KenR : 1/700 Bismarck (120 points)

 

I know by the rules of the Challenge you are supposed to say exactly what a model is but I am pretty sure if I didn't with this one, virtually everyone in the Challenge would know what it was. Be it Famous or Infamous Battleship Bismarck is instantly recognisable.

The model is a 1/700 kit from Revell and is the model that started all the madness. A couple of years ago I visited my favourite shop Wonderland Models in Edinburgh and I couldn't find anything I needed but of course its rude to leave a model shop without a kit so this came home with me. It was only later I realised I'd bought a full hull kit and needed a bit of a hacksaw job to make it waterline.

It's taken a long time to get this model done, I started building and priming before the Challenge started and then have painted and weathered it during the last 6 weeks. I built and painted it in small sections to enable me to do various bits of weathering without it affecting the rest of the model and then put together in a final assembly. If you are interested in the process there are a series of videos on my Yarkshire Gamer YouTube channel running through the build.

The model is huge, it sits on a 42cm x 10cm base nearly twice the length and width of the other stuff I've done so far in the Challenge (which are 22 x 6) and at least twice as high. I've put in for 120 points, that's pretty low in comparison to the amount of work that has gone into getting it to look like this.

The picture above shows the sheer scale of the model, its flanked by 4 German Destroyers (done before the Challenge) and these are a bit bigger than the other stuff I've done so sar but on the same base size.

For those who don't know Bismarck was a pretty formidable ship, 4 twin 15 inch Turrets as a main armament, potentially a match for an individual Royal Navy ship, sheer weight of numbers would always mean the British would come out on top in the end. After sinking HMS Hood in action, the Bismark was hunted down by a large fleet, finally cornered and sunk.

Just before I go a word on Symbols. You may notice that there isn't a Crooked Cross in the circles at either end of the ship. I am obviously aware of the sensitivity of this symbol. The kit I bought did not even have decals in for it so I was limited by that. 

I will in future add the symbol to the ship. I am very much a proponent of historical accuracy, a symbol correctly applied to a model representing a real machine from a real moment in time is very different to having that symbol tattooed on your neck and screaming randomn phrases in German whilst wearing lederhosen. But for the Challenge I thought it would be better to present the model as it is.

The ship came with two aircraft so I placed one on the ship itself and one on a flight stand, that I've very badly removed from the picture above !

I was hoping to have a unit of Cavalry but they are not quite done so that's it for this week.  Next ship up is something at the opposite end of the spectrum, a tiny (in comparison) Hunt Class Destroyer Escort.

Yowza Ken this is effing amazing.  One of the first kits I took a serious run at was the Airfix 1/1200 Bismarck and I can only imagine how much work was involved putting this beauty together.  Your basing, came patterns and shell splashes are absolutely first rate.  I also love the floatplane in the background of the last picture.  Is that a model or painted on the backdrop?

I am with you on the Nazi symbols, it's a historical model and needs the historical symbols as long as you are aware of what they represent.

I concur on the suggested 120 points, that equivalent to a unit of 12 28mm cavalry (at least that's a unit to me, in your terms a unit of cavalry likely needs 60 riders0.