Deutschland / Victoria Luise / Hansa 1:500 waterline model from scratch

MBJ · Mar 4, 2026

I am now busy plating the hull. I use carboard for this, and so far I am quite happy with the result. DEUTSCHLAND's starboard side is done. Of course I could not resist and put some paint on it.

MBJ · Mar 9, 2026

Brief update: The hull is fully plated and I started coloring it.

Iterum · Mar 11, 2026

Hello MBJ,

very interesting model greatly done (I am still dreaming of DSSD KRONPRINZ WILHELM).
Several years ago in a phone call the specialist for German liners Arnold Kludas told me the preWWI colour of the funnels of the German liners of HAL and NDL was very a pale yellow-creme - no WhiteStar buff.

Hope this helps,
Chris

MBJ · Mar 12, 2026

Iterum said:
Hello MBJ,

very interesting model greatly done (I am still dreaming of DSSD KRONPRINZ WILHELM).
Several years ago in a phone call the specialist for German liners Arnold Kludas told me the preWWI colour of the funnels of the German liners of HAL and NDL was very a pale yellow-creme - no WhiteStar buff.

Hope this helps,
Chris

Thanks for this info, Chris! Good to know. If Arnold Kludas says so, it must be true

Following from this statement the funnels were darker after the war, which would apply to HANSA. Please let me know if you have further insights (or deckplans for HANSA...).
P.S.: What does DSSD stand for?

MBJ · Mar 12, 2026

Paint job done

I'm thinking about how to do the portholes on the black hull - maybe a droplet of glue to have a glass like reflection. Any suggestions? Thanks!

MBJ · Mar 20, 2026

Nothing new, just proving I am busy: I started plating the VICTORIA LUISE and HANSA.

MBJ · Friday at 7:53 AM

Plating completed

Also started with the paintjob. Happy Easter to you all!

MBJ · Saturday at 4:10 AM

Those ships indeed have quite a few portholes

MBJ · 2026-04-06T16:18:56-0500

I started to carve the first lifeboat, 18 mm long. There are two even smaller sizes to be made. As I'll need plenty of boats for my three ships, I am planning to use one wooden lifeboat per size as a mould and "produce" boats from heated plastic sheets. Never tried this before, I hope it will work.

Roger Pellett · 2026-04-06T16:34:49-0500

Now that you have a mold, by making the boats from “heated plastic sheets” do you mean vacuum forming? It’s easy to do with a household tank type vacuum cleaner or better yet a shop vacuum. If you use the search function you should find a post from me showing my setup.

Roger

MBJ · 2026-04-07T04:00:59-0500

Roger Pellett said:
Now that you have a mold, by making the boats from “heated plastic sheets” do you mean vacuum forming? It’s easy to do with a household tank type vacuum cleaner or better yet a shop vacuum. If you use the search function you should find a post from me showing my setup.

Roger

Yes, I guess vacuum forming is the english term I was lacking. I'll definitely check your post, Roger. Thanks for the hint!