two halves, which when joined together are fitted to the single piece bridge wing section and topped off with the roof and binnacle. Each of the gun turrets are also in two halves, with the gun barrel incorporated into one half and just need joining together to complete. Each of the three funnels are made up of port and starboard parts along with a separate funnel cap. The gun turrets are then mounted onto their main deck positions and held in place with a small washer from beneath. The same goes for the single piece unshielded guns. With the guns in place the bridge is now fitted. Before the main deck is attached to the hull two more open guns are fitted to separate decks parts in their casements beneath the main deck. The hull is then fitted with the bilge keels and the two propeller shaft panels, (as mentioned above, the only area that is different between the two ships), along with the propeller shafts, propellers, shaft supports and single rudder.

With the main deck and hull structure assembled it’s on to the fitting out stage. Starting at the bow the ensign staff is attached, followed by the two anchors, breakwater, boat booms, complete with Jacobs’s ladders, casement hinged doors, which can be posed either open or closed up with the judicious use of a sharp knife, and finally the cleat boards for the halliards. The funnel assemblies are then glued into position and the amidships raised gangway attached to the port side of the funnels. An additional binnacle is fitted aft near to the emergency steering position and two vents are fitted amidships.

The eight ships cutters and single steam pinnace, (with separate funnel/boiler section), are now shipped along with their respective davits and cradles, three boats each side amidships and one each side aft on the quarterdeck. Revell have kindly provided an accommodation ladder for those that will waterline the model and incorporate it into a diorama. There is another binnacle in a tub which sits on top of a four legged tower just aft of the rear funnel and the two ships wheels are joined together and mounted at the emergency steering position.

The final section of the build is the construction of the two ships masts. The foremast is fitted with a platform on its foreward face about a third of the way up. This platform is then fitted with two searchlights. The main mast is of similar construction, but has a second platform half way between the searchlights and the deck. Each mast is stepped in position and the two ladders fitted between the main platforms and the deck. Each model is provided with two display stands, one of which is fitted with a plaque plate onto which the decal with the ships name is attached. There are a pair of very well drawn and clearly illustrated rigging plans provided, but I wouldn’t recommend using the black thread that Revel include in the kit, you really need something a lot finer and less furry.

Decals

The small decals sheet has the name of each ship to be fitted to the plaque plate along with the crests for bow and stern. There are some decal windows, presumably for the bridge and the ships name boards are also provided. The Dresden is also provided with one large ensign, whilst the Emden has one large and one battle ensign. The decals are nicely printed, with very little visible carrier film and in good register.

Conclusion

Nothing seems to have changed over the intervening years since these kits were first released and that includes the nice clean moulding. They are still very nice looking kits to build and should build up into good looking display models. There are a number of aftermarket etched sets and wooden decks should you really want to go to town on them and i think they deserve it. It would be great to see them displayed together in their different colour schemes. Highly recommended.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[Panzer Vor!!!]

Tempting, I may have a look at these, perhaps with a bottle of Tsingtao beer while thinking about it !!!!!!

GEDDIT??

[MikeR]

Tempting, I may have a look at these, perhaps with a bottle of Tsingtao beer while thinking about it !!!!!!

GEDDIT??

"Groan!"

That would be Qīngdǎo, then?

Mike.

Edited April 20, 2014 by MikeR

[Panzer Vor!!!]

I was starting to think noone was going to get it

[alex]

I built the Emden a few years ago with the Gold Medal Models PE-set. It's a nice kit, but has some shortcomings. The main guns are represented as turrets, but should only be shielded guns. So, to correct it, open the backside and keep the side walls as thin as possible. Second, the small cabins to both sides of the bridge are massive, so best remove them, and replace them with some scratchbuilt sheet ones. Just a few minutes work, but it's really worth. The "windows" on the roof (what are they called?) are a pain to paint, Revell should have added the appropriate decals here. What bothered me most was the fact that the whole deck is a sigle piece, so you have a lot to mask. The main deck part has wood, white, yellow and the reddish-brown colour... so have fun masking all of that. It would have made sense to separate the part where the different colours meet. Oh, and the four ladders are massively moulded into the corners, separate parts would have been much easier.

All in all, it can turn into a really nice kit, but some work is needed. I did a WIP on a german modelling site, but you may find the images useful. http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php?option=com_alphacontent&section=11&category=190&Itemid=59

Alex

[Shar2]

Thanks for the information Alex. I personally would use a wooden deck from the likes of Artwox, makes life a whole lot easier.

[alex]

Definetly. I'm not a big fan of wooden decks on 1:700-ships, but here I agree, it makes perfectly sense for this model.

Alex

[avro683]

23 for 2 is rather good I think and much better than England of late. Hopefully the well known importer of plastic will have some more stock soon.

[Shar2]

Creative have them

http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/revell_1350_wwi_cruisers_sms_dresden_sms_emden-p-35429.html

[garry]

Thank anyone looking here may be interested in the following Eduard set ED53114 which is photo-etch for what looks like all the deck housing and ED53120 which is listed only as set 2. Due August 2014

[blueman08]

I've had these in my stash for a while (forgot about them!) and will be starting building in 2019. I plan to use the Eduard set but eanted to get some accurate guns. The site I found was Shapeways 3D Printing. If anyone building them wants good guns then  I recommend going there and they have amazing guns for them. Loads of other great stuff as well (www.shapeways.com). I've only just discovered this site and it's great! I think I'll be going there a lot in the future.