Just asking I think I have the Tamiya kit as well

Those two kits exist in different universes. The Tamiya Bismarck is, even as old as it is, an excellent model kit that can build into a realistic replica. The Lindberg Bismarck is more of a toy.

That said, I had great fun building and blowing up the Lindberg Hood as a kid. And free is a great price for a Lindberg Bismarck!

Probably a great test-bed for developing scratch-building techniques...until you're fed up with it!

I too, blew up the Hood. I was like 15, made a black powder bomb out of a Co2 canister, and put it amidships with a long fuse.

When we conceived the plan, it was going to be like a scene from Das Boot, with a huge plume of water.

Instead, when I lit the fuse and shoved her off into the quarry pond, it made a nice, slow turn right back to the shore. We all ran, but in a steep-sided quarry there was really no where to go.

It exploded and of course, the blast went up and out. There was no plume of water, just a flash of smoke and a LOT of plastic flying around (with some metal shrapnel, too...).

35 years later, I still have a scar on my leg from my Lindberg MHS Hood...