Thanks Todd-these portholes are easier than they look




Me too Gaz-going a bit out of my brain with all these tiny details! Promised myself no more ships to be added to the stash... Well, I'll try




Thanks Si-he's getting there

Going along very nicely Russ, I've been through this thread a couple of times now and your work is really impressive on the fit problems and the PE.

Looking forward to more progress.

Cheers, D

Thanks D! Hard to believe it's been nearly 3 years!

Three years?!?!

yep-started in January 2014 and by the time i'm finished, it'll be nearly 3 years-at a guess

You can do it Mate!! - in under three years!!

I can only second what was said - excellent and clean work on the PE stuff. You minimum glue approach really pays off - I'll have to work on that area!

Hope to see your paint shop busy soon great work!!

Cheers,
Jan

as the little engine who could, said: i think i can, i think i can...

I see you are still working on her Russell and doing a mighty fine job too.....CHeers Mark

Indeed I am Mark

As I always say: there's no shelf of doom, just works in progress

Thanks for looking in

ps. update coming soon

and here's the promised update...
more components ready for paint. There's a small mast on top of this part which i will replace with brass


The hangar

I plan to have the hangar partially closed to hide all the unsightly stuff


and a small deck house



Well, thanks for looking once again.

Normally I would say "more soon' but with a family vacation looming on the horizon there may not be much time to work on the Prinz until we return!

Till then, happy modeling!

Russell,
That's some fine PE detailing! I reckon fiddling with those tiny PE parts is one of the hardest things a modeller can do.

Cheers,

Gaz

Very nice wok Russ,

Etch very tidy indeed, as always.

Good to see more progress, have a good holiday.

Cheers

Si

Looking fantastic Russ! Tidy PE work as usual! Enjoy the vacation!! I am sure the fellas at the shipyard won't mind the time off!!

Thanks Guys

I may just have time for one more little update before we go!

Watch this space

I'm sure 'her indoors' is looking forward to not seeing the 'dockyard' for a while

Wow Russ,

your PE work is really a class of it's own!! You take your time, but your results prove you right, mate - that's fantastic work doing this beautiful ship justice!!

Cheers,
Jan

Cheers mate

okay, well update 12th July... this will be the last one for a bit, as the family is off overseas soon to visit my father in law, who, unfortunately is terminally ill with the big C!

so, first up, all the pe for the shelter deck is now on



now I've just got to prep the funnel, but, what to do about the mismatched steps? Oh dear...

and last but not least some over view shots of everything dry fitted
of course the spotting top and director had to 'wobble' off and hence some yard arms are missing from this shot.

now glued back on of course



well, that's it for now. When we get back, I'll somehow fix the funnel.

Then, finally, there be some paint splashed around... finally.

Ahoy Russell

Very nice progress.

Great updates.

Sorry to hear about your father in law.

Cheers


Sean

...just finding some time to catch up with what's going on here on the MSW and seeing another update on the beautiful Prinz!

Absolutely great work, Russ!! Your PE work looks splendid! All the time and patience you are putting into this model really pays off!! Fantastic! And your pics of the whole ship already show her beauty!

Off topic - I got some intel that the Blücher was delivered to my home base. I wan't be there for another few weeks, but I am really curious, particularly if it's a new mold (or partly) - there should be one main indicator - is the hull split horizontally or vertically?

Cheers,
Jan

Whilst not wishing to stray from Russ's build thread, the mention of the Blucher kit had me searching the web, and it seems the kit has indeed been released and is now available here in the UK.

Anyone have any comments as to accuracy issues/quality etc?

Here are the instructions etc -

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10378152/10/0

I very nearly bought one a few minutes ago, but thought I'd hang fire until a review came up.
Comments I have seen to date, are that the Blucher is something of a cross between the existing Eugen & Hipper kits, yet it is still not quite a Blucher. The bow seems to be giving rise to concern and there is only one new sprue tree (sprue J) dedicated to making ship into a Blucher

Thanks again guys for the very kind words

I had a read through the instructions Dave provided and from what I can see the Blucher is a very different kit to the Eugen.

Now, if Trumpy did the right thing Blucher's hull should be different to Eugen's, because as we know, Eugen's hull was longer with a different bow. The Eugens hull is split by Trumpy top and bottom (and wasn't it a PITA to blend out) and looking at the hull parts on Dave's link it looks like Blucher's is split top and bottom too.

Looking over the other part frets for the Blucher, I can say they look different to Eugen's so I'd say this is from completely different tooling

Well, after postulating for a few more moments, I ordered one and it will be here on Wednesday!

I just love the Hipper class and couldn't resist!

Nice work Russ,

The Prinz is turning into handsome fella. Looking forward to seeing paint on her.

Cheers

Si

update 3rd October 2016

Well, I think it's time for a long overdue progress report

After some well needed adjustment after our vacation to the old country I've been able to put in a bit of bench time on the Prinz. Before we get down to nitty gritty details though, can i just say that overall we had a lovely time in Czech and the father in-law is so far holding steady. Thanks to all for their well wishes.

Now, onto the Prinz. In order to back date to 1941, the AA platforms on either side of the funnel need to be changed to searchlight platforms, with hemispherical rotatable covers. This was done by taking the kit's platforms and cutting off rear platform extension. The rotatable dome parts from the spare Wackeltopf rangefinder which has the same diameter was then glued on and then some evergreen sheet was heated up over a metal rod to the correct diameter and fitted to the platform.

so first up, the funnel with the necessary detail removed to accommodate the modified platforms


Then the modified searchlight platforms


dry fitted

and then fully filled and sanded and glued to the funnel. The big triangle holes in the corners of the domes were filled with sprue, filed to shape and sanded also.


now to start adding back the details that were removed, and then finally addition of all the required PE platforms.

Speaking of Wackeltopf rangefinders heres the aft pair ready for paint


once again, thanks for looking.

It seems painting will be finally on the cards within a week or so-thanks for your patience!

Good to see a bit more progress mate.

The searchlight covers look very effective.

Looking forward to see some paint on.

Cheers

Si

Thanks mate. Yep me too, but i keep finding things to paint