USS_ESSESS Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Hi everyone, this is my first WIP on this site... I'm already some weeks into this build so no real 'in progress' pictures. I don't have too much time for modelling so my focus lies on building rather than taking pictures on the go. But now I found some time and thought I share some pictures. The kit should be well known, its the 1/350 Tamiya Tirpitz. I got it as a present from friends last year for my birthday and used the time to obtain some goodies for it: the eduard big ed set and a wooden deck from a chinese companie I do not know... So here we go: bridge assembly upper bridge full bridge assembly: and with radars all radars: funnel: scratchbuilt interior: ...aaaaand how little you see when the funnel cap is attached... I don't want to imagine how it looks after painting... At least I know its there! Now the hangars, first the only WIP I can show: side hangar before and after PE both done: big hangar: Now the big pieces: and everything together so far... looks like theres more brass than plastic and next the wooden decking... there are many issues with that... for example 1 easy to fix problems where eduard replaced the 'balconies'... 2 Big problem where eduard corrected wrong fittings on the deck... I still have no idea what to do with that... maybe fill in pieces out of sheet to simulate hatches...🤔 3 Huge problem where shields where moved to the correct positions... see also the first picture of the wooden decking aft of the 2nd tower in front of the bridge... I dont know what to do... as shown on previous pictures eduard provides etched decking but I know my painting skills will never be good enough to stand up to the real wooden decking on the main deck... Any input is highly appreciated. Thanks for looking Konrad 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted December 2, 2018 Share Posted December 2, 2018 Good show, lots of detail. No idea how you solve your problems. Carry on with the good work. Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted December 6, 2018 Author Share Posted December 6, 2018 Thanks Stuart! Well I still have no good solution for the wooden deck problem but I carried on regardless. The next installment was the masts. main mast assembly was a little tricky with that amount of PE... the kit parts used: ...and modified there was an issue with one of the ladders eduard provided... way too short! luckily I had some spares and the finished main mast And how it looks in its place Next, the forward mast. Take this... ...add that... ...aand you get a finished mast! Thats it for the moment. Next in line will be cranes and small deck fittings and as soon as the brass barrels arrive, the armament. thanks for watching, any comments welcome Konrad 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Impressive work on the masts with you your own touches too. Good step-by-step images . Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Great work on the superstructure. It's looking real good. As to the deck discrepancies, I have no idea. If you don't mind cutting extra thin strips of masking tape you can mask and paint the deck almost panel by panel. Time intensive to be sure, but if you're not in a rush it's a viable alternative. Or... Trim what you have (of the wood decking) and use the extra that it was cut out of to fill in any gaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdave22014 Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Like you I didn't want to paint a deck area, but after watching some youtube (mainly about painting WW1 aircraft...) I did some practice, then took the plunge. Now I don't know what the fuss was about 😋. Have a look into it, I find it much easier than getting aftermarket decks to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 On 06/12/2018 at 08:37, Courageous said: Impressive work on the masts with you your own touches too. Good step-by-step images . Stuart On 07/12/2018 at 09:05, mick said: great work Thank you! On 07/12/2018 at 07:31, Bigdave22014 said: Like you I didn't want to paint a deck area, but after watching some youtube (mainly about painting WW1 aircraft...) I did some practice, then took the plunge. Now I don't know what the fuss was about 😋. Have a look into it, I find it much easier than getting aftermarket decks to fit. I might give it another try on a test piece but every wooden finish I tried so far looked somehow scrappy... On 07/12/2018 at 02:53, Thom216 said: Great work on the superstructure. It's looking real good. As to the deck discrepancies, I have no idea. If you don't mind cutting extra thin strips of masking tape you can mask and paint the deck almost panel by panel. Time intensive to be sure, but if you're not in a rush it's a viable alternative. Or... Trim what you have (of the wood decking) and use the extra that it was cut out of to fill in any gaps. The trimming and filling in thing looks like the route I might try although the offcuts do not have the decking cut into it. Maybe reproduce the pattern with a hard pencil? Next steps: I built the cranes and had the chance to use my dremel as an improvised lathe. The eduard set included a pulley with a 2D Stand (or wathever it is). that just didn't look wright so I turned a toothpick into a 3D version of that thing. and all in place: not sure wether to use all the PE parts for the crane jibs so I postpone this part. Moving on to armament! first the torpedo tubes before and after the brass treatment and a scenic view also showing the masts in place the Postman brought me something! YEAY!!! I might have bitten up more than I can chew with the 20mm AA... but time will tell. For now I started with the big guns. You can clearly see the age of the kit with all undersides just open... had to fix that just for comparison and the complete turret and all four done: Thats it for now... Only so many things to still complete before I can finally get to priming and painting... Thanks for watching, all kind of comments welcome Konrad 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planebuilder62 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Hi Konrad Well done so far. What will you be using for the blast bags betwwen the main guns and the turrets? Regards Toby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Outstanding! The turrets look great, esp with those new barrels. As for the decking, a fine ruler and maybe a hobby knife with a brand new blade and a very fine stroke..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Beautiful work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 18 hours ago, Sofusthecat said: Hi Konrad Well done so far. What will you be using for the blast bags betwwen the main guns and the turrets? Regards Toby Asking the real questions here... honestly I have no idea. I guess I could sculpt them using Green stuff or something similar but that would take me the option of displaying the ship in different situations... Does anyone know a way to produce moveable blastbags in 1:350? Konrad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 Time for another small update! the last week was really busy but I could spare a couple hours here and there to continue this build. After the main armament comes the secondary... It was... tedious. I used masking tape as a guide for correct length and as usual: some shots with the turrets in place cable reels next... not finished there are 4 diffent sizes of cable reels, this is the biggest one the spacers where turned from evergreen rod with my last ship builds I made the experience that doing all this tedious small pieces in the end, when the ship itself is already done, is a real mojo killer so I tried to do some of it in between. I also prepaired the hull and decks for primer quite a few layers of putty where necessary to get the shaft funnels flush. the A-brackets did not align properly so I had to adjust the height with sheet plastic... and then I managed to break them while sanding... twice but now its ok. also drilled the portholes. Thanks for watching, any comments welcome Oh and before I forget HAPPY HOLIDAYS🎅 Konrad 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Last Update before Christmas I started the 105mm Guns... the replacement barrels look awesome but are tiny... had to photograph them through a magnifiying glass the P/E was a little tricky but - as the comparison with the pure kit part shows - well worth the effort and like always I couldn't resist seeing it in place with its big brothers... Now I only have to make 7 more of them...😅 Merry Christmas to all of you! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris B Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Usually the Bismarck is the most popular German battleship, and his less famous sister is rare on forums. I am glad to see this ship here with so excellent PE works as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Nice stuff! And I just noticed that the rails are integral with the PE deck. Should make that part a lot easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal82 Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Very nice PE work indeed. I gave it some thought over the holidays and I think I might have come up with a solution for the movable blast bag. Haven't tested it, but it just might work. Basically you want to cast it in rubber, but there's a bit more to it than that. First off you need to produce a master blast bag for the mould. Sculpt it at about half way elevation so the material can flex either way. Then make a mould from a material that will not react chemically with the rubber. Blue Stuff might do the trick and is fairly easy to work with. Next step is to make the bag itself. There's a brand of silicone rubber that you can brush on (not the two part stuff for resin casting moulds) which reacts and dries in air. I believe it is normally used for plaster casts. Brush a thin layer on the inside of your mould and leave it to dry. You might want to do a couple of layers for increased strength. But once dry you SHOULD have a hollow blast bag that you can draw over your gunbarrel like the real deal. The final problem is of course painting, as you will need to use a flexible paint that doesn't crack when the rubber stretches. Over time the silicone rubber will dry out and crack, but depending a bit on conditions it might take 5-10 years before that happens. I have no idea if this actually works, but I would be very interested to see the results if it does Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 On 31/12/2018 at 11:00, Kris B said: Usually the Bismarck is the most popular German battleship, and his less famous sister is rare on forums. I am glad to see this ship here with so excellent PE works as well. Well, thanks for saying my PE work is excellent (not so sure if I‘d agree). Tirpitz has a quite interresting story even though she never had a real battle. Like Nukes nowadays she was just a constant threat. And the story how she was attacked by mini subs is truely amazing. On 01/01/2019 at 17:01, Thom216 said: Nice stuff! And I just noticed that the rails are integral with the PE deck. Should make that part a lot easier. Thanks. In my opinion that is making it harder rather than easier. It is a real pain to handle and I already knocked off two of them... or maybe it‘s just me being too clumsy😅 On 01/01/2019 at 18:53, Sal82 said: Very nice PE work indeed. I gave it some thought over the holidays and I think I might have come up with a solution for the movable blast bag. Haven't tested it, but it just might work. Thanks for your suggestion but I have to say casting is way beyond my skills and posibilities. I might give up on the moveable guns ideal and was looking around the net for solid blastbags. The only ones I managed to find where on shapeways but it was a complete set of 3d printed turrets including the barrels and way too expensive just for the blastbags... and using the printed turrets would cause a lot of work getting the aluminium barrels of the kit turrets and onto the printed ones... maybe I just have to make my own with tissue and PVA glue. I have a sad anouncement to make: this build is currently on hold! reason is: I am in my last year of college (I’m soon to be a ship’s engineer) and the finals are coming closer. There‘s not much time for modelling and what time I can spare I really want to enjoy. Therefore I started a new project that is a lot simpler and doesn‘t require that much head scratching. It‘s a cold war era russian missile destroyer so if anyone is interrested in seeing it I might start a wip but not so much in detail as this one here. a soon as my head is free again (mid february) the Tirpitz will continue! oh and belated happy new year to everyone😉 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Sad to not see this build for a while but your exams will have to come first so will look forward to seeing your return later in the year and good luck with the finals. 👍🏻 beefy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 fantastic build, I have a Tirpitz with Pontos set in my stash, you may well be willing me into that for my next build. Jase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev The Modeller Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Amazing detail following with great interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jered Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Looking fantastic! I'm really enjoying this build. What tools are you using for the photoetch? Good luck with exams, sounds very wise to take a break for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizgig Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Good luck with your exams, annoying when reality gets in the way of model making! Have really enjoyed your build thus far (have old revell Bismarck in stash) and you are very skilled so yes please to starting a new thread! Wishing you and your family a peaceful New Year!😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nils Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Lovely detail work and an impressing patience to do it right. I see there were quite a few modifications done to the Tirpitz over the years after her completion, that differed her from Bismarck. the only little thing that seems a bit off scale is the patterns on the tear drop flooring plates and the perforated plates. But if they were on scale the patterns would hardly be visible as the round holes in a perforated plates is about 1 cm in full size and the tear drop patterns are about an inch long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS_ESSESS Posted January 10, 2019 Author Share Posted January 10, 2019 Thanks for all the kind words and all the luck you wish me ( I will definitely need all of it) 3 hours ago, Jered said: Looking fantastic! I'm really enjoying this build. What tools are you using for the photoetch? Here you can see every tool I use for my P/E work: CA glue (liquid and gel depending on the aplication) A sharp No 11 on a wooden surface to cut the parts from the fret some fine tweezers (the one that clamps is very important if you need a 3rd hand) A bending tool a 30W soldering iron with the tip from a 15W soldering iron (smaller tip is better) and some low temperature solder I have to admit that I only solder bigger parts where its harder to f*** it up 😅 and I am not very good with the P/E (in my opinion at least). I often loose parts to the carpet monster even though I don't have a carpet... Hope this helps 3 hours ago, Fizgig said: Good luck with your exams, annoying when reality gets in the way of model making! Have really enjoyed your build thus far (have old revell Bismarck in stash) and you are very skilled so yes please to starting a new thread! As you wish I'll post some pictures of the russian ship soon. 10 minutes ago, Nils said: Lovely detail work and an impressing patience to do it right. I see there were quite a few modifications done to the Tirpitz over the years after her completion, that differed her from Bismarck. the only little thing that seems a bit off scale is the patterns on the tear drop flooring plates and the perforated plates. But if they were on scale the patterns would hardly be visible as the round holes in a perforated plates is about 1 cm in full size and the tear drop patterns are about an inch long There are a few compromises you have to do regarding scale... but the overall look will be okay I guess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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