Well, with the Liberty Ship nearly ready for commissioning I thought it might be time to start a new project. So I raided the stash and thought I might try my hand at a German Cruiser.



I'll be using the PE set from WEM, which includes these two huge sheets of some very fine PE. I'm sweating already on how I'm going to cope with my butter fingers And, I'll also be using the MK1 self adhesive wooden deck, which also includes some PE, but it's pretty chunky and probably not required with the WEM PE. However they do supply some brass chain for the anchors.



first assembly basics



and the clean up begins



in some places I've had to pack the lower hull out with 0.5 polystyrene sheet, as it collapsed during assembly.





and onto filling the smaller gaps. I think this might be why Trumpeter are moving away from waterline kits. As good as they are, there's a fair bit of work in removing the mismatch that occurs naturally between upper and lower hulls, due to the nature of plastics!





Once I have the mismatch cleaned up, I'll drill out the scuttles as well.

More soon... I hope

Looking good so far Russ, I will be following this one as well mate!

Cheers, D

An interesting new project Russell, beautiful ship too,

Good stuff so far Russell.

I have his one in my stash, with the WEM etch, but the Artworx deck.

Will be following with interest, and looking for points when I come to building mine.

Si

OOOh, my all time favorite ship!
I will watch this build with interest.
Do you plan on building the ship in the late-war guise or back dating to the 1941 version.

Wow, Russell, you are so generous about those f#*%#$@! mismatched upper/lower hulls! Injection plastic manufacturers are perfectly capable of getting it right when they make it a priority. Anyway, good job fixing things up.

Prinz Eugen is one of my favorite ships too - looking forward to watching this one go forward!

German ships had lovely lines - far more stylish than the British battleships and no ugliness like the Japanese towers. Modern Soviet ships seem to have those same lines...

I'll keep an eye on this build too.

Perry

HI Russel

Nice choice, Prinz Eugen is a beauty. Have the Hipper in stack, she had so many variations in camo.
This upper/lower hull separation is a serious PITA. Had this in Richelieu and Repulse, too. I seriously think it is easier to cut off a premarked lower hull than sanding the most visible hull side without loosing details.
Seems they Trumpeter thought most people do anyway waterline today
When you need info about Kriegsmarine stuff you can ask me.

Greetings from Shanghai

Wow, I'd have never guessed the 'lucky ship' to be so popular! So, not feeling any pressure to get him right.

Andrew:

I'll be back dating to 1941 in line with my idea of building a 'series' of ships centred around the Bismarck episode... Hopefully I can get it right... Any thoughts on good reference material would be appreciated.

Tim:

In all honesty I don't mind having to do the filler/sanding required to get a neat finish... it's kinda therapuedic

Rumaging through the kit last night and found a set of Master Model barrels that I had completely forgot I had bought. So they'll be going on too!

Tom, you must've hit the post button just as I did!

agree with you on the waterline idea for sure.

And thank you for the offer of assistance. No doubt I'll get to a point where I need assistance!

Hi Russel

I think everybody wants the Prinz Eugen in the 41 version. Do not understand why Trumpy is not making one, not so difficult.

Have a look here, showing the development of her camouflage and conversions in really detailed drawings:
http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470
Btw also for other Kriegsmarine major units.

Greetings from Shanghai

Congratulations Rusell!!! It is the most beautiful ship of the WWII. I have it but even it does not give me the courage for initial the Flyhawk PE

regards Daniel

Why is everyone so afraid of PE?? Anyway, nice choice Russ. I have this one in the stash with a LionRoar PE set and a Artwox deck.

Will be watching.

Cheers
Warren

PE is kind of like swimming with sharks: get it right and it's a beautiful thing; get it wrong and it's just painful all round

Maybe Warren can make a tutorial abt working with PE
I for myself can never get rails straight

Greetings from Shanghai

Not everyone, just almost everyone, and because it's scary!

Prinz Eugen Info / Trivia in no particular order.

Well, Mr Eames, do you know of this thread - it is packed with links, data, and all sorts of juicy stuff. Herr Olaf Held makes many posts in it, he seems to be quite knowledgeable about Eugenish things. (And the Kriegsmarine in general.)

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=8372

Trumpeter supplies two sets of torpedo tubes in the box, the ones with the exposed controls (F2) would be correct for the 1941 build.

The forward stabilized spherical AA rangefinders were not fitted at the time - simpler, open 4 meter rangefinders were used. Likewise, the enclosed adjacent 3 meter rangefinders at the time were of a simpler, open design. (G4)

However those same parts (G12 + G13) can be filled, sanded and modified to represent the hinged funnel searchlight cover. The kit comes with a 20 mm flakvierling in this position, which is correct for 1945 - in 1941 searchlights similar to the ones on the main-mast platform were fitted here. There was also one more of these lights on the platform forward and above the admirals bridge. (part (A11)

All the kits light and medium AA guns need to be replaced with 6 twin 37mm SK 30 mounts and 8 20mm C30 singles. Flyhawk makes nice ones.

The main rangefinder (B40) should have the ribs removed from its top. These locate the radar hut (D10) which was not there in 1941, but remove the lug for the radar mattress and the observation cupola and move them down to rangefinder. Also absent were the radar warning receivers around the rangefinder platform (G22). In a similar manner there is a two-story structure under the main-mast that needs the top section deleted. (D2 D21 D22 D27 D28)

Radar mattress and base on the main mast (A15 B19 C38 C39) were not in 1941.

A and D turrets have rooftop access ladders on the right side only - this is obvious on all photos of Hipper class cruisers - but I have yet to see any manufacturer get it right.

And finally, there are a lot of extra Marx rafts all over the 1945 version that need to be deleted. Careful study of the images on the http://prinzeugen.com/ website will give you an idea, as well as Warship Pictorial No. 21 by Steve Wiper if you can find a copy.

Thank you Mr Whitaker these facts are all new to me & greatly appreciated!

I haven't studied the Kriegsmarine all that much so this build will definitely be a big learning curve.

It's good to know there's help at hand

Well, it's been almost a month now since the last post so I thought i'd better put some progress shots up. Not much i'm afraid though as life does get in the way at times

So, to bring it all together, I paint a coat of silver or other metalallic paint over the seams to identify areas that need filling or more sanding.





The prop shafts need cleaning up.

and some quite bad mismatch on the struts housings, which i'll fill with super glue and sand back.

finally here's the hull sanded with P400 to a state ready for priming. You can see the plastic sheet has become quite thin where i used it to fill the mismatch.





more soon i hope

who's in favour of me drilling out the scuttles?

Now that's hardcore.

I never really realized before how elegant looking a ship the Eugen is.

Drilling out the scuttles: I don't do that in 1/200th so why torture yourself I drop in some black paint and sometimes add a drop of gloss varnish to give it a shine. You could of course go crazy and drill them out , add brass scuttles and then use one of the gooey transparent glue/jell thingies. Your show And you will be always be your own best fan and best critic

Great work on an elegant seagoing lady Russell,

Looking good Russell,

I am with Julian on the scuttles, I drilled them out on dreadnought, and frankly I am not sure it was worth the effort, In future I am just going to run a darker wash into each porthole, but it is your build mate, so up to you.

Si

Ahoy Russell

Loved your previous work on the Liberty Ship.

Cant wait to see what you do on this beauty. Also one of my favourite battleships.

My vote is to drill out the portholes! But then I am not having to do it.


Cheers


Sean

Love you choice Russell. I love the look of the PE. Call me mad but I enjoy working with P/E. It scared me at first but if you use it all the time it almost becomes second nature. On the Scuttles, I always drill them out but check references. Some vessels had some of the Scuttles plated over. You makes your choice......Cheers mark

I went with the Flyhawk P.E. set with my Prinz Eugen. It is INSANE. Some parts are way too small and I left them out. But man, does this ship stand out with the Flyhawk set. I highly recommend it.