Thanks Andrew!

I think you may be correct-it looks like scratch building them may be my only option...

6th April Update

Well, good news: the good people at Revell have kindly sent some of the smaller range finders from their Bismarck kit so I only now have to scratch build the larger pair

In the meantime I've completed work on the AA fit for the Prinz. Here are the Flyhawk items in all their brass and resin goodness





The boat racks were also prepped, some off the fret

some on

and here we are, all painted and shipped


The frustrating thing with the WEM boat racks is that there's no real position guide, just an angular guide to line up with the deck. So, I hope they're in the correct spot!

railings starting to go on




the lookout platforms added




Great swathes of the ship are now near complete-the finish line is in sight!

Thanks for looking!

Great stuff Russ,

The flyhawk AA does look good, although I think I prefer the separate breeches of the Veteran twin 37's.

Having said that, He is looking outstanding!

Good luck on the final push, looking forward to the commissioning.

Cheers

Si

Thanks mate

Nearly there now-Boats, cranes, and masts to be built next. Most of the remaining PE is painted already so it's just a matter of fitting out

The Flyhawk stuff is nice, but not easy. Unfortunately they seem to be the only company offering the AA suite that is correct for this fit of the Prinz. Even then, they seem to be as rare as hen's teeth.

By not putting shields on them, I'd say the designers of the guns were either pretty arrogant in thinking that no-one would be shooting back at them, or that the crews manning them would be impervious to returning fire

I think it was soon put right on the next re-fit and shields were added and/or the guns replaced altogether

Wow Russ,
It is looking amazingly sharp. A very clean build.
I have never used Flyhawk PE but those guns pretty good and I admired your ability to assemble the PE on the fret and not have it come apart when you remove the parts.

Getting closer.

cheers

Michael

Cheers mate

I find the trick with assembling PE on the fret, is to cut through all but 2-3 key attachment points before assembling all the other components to it. That way you've only a couple of points to cut afterwards

Russell,
Wow, you've really made some great progress. Some great feasting for the eyes! That AA kit really looks good.

Gaz

Thanks Gary

Hoping to get finish off the bridge details this week and add a few more railings

Hi Russ,

wow, that's quite a lot of small stuff there - lots of tiny AA, reminds me of my last weeks before my leave...

Your Prinz looks absolutely awesome mate, and by now commissioning should be in sight!!

Cheers,
Jan

Cheers mate!

Welcome back from your vacation! Looking forward to seeing some updates from your workbench as you ease back into "real life"!

I'm working on the boats and cranes at the moment which is proving a bit tedious

Hi Russ,

Good luck with the boats and cranes, know you mean about tedious.

Looking forward to seeing them come to fruition.

Cheers

Si

Thanks Si...

yer, another case of PE correct to plans, but not fitting the styrene... The slots on the davits for the boats keels are way too narrow... sigh...

and the crane, well that's just odd... its a case of kit bashing the styrene with the PE...

Russell,

It's been a while since I have been on but so I am catching up on your progress and all I can say is WOW!!! Incredible work. Really like the detail the Flyhawk AA guns bring to the table.

Great work

Dave

cheers Dave!

great to see you back!

Russell,

thanks, its good to be back!

Dave

Ahoy Russell

Superb update.

Great work and you have somehow regained your building momentum again.

Totally admire you for that.

Cheers


Sean

Hi Russ,

The usual issues then, I do understand boats that don't sit in the cradles and cranky cranes.

I am sure a modeller of your calibre will sort them out!



Cheers

Si

Sean

thanks Sean

yep, it's been a slog, but am getting there.

I'm going to need a nice cup of tea and some time with some red box wing things after this one commissions

Mrs E was also kind enough to supply me with the all time ultimate space fighter: Incom's T65 X-Wing from Bandai... somehow I think they may find it's way onto the bench very soon!

Si

Thank you Si. I'm thinking of putting a cut in the keel of the boats where the davits locate... As for the cranes-well, it's kit bash time!

Technical Questions

Now, for all you DKM experts out there, does anyone know if the searchlight platform on the main mast was planked (as Trumpy show it), steel deck in light grey, or steel deck in dark grey?

So far I'm leaning towards steel deck in dark grey...

Hi Russ,

I would agree with you - steel dark paint - but I can't prove it since I'm away from all of my DKM reference books...

Cheers,
Jan

Okay, folks, another technical question dun dun DUN!

Currently working on the ship's boats, but they are less than satisfactory: Essentially they are just solid blobs of plastic with no windows and the aftermarket available for them doesn't give me much hope on rectifying that.

So, what are my options here?
1. Leave as is and go with the flow.
or
2. If I can get my hands on some plans/drawings of the ship's boats I can model them up in 3d CAD and have them printed on shapeways!
The bonus here is that they'll be available for others who need them too! These are the same boats that were used on many DKM ships so they'll be of use across a lot more ships than just the Prinz!

So, if anyone has plans/drawings that they'd be willing to share, drop me a line please

In the meantime I shall continue working on other areas of the ship.

PS. Revell only sent 2 directors, here's hoping they send 2 more!

Good fix for the lower halve of the boats Russ,

Had a dig through my references, The Kagero 3D book shows the searchlight platform steel, but light grey, (But that is 1945 fit), the Seaforth German Camo book for 1941 shows it dark grey. No doubt Jan will have better references than that.

I do have some basic drawings in the Top Drawings book on Tirpitz of German boats, 4 view, and a scrap sketch of each of what they call the "Admiral's Boat", Transport motor boat, fast motor boat and cutter, can scan you the page if that would help.

Si

Thanks Si

I've contacted the BundesArchiv in Germany to see if they can help. According to their website they have good naval records so fingers crossed. Hey, somebody's got to have plans somewhere given all the ship kits that come out with these boats on board. Even HMS Eskimo kit from Trumpy had German boats!

Jan's also provided some very useful drawings, so that's a good start point.

For the mast platforms, I think you may be right. In 1945 it was probably light grey, but in 1941 according to Eric Leon dark grey platforms would be accurate.

Now, back to battle with the cranes!

Hi Russ,

Here are a couple of pictures of Prinz Eugen’s mainmast showing the searchlight platform there.




The platform decking appears to be wood. On the extreme left of the second picture you can even see some of the wooden plugs used to cover the securing bolts in the planks. As for color... maybe Kriegsmarine deck gray? The shade appears similar to the fragment of non-slip steel deck visible by the sailor and boxes to the right.

Hi Russell,

Any luck with German boats and cranes? I found this pic that might give you some help in your search:




Good luck!

Gaz

...and if you wanna spend some money, this guy has all kinds of stuff:

http://www.ship-model-today.de/schiffsdetails.htm

He's got some great pics there, but unfortunately everything on the pages aren't linked to anything. But, it's a start.


Gaz