papa 695s 1/350 Tirpitz

[papa 695]

This is going to be my kit for this GB.

[Guest]

I saw this in Hobbycraft last week. Have to admit I was tempted.

[Ian M]

Nice one. Is that a motor I spy in the bag?

[papa 695]

Nice one. Is that a motor I spy in the bag?

It's got the gears and things but no motor Ian, I don't know if I'll go and get one though.

[Steve Brodie]

Nice !

[papa 695]

I've made a start on this one, well I've opened the instructions booklet.

[Ian M]

Lol.
I realy want to see how the Tirpitz looks agains the Bismark

[papa 695]

Thought I'd make a proper start on this one. And Ian for your last inquiry just take a look at the wording.

[Ian M]

Lol so the hull are the same...be interesting to see how the super structures compare.

[Gern]

According to Wikipedia, both Bismarck and Tirpitz had an overall length of 251m and a beam of 36m - unsurprisingly as they came out of the same mould as it were!

As I seem to have some time on my hands I thought I'd compare the Tamiya Tirpitz with the Academy Bismarck.

The scaled-up figures are:

Tamiya 249.6m length and 34.7m beam
Academy 251m length and 37.4 beam.

They're both pretty close and I suspect it would be possible to swap the hulls without too much fettling. It seems sensible for Tamiya to use the same mould for both ships hulls and only change the superstructure sprues where necessary.

[Guest]

Gern, Tamiya have done the same with the USS Missouri hull. It says inside the hull 'Tamiya USS Iowa'

[Ian M]

Many Sister ships had common hulls and the only real differences where in the structures. I was day dreaming how hard it would be to make a Tirpitz from a Bismark...

[papa 695]

Not too sure what to do about the joints in the decks

It's in three parts because it is motorised so you can get to the batteries.

[Ian M]

That's a bummer. Are they flat and level enough to give them a good squeeze of polystyrene glue and get a good ooze of melted plastic to sand off then re-scribe the plank lines. just like when gluing two halves of a fuselage together?
Either that or there is always the dreaded wood deck kits..... bit os an over kill solution in that scale though I would have thought.

[papa 695]

Thanks Ian, there raised lines so I would need to do the lot. I will have a think about it. I may just pose it upside down in a fjord and save myself heaps of work.