Casemate DKM Pocket Battleship Lutzow, Super Drawings in 3D

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DKM Pocket Battleship Lutzow

Kagero Super Drawings in 3D

Deutschland was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine, she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Originally classified as an armoured ship, (Panzerschiff), by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers. In 1940, she was renamed Lützow, after the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Lützow was handed over to the Soviet Union.

The ship saw significant action with the Kriegsmarine, including several non-intervention patrols in the Spanish Civil War, during which she was attacked by Republican bombers. At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic. Bad weather hampered her efforts, and she only sank or captured a handful of vessels before returning to Germany. She then participated in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway. Damaged at the Battle of Drøbak Sound, she was recalled to Germany for repairs. While en route, she was torpedoed and seriously damaged by a British submarine.

Repairs were completed by March 1941, Lützow returned to Norway to join the forces arrayed against Allied shipping to the Soviet Union. She ran aground during a planned attack on convoy PQ 17, which necessitated another return to Germany for repairs. She next saw action at the Battle of the Barents Sea with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which ended with a failure to destroy the convoy JW 51B. Engine problems forced a series of repairs culminating in a complete overhaul at the end of 1943, after which the ship remained in the Baltic. Sunk in shallow waters in the Kaiserfahrt in April 1945 by Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers, Lützow was used as a gun battery to support German troops fighting the Soviet Army until 4 May 1945, when she was disabled by her crew. Raised by the Soviet Navy in 1947, she was subsequently sunk as a target in the Baltic.

Yet another release from Kagero in their Super Drawings in 3D series of softback books, this one concentrating on the Pocket Battleship Deutschland/Lutzow. Totalling eighty Five pages the first thirteen pages are taken up with the ships history and covers:-

• The construction outline
• Early Service and the Spanish Civil War
• Wartime Operations
• Combat activity from Norwegian Bases
• Final demise

The next fifty nine pages are taken up with the wonderfully rendered 3D drawings that this series has become known for. Although with this release quite a bit of the lower hull is also shown which is a bonus particularly the rudder and propellers. The renderings show every part of the ship both in wide angle and close up which show some amazing detail not seen in other publications. The last thirteen pages contain more 3D renderings that have been produced in real 3D. Kagero have kindly included a pair of 3D glasses to view these pictures and whilst it is a little gimmicky they do work rather well, the guns and equipment standing out of the page. This title also comes with two A1 fold out double sided sheets. The first has drawings of the ship and certain parts of the superstructure, all in 1:200 scale, which hopefully will be a portent of things to come from, say, Trumpeter. The second has plans of the ship as she was in 1942 and drawn in 1:350 scale, along with numerous detail drawings of armament and equipment ins 1:50 and 1:100 scales, all very useful to the modeller who may like to convert the Academy Graff Spee into the Lutzow.

Conclusion
As we’ve come to know what to expect from this series I can’t really say much more, other than if you’re a maritime fan you really should have them all in your reference library. Very highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Now hopefully we can get a new tool 1/700 kit

thanks

Mike