I'm an old fella, recently retired with a long interest in the Bismark/Hood battle and the Kriegsmarine ships in particular. Currently I'm working on a 1/350 Trumpeter model of the Graff Spee and am having problems with the colour scheme outlined by them.
Would anybody be able to suggest an alternative to the basic colour they prescribe (H308/308 + H11/62) for the vertical faces of the superstructure? It just seems a bit weird that there isn't a single paint to do the job.

Also working on a Heller version 1/400 of the Prinz Eugen - not impressed so I might bite the bullet and get the latest offering.

Cheers, Simon

Graf Spee was painted with the following colours. You will find this common to early war German ships. They tended to have darker hulls and lighter superstructures.

Hull: Dunkelgrau 51
Superstructure: Hellgrau 50
Metal Decks: Dunkelgrau 2
Wooden Decks: Natural Wood

Graf Spee carried camouflage at the Battle of the River Plate. This consisted of Dunkelgrau 51 and Dunkelgrau 50 painted over the superstructure base colour on the superstructure only. The Hull had white false bow waves on each side.
You can buy these colours in enamels from www.whiteensignmodels.com
or in Lifecolor acrylics from www.airbrushes.com
I have both but prefer acrylics in general due to their quick drying, lack of smell and no special thinner needed.

thanks
Mike

Mike,

Thanks alot - that is a really great help.

I'm like you and go for the acrylics.

Cheers, Simon

No problem. There is the model shipwrights site within the kitmaker network if you have further questions and I would also recommend modelwarships as well.
They have a Calling all fans section, where the ships are categorised, ie battleship, cruiser etc and then in each category, each class of ship has its own thread - there is one for the Panzerschiffe. Might be good reading for you as there maybe other things you wanted to know or hadn't thought about.

thanks
Mike