German battleships

[Baron Vaderham]

Different topic:

 I’ve been contemplating a German battleship. 
I was considering the Scharnhorst or either the Tirpitz or the Bismarck. 
there’s a lot of options for the Tirpitz and the Bismarck, and I was curious which kit is the best one as a basic kit. I’ll be getting PE as well, but it would be nice to start off with getting a kit that’s really good. 
any suggestions?

[Adm Lord De Univers]

Guten tag Baron,

 

I'd always suggest giving scalemates.com a browse, theres reviews on there and links below to matching aftermarket sets, but if 1/700 I'd recommend looking at flyhawk offerings, I have a 1/350 Bismarck by revell that's quite good (although I have started it yet it looks quite amazing).

 

David

[S-boat 55]

I've the revell bismarck and dragon scharnhorst in 1/350 in the stash, both look very well detailed and would look good, trumpeters bismarck also looks good but I've not seen it first hand, both bismarcks have eduard photo etch sets which are reasonably priced if you want to keep costs down. For me I think the revel bissy is slightly better proportioned and can often be found for 40-60 on ebay, 

 

If you can find one the revell tirpitz platinum edition whilst expensive includes extensive photo etch and brass barrels and will give you a near museum quality model with patience and care, 

 

As for scharnhorst I've literally just got the kit, but the detail looks very fine in places, although I'm told the horizontal hull split is supposedly a faff to sort out, 

 

Just my two pennies

[beefy66]

1 hour ago, S-boat 55 said:

If you can find one the revell tirpitz platinum edition whilst expensive includes extensive photo etch and brass barrels and will give you a near museum quality model with patience and care, 

 

As @S-boat 55 has said the revell Tirpitz gives you a full box of tricks

 

beefy

[Baron Vaderham]

I heard of the platinum editions of the Tirpitz and the Bismarck! Would love to get my hands  on either, but it seems they are in stock for about a week or so  never to be seen again. Those platinum versions rock. I got myself a type vii a while back. Plan to do the same as Tristan Reidford on YouTube. 
 

flyhawk has an extensive PE kit for the Scharnhorst that looks good. Just need to find a wooden deck for it. 
 

I’d like to consider Pontos, but they’re rather hard to get, and really confusing to decide which set to get for a given project. They have like 5-10 versions for one specific ship of one specific brand. 
 

for those that have the platinum Tirpitz or Bismarck, would you say a Pontos or flyhawk set (maybe Eduard) would get a standard version to the same level (not considering costs)?
 

[S-boat 55]

14 minutes ago, Baron Vaderham said:

I heard of the platinum editions of the Tirpitz and the Bismarck! Would love to get my hands  on either, but it seems they are in stock for about a week or so  never to be seen again. Those platinum versions rock. I got myself a type vii a while back. Plan to do the same as Tristan Reidford on YouTube. 
 

flyhawk has an extensive PE kit for the Scharnhorst that looks good. Just need to find a wooden deck for it. 
 

I’d like to consider Pontos, but they’re rather hard to get, and really confusing to decide which set to get for a given project. They have like 5-10 versions for one specific ship of one specific brand. 
 

for those that have the platinum Tirpitz or Bismarck, would you say a Pontos or flyhawk set (maybe Eduard) would get a standard version to the same level (not considering costs)?
 

Sorry me again, I got the lion roar set for  bismarck, from looking around I'd say its on a par or better than the pontos etch but does lack the wooden deck though, 

 

1 hour ago, beefy66 said:

As @S-boat 55 has said the revell Tirpitz gives you a full box of tricks

 

beefy

You have one.....I envy you, I found one a while ago but couldn't justify it as I've bismarck to do anyway, regret it now though, 

[Whitewolf]

The Tamiya  1/350 Bissie & Tirpitz kits are nice, built Tirpitz a good while back now.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Whitewolf

[Chris Hewitt]

Try the 1/700 H class battleship by Very Fire ,l bought the kit plus an etching kit that comes with a wooden deck .The tug comes from combrig.The last picture is the H class hull beside a Bismarck class to show how much larger the H class would have been if it had been built .The 16in guns ended as coastal battery on the  Norwegian coast.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Chris Hewitt

[Baron Vaderham]

 

 

by the way, I noticed that detail sets are very hard to get these days. Lion roar I cannot find anywhere. Flyhawk I can find but with 2 month lead times. Pontos is sold out everywhere, Eduard has some stuff, but isn’t as extensive as some of the other sets available. 
 

[S-boat 55]

48 minutes ago, Chris Hewitt said:

Try the 1/700 H class battleship by Very Fire ,l bought the kit plus an etching kit that comes with a wooden deck .The tug comes from combrig.The last picture is the H class hull beside a Bismarck class to show how much larger the H class would have been if it had been built .The 16in guns ended as coastal battery on the  Norwegian coast.  

 

 

 

 

 

That h class looks fairly hefty even in 1/700, I do sometimes wonder of my choice of scale at 1/350 wasn't actually very smart as she'd be a monster at twice the size, and I'm limited by cabinet size ruling out things like her (were they to release her and missouri et al)

[S-boat 55]

29 minutes ago, Baron Vaderham said:

 

 

by the way, I noticed that detail sets are very hard to get these days. Lion roar I cannot find anywhere. Flyhawk I can find but with 2 month lead times. Pontos is sold out everywhere, Eduard has some stuff, but isn’t as extensive as some of the other sets available. 
 

I know you said German but would you consider a French ship? Hobbyboss's dunkerque and strasbourg are nice out rhe box as they have a reasonable bit of etch included and the extras from model master are readily available, just a suggestion, 

[bootneck]

19 hours ago, S-boat 55 said:

I've the revell bismarck and dragon scharnhorst in 1/350 in the stash.....

As for scharnhorst I've literally just got the kit, but the detail looks very fine in places, although I'm told the horizontal hull split is supposedly a faff to sort out,

I have been considering the 1:350 scale Scharnhorst and just noted your comment about the hull split.  If/when you start on the kit, could you provide any info that might help me decide, especially that horizontal split element please?

 

cheers,

Mike

[S-boat 55]

4 hours ago, bootneck said:

I have been considering the 1:350 scale Scharnhorst and just noted your comment about the hull split.  If/when you start on the kit, could you provide any info that might help me decide, especially that horizontal split element please?

 

cheers,

Mike

Certainly will do no worries, she is one half of my next double build when I finish my carriers.......or get itchy lol

[Baron Vaderham]

On 01/05/2022 at 14:18, S-boat 55 said:

I know you said German but would you consider a French ship? Hobbyboss's dunkerque and strasbourg are nice out rhe box as they have a reasonable bit of etch included and the extras from model master are readily available, just a suggestion, 

I’ve been thinking about those too!

I’m  not limiting myself to the German fleet, I am also doing IJN, RN, and USN. Less interested in the USSR and UK ships to be honest, but that’s just personal preference 🙂

I have my eyes on the Akagi, but I found the hasegawa PE sets for it to have become unobtanium. I have quite a list actually, but also a wife that limits my spendings :-D

[Baron Vaderham]

I’m about to get either the Graf zeppelin or the Peter strasser. The price is quite different between the two, so I’m suggesting if there’s any real difference between the two kits justifying the price difference. Does the graf come as a better kit?

 

 I’m planning to use the mk1 set for detailing and deck, but that’s for the Graf. Maybe it won’t fit on the Peter ?

Edited May 13, 2022 by Baron Vaderham

[S-boat 55]

1 hour ago, Baron Vaderham said:

I’m about to get either the Graf zeppelin or the Peter strasser. The price is quite different between the two, so I’m suggesting if there’s any real difference between the two kits justifying the price difference. Does the graf come as a better kit?

 

 I’m planning to use the mk1 set for detailing and deck, but that’s for the Graf. Maybe it won’t fit on the Peter ?

I'm part way through building Graf zeppelin in 1/350 (link below) and looked at both for the same reason as you. In the end I got graf zeppelin only because I found it knocked down to within a fiver on amazon. By memory the kit is very similar, the differences being the super structure is shorter as it doesn't have one platform for an aa mount and Peter strasser includes a sprue for blanking off the 5.9inch gun casements along the hull. I found sprue shots at this site;

https://www.super-hobby.com/products/German-Navy-Aircraft-Carrier-DKM-Peter-Strasser.html#gallery_start

and if their pictures are correct the Peter strasser kit actually includes 4 sets of sprue D which has the gun casements on it anyway, so if you wanted to add them as per GZ that should be easy enough and just discard the blanking off plates that trumpy provides. The only other differences I can see is that the PS kit has 2 fewer of the range finder 'golf balls' and 2 fewer 4.1inch aa guns having 2 fore and 2 aft of the island as opposed to GZ's 3 each way. Aftermarket stuff would solve that one too if you wanted.

 

I belive trumpeters thoughts were to do PS as if she were later war and so removing the casements would make sense, reducing the AA doesn't but as she is a what if personally I'd say that gives great latitude to make you own stamp on her aa fit etc,

 

Anyway I've started wittering, in short I can't say for certain but as the kit is for all intents and purposes the 95% same I'd expect the MK1 set should fit but ultimately up to you to be sure of course. If I get chance I'll upload some photos later of where i think the differences are,

 

 

 

[Baron Vaderham]

Thanks for that explanation! Look forward to see those  pics 😊

[S-boat 55]

Hi, Sorry for the delay, pics below;

Screenshot of Peter strassers super structure

 

Pic of Graf Zeppelins superstructure

 

Where I think the changes are, 

 

Its pretty different but in areas that I think wouldn't have much covered by the photo etch kit, the biggest issue may be the length of the superstructure and the affect that will have on the wooden deck you mentioned as part of the mk1 upgrade. The work around would be to scratch build a longer superstructure, patch the deck or change scratch build an upgrade aa suit at the front , depends on how much faff you want to have or avoid. 

 

Hope that helps

 

Sam

[Baron Vaderham]

Thanks Sam!

[Baron Vaderham]

Ended up ordering the Graf. It’sa little more expensive than the Peter Strasser, but simplified the build process a little using the mk.1 design set. 
 

I received the Graf last night, and the kit looks good!

 The mk.1 design set is held in customs - I’m in Germany at the moment - (can of worms, don’t get me started on that process).

 

 The Scharnhorst I should be getting next week or the week after. I ordered a flyhawk detail set for it, but won’t get that until august most likely. That’s ok, I got a ton of models  to work through. 

[S-boat 55]

7 hours ago, Baron Vaderham said:

Ended up ordering the Graf. It’sa little more expensive than the Peter Strasser, but simplified the build process a little using the mk.1 design set. 
 

I received the Graf last night, and the kit looks good!

 The mk.1 design set is held in customs - I’m in Germany at the moment - (can of worms, don’t get me started on that process).

 

 The Scharnhorst I should be getting next week or the week after. I ordered a flyhawk detail set for it, but won’t get that until august most likely. That’s ok, I got a ton of models  to work through. 

You and I appear to be echoing each other lol, I'm just about to order flyhawks scharnhorst set, but have held off and thought maybe get the mk1 for it, was there any reason you chose flyhawk or was it purely due to availability? (I can't find the mk1 in stock anywhere for scharnhorst)

[Baron Vaderham]

On 25/05/2022 at 19:52, S-boat 55 said:

You and I appear to be echoing each other lol, I'm just about to order flyhawks scharnhorst set, but have held off and thought maybe get the mk1 for it, was there any reason you chose flyhawk or was it purely due to availability? (I can't find the mk1 in stock anywhere for scharnhorst)

Great minds and all that 😁😁. 
it was availability really. Spotted it on Amazon. And it’s about half price of the mk1 and Pontos sets. 
 

one thing I’m still trying to find is a set of dkm flags. I know Eduard had some PE flags, but I’m not sure I want to use PE for flags. I much rather use decals on aluminium foil. 
 

[S-boat 55]

I've never found flyhawk stuff on amazon UK, I always have to rely on the slow boat making its way here from China

 

Re flags, a while ago someone commented on a build log of mine about a company called AMP that are based in Australia, they no longer ship to the UK post Brexit but may well to the EU, if not there was a company up the road from me in Hereford that did some but I can't think of the name, if it comes to me I'll post it in the thread,