It looks low when running but the boat is dead on the wateline and closer to it's max weight. At Nats I think it weighed in at 36-38 lbs so it can go up to 40 and up to 44 max including the 10%. The common error with modelers of Bismarck is making it too light which it rides too high. Bismarck in fact had a low freeboard above the water line at 5 meters -(16.4 ft) midships and gradually went up towards the bow and stern. A clipper style shaped hull. Look at the photos of Bismarck in theB altic or on it's mission towards the Denmark straight. Yamato's by comparison had a free board amidships of 8.765 m equates to 28.76 ft. Missouri also has a low running freeboard but a very high bow free board and a high stern free board. The new superstructure is heavier but just sitting in the water the model is trimmed well. The weights internaly have not changed. I will take it out again and put the carpenter's level to check it again and see if it is angled towards the stern but from what I seen it looks just right. Remember when the model is moving at high speed the water towards the stern rises as well. It rises at the bow dips below the waterline and rises again near the stern so that may be what your seeing there making it look low. The discs also are creating their own little sub wave so that may be throwing the look off back there. Check my previous pics and you may see the difference there when it was running without the drag discs and lighter weight. Can't wait to get it back to it's camaflauge colors again.
It may be down a little on it's trim near the stern. Fortunatly all I have do to is slide the batteries and Co2 just a little forward to trim it out.Next outing I will have to run speed tests and see where it is for speed. Meanwhile I refer you to this on Youtube as an excellent example of what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3pvwhgigoY Titled .. Bismarck @ the 3rd National Warship W/end EddieHaig
And with a sealed pump outlet uit might be a fair fight . Looks good out there. I think first weekend in May if it is nice I will take the PE and southy out for a run.
I located the outlet no problem and drilled through the deck perfectly into the outlet itself. I opened up the deck so I could see the outlet. I also found out that my so called failed pump switch was not my pump switch. I had forgotten that it's my light switch which I have no lights yet installed. I discovered the pump switch by chance when I turned it on my mistake when I was moving the servo cam for the light switch. I forgot that I had installed a lever micro switch which is activated by my toggle switch on the TX. Doh! So that means the pump is working now. With the internals checked out I started painting the main turrets, finished off installing the barrels in the secondary turrets and I painted the spheres behind the bridge tower and painted the hangar roof. I masked off the hull so I could begin to pain the main deck on the hull . So it looks like I may get this beast finally finished by the end of the month. Just need to conduct firing tests and install the lights which I haven't ordered yet but no hurry there. Still need to make the catapult, plane and cranes and the remainder lifeboats . I got 3 anchors to clean up and the old bollards and other items to clean and paint and attach.
Masked off the main turrets and started painting their tops Dark German Grey. Got a couple of coats of Deck tan on the main deck and most deck levels of the superstructure. Painted the upper masts flat black. Painted the radars flat black. Painted the wing arerials flat black. Rigging flat black.
Curt i got a question on the bismarck that i havent seen on my plans and i was wondering if they are actually on the ship? you have on your ship Right above the control room antenna like things coming out the sides you used part of chicken fence for it.
This is a good example as to why you should use your photographic references along with your plans because sometimes the plans do not show all the details. However fortunatly I have a detailed set of plans and the photos and models to show me this. It's where I got the idea to use the chicken wire to drape from the aerials at the top of the bridge tower. They are clearly there.
alright Curt thank you, Also i want to inform you that i am putting them on my ship as well and also i will have to show you the new thing i just made out of brass ill take a picture tonight and post it here i think you will like it, and maybe you will do it too and i wouldnt blame you.
I like using real picture also when you can find them. I also like finding detailed scale models to get ideas from. The antenna was definitely there and shows on the real ship clearly. Nice detail work, sooner or later I have to get back to detailing mine.
More paint work applied tonight. I finished the second coat of paint on the main and secondary turret tops. No red this time. I painted the red banners across the fore and aft sections of the model. I painted the upper decks with dark non skid and others a wood deck tan color. Painted the grill work on the top of the funnel flat black. Touched up the aerials again . Finished painting the roof tops of the single plane hangars that hug the funnel sides port and starboard. If I can keep this up for another week the model should be well detailed and finished pending the arrival of my 10.5 cm AA guns. The crew will be the last to go on then I will order search lights. . Then my favorite part of this is the gunnery exercises . So more to come .
Still painting. The white circles bubbled up a bit so I got to resand them down and come with another way of doing these. No problem with the red banner.Maybe use a stencil with a spray adhesive so that I can tack it down tight and spray within the circle. Other than that I got the dark grey on the bow. I hope to get the stern and start the hull stripes tomorrow evening. I peeled off the tape around the main turrents and placed them on the model. It looks good and I like it. Some of the upperr deck levels were painted this evening. Hope to run the model again sometime this weekend and see how it runs this time.
Came back from the hobby store today and I purchased the rods I need to make my cranes, picked up the tubing to put the funnel pipes around the base of the cap and I have the material to make the catapult . I picked up the colors for the black and white stripes and more deck paint as I ran out. So looks like I am heading into the home stretch to get most of the details back on board and will put the remainder on as time permits.
One crane built, white bands on the main deck, the bow band has the red on it now. Trimmed the barrels of the 5.9 in secondary guns. More deck levels painted. Mini barbettes for the 5.9 inchers have thier centers drilled out and temp attached to the undersides of the secondaries. The crane came out good, better than my originals.
I did realize unfortunatly and too late to correct that I had attached the o1 level rear section upside down! The alcoves where the 5.9 guns sit next too has a recessed section on the top edge semicicular. I was looking at the forward section then as I was painting the top deck I noticed that the rear alcove was missing the section. I looked again and saw the recesssed area was on the bottom. Major ERROR . I must have been very tired to miss that or had too much on my mind when I was installing it. Nothing I can do to correct it now.
The only way to hide it is to put more detail on it. Anyway I won't make that mistake with Tirpitz's superstructure. I am adding more meat to the cranes this time and comparing them to my old pair they are much nicer looking. I used a mini torch gun to weld the rods to the support plate. I plan to have them movable as far as swinging around but not elevating . The 5.9 inch and the 10.5 cm I want them to be able to revolve on thier bases like on the old superstructure. Looking forward to buildng the catupult and Arado float planes which I have 2 going aboard. I think one of them I may cut the wings and fold them up and the other leave with the wings down for take off. I figure be another couple of weeks before I can finish it .
