¹⁄35

1/350 DKM Bismark with WEM PE Set

This technique was also used in showing the bulkhead details-portholes and vents that are used to dress the kits’s smooth 01 level bulkheads.

With the Future acting as a sealer I mixed tints from the base color using lighter and darker colors and with a small brush applied the planking details with short strokes. Using first the darker tint and streaking all the wood decks then getting progressively lighter until 4 or 5 different shades were applied. A very subtle difference in color is what you’re looking for. Too much variation will result in a deck that looks striped and not like wood planking.

The foredeck and quarterdeck Swastika background bands were masked off and painted medium gray (some folks say they were red) and Swastikas in white circles were used from my aircraft decal spares file. This is a lot easier than trying to mask and paint the circle and Swastika.

At this time the hull was mounted to a work board and the lower hull was masked off and painted Testors Model Master II British Crimson. The upper hull was masked and painted sea gray. The bow and stern were masked and painted European gray then the black boot topping was masked and painted. Then the lower edge of the boot topping was left masked and the black and white Baltic stripes were masked and painted on the hull. After masking off the entire boot topping the hull was over sprayed with sea gray creating the over painted effect on the bow, Baltic stripes and stern. Finally the false bow and stern waves were masked and painted.

Many photographs from many sources were used to determine the location of bulkhead details for the 01 level. Once these details were added the bulkheads were hand painted in RLM 65. The steel decks were painted in Euro 1 Gray and the catapult was added. As I mentioned before I didn’t follow the WEM instructions for this assembly and the reason is this: usually when I begin a project I check the P.E. instructions against the kit’s-making notes of modifications and replacement parts on the kit’s instructions to aid in assembly. I’ve had this Bismarck kit for 7 years (It was my son’s since he was 5 years old) and the instructions and a few parts were missing when I began. When I saw the error I made with the catapult I decided the only thing I could do, and that would be to trim it to fit. I already had the decks finished and I wasn’t about to ruin all that work. The WEM instructions have you trim the deck 2.5mm deep to accept the P.E. catapult; I simply trimmed 2.5mm from the catapults sides to fit on the deck. The remaining superstructure levels had their bulkheads hand painted and were fitted with railings and set aside for final assembly later.