¹⁄72

SMS Falke

The kit is a multimedia kit in scale 1/72 by Austrian company Wiener Modellabu Manufactur. The price of the kit – about 300,00 EUR – is very high, but the quality and complexity are also unreachable. The kit consists of a big one piece cast hull and further 97 fine detailed resin parts. 137 foto etched parts on one big fret plus photo-etched name plates for both ships – SMS Falke or SMS Adler. 8 brass cast parts, brass wire in different diameters, 60 CNC turned brass parts, 2 masts turned of wood, decals and 2 37mm Hotchkiss rapid firing guns which are also available separately.

At first step I have drilled two big holes in the underside of the hull which were used for inserting the parts of the display. The rudder was modified as the driveshaft of the propeller was a bit short – without modification the rudder will not be movable behind the propeller. Next step was cleaning all parts from the (smallest) sprues, then gluing most of the resin parts and photo etched parts on the hull. The signal lamps left and right received some additional wiring. The captains bridge was then installed, the port holes also opened and photo etched rings installed around the windows. On top a railing was added. First some metal eyelets glued on the roof, then inserted a wire, bent in the correct shape of the roof.

After that I have started to paint the underside of the ship. First a layer of Vallejo’s black primer on the hull, then after some drying time I have masked the hull for painting of the red under water area. The red is a mixture of red-brown, red and some drops beige. With some post-its I have masked each seam of the hull plates and airbrushed a black scheme on it to give the hull some interesting details. Once dry I have sprayed one more thin layer of the red color, keeping the black painted shadows visible. A light red stripe followed (Paint mixed of the color which I used on the hull already, plus some more beige and white), painted on top of the red under water part. Once dry all the painted will be masked and the sides of the upper hull were painted in black (only the sides, not the upper area). I have used a mixture of Nato Black, Tire Black and a red brown for the upper area instead of pure black.

After the sides were fully painted I have drilled the holes of the portholes deeper. Additionally I have used some photo etched porthole frames from the aftermarket which I have added all around the decks at each porthole. The biggest task was the railing which followed next. It consists of turned brass parts, the horizontal railing is made of wire which has to be folded in the correct shape and which was a very stressful task … Finally I have installed the anchors, the masts for the flags – then it was ready for painting the upper sides in the same black mixture which I have used on the sides already.

The inside of the air intakes were painted in red then, the signal lamps port-/starboard painted in red/green and all the frames around the portholes, name plate at the bow painted in golden color from AK Interactive, then polished. After that I have weathered the hull with a dark brown washing (oil color), then added some silver and gun silver pigments worked on the black area of the hull.

The wooden areas on the deck were painted in beige, then the wooden optic was painted with different dark brown oil colors on it. The two wooden masts also received some oil color washing in a darker brown, then both were glued on the deck. On the bow I have scratched a red/white painted rod with a silver hook. The two Hotchkiss guns were glued together, detailed with photo etched parts, painted and glued on the deck, the lifebelts were painted, decals (name) added and glued at the railing. Finally some more small parts were glued to the masts before the rigging. I have used strings in different thickness, glued to their start-point, then “painted” the strings with white glue before stretching and fixing it on each end-point. I have also added some rolled up strings on the deck, which I have made of wire, painted and weathered after having bent each one in its necessary shape. Last but not least I have added some “rusted” chain to the anchors and a flag of the Austrian Hungarian Navy before having the boat finished now.

I love this kit. I loved working on it as it is a great manufactured kit with lot of details. I love the shape of the boat and it’s “steam-punk”-character. The kit is fantastically detailed and has still some space for further details to add such like the photo etched frames at the port holes. The Wiener Modellbau Manufactur offers also some figures for this kit.

The price of this kit is very high and I have thought several times about “do it” or “do it not” …. But finally… I am happy about having this unique ship in my showcase. Maybe I will rework the base once again as I am thinking about some other (shorter and wider) struts and maybe also a thicker base. But that’s not finally decided yet.