Airfix 1/600 Graf Spee

Joined
May 31, 2021
Messages
222
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Location
Kommetjie, Western Cape, South Africa
Today I have started on the venerable Airfix 1/600 Graf Spee. I think the history of this ship is quite well known and will not be repeated here. How far I will get with this kit before my move to Simonstown is anybody's guess - but then it does not really matter. I am planning (within my limited knowledge and skills range) to do a bit extra on this model. One of the pics shows that I have started to drill out the port holes ... ;) .

I would love to add some railings but photo etched railing are very scarce to come by in South Africa - especially in 1/600 scale. I was just wondering, could 1/700 also work?

Any other bits of information on this ship, tips and advice will be very welcome

I am really looking forward to the rest of the build ... ( I can then also listen to the Hobbit audio book - oh what fun)

Graf Spee A.jpg

Graf Spee B.jpg

Graf Spee C.jpg
 
Me too.First model I built admittedly with my fathers help @1977.I bought it again a few months back when it was rereleased.Plan on building her OOB purely for the nostalgia

Kind Regards

Nigel
 
Glad I could rekindle some good memories with this building log. I was quite surprised by the still reasonable quality of the molds, at least those of the hull halfs. Many years ago, I saw the movie Battle of the River Plate, and always wanted to build kits of the ships involved in that battle - but got side tracked for about 30 years.
 
The portholes are all done - I have counted 346, but perhaps there are 350 of them. Used a 0.6mm drill bit to drill them out. I have also dry fitted the two hull halves ... but the fit is, as expected nnot a 100%. Will see if the fit is marginally better after a bit of cleaning up and sanding. Will probably need a fair amount of putty and sanding. But not today, too many holes needed to be drilled. Still I just enjoy working on this lady of the seas.

Graf Spee F.jpg
 
First of all thank you for the likes...

This afternoon, thw two hull halfs were fitted together. There is a significant gap at places that will need some putty and sanding, and the joint aft was not a 100% with a slight overlap underneath were the shafts an srews need to be fitted. But I think with some TLC it will work out ok.

The deck parts were also removed from the sprues and I am busy cleaning them up. I suppose when the deck parts are fitted we can have a bottle of champagne to celebrate ...:rolleyes:

Graf Spee G.jpg
 
Well the deck parts were fitted and glued. I had some trouble having a smooth fitting job and ended up with a bit of a gap along the starboard side (?). I had to use some mild pressure to fit the main deck between the two halves, and still not a 100%, but I suppose I can ascribe that to the age of the moulds. And what I think is the fantail-deck part really presented me with some fit issues as it did not fit at all to the "main deck". A lot of scraping and sanding was involved to get e reasonable fit, albeit still with a gap and an challenging bad fit aft where the pole for the flag needs to go. Now it needs to dry and set and then out with the filler ... ;)

Graf Spee I.jpg

Graf Spee H.jpg
 
Been away from the bench for a while. In the process of moving house.:eek:

Since the day befor yesterday I have been adding bits and pieces to the build> I was mainly busy with the turrets, and drilling out the gunbarrels (?) with a 0.4 mm drill bit. Most of the barrels were warped. The seam marks and flash was also quite prominent on the turret sides and had to be removed. I think the kit is showing it's age. Been around since the 70's? Oh the props and the shafts were also added, but took some effort to line them up reasonably.

Will post som photos later.
 
I had some time the past two days to do a bit more work on the GF.

I have added some bits to the bases of the superstructures, and also did some work on the superstructures and completed them. The masts are looking too thick, but I will leave them as they are. Many of the holes provided on the bases of the superstructure need to be re-drilled, so that the parts can fit better (but not perfect.

I have also drille out the search lights - the plan is to paint them silver and then add to them some "lenses". Noot sure how I will go about that. Perhaps with some gloss varnish or a drop of super glue?

I also had to move the mast at the rear of the tunnel a bit back (re-drill a hole) as the fit according to the instructions would have been impossible. When fiited acording into the available hole flush at the back of the funnel, the mast would have been at an angle.

Any advice or comments are more than welcome.

Graf Spee M.jpg

Graf Spee N.jpg

Graf Spee O.jpg
 
best way would be to drop a small amount of epoxy glue. Since you are into scratch built here is a useful page of how to do it as well as some extra tips

 
Good ay to all. As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts, we have arrived in Simon's Town. We are now her for about three weeks, and over the weekend I had a chance to start some work on the Airfix 1/600 Graf Spee. Space to work in our temporary dwelling is quite small and most of my model equipment is in storage, 1013km from where I am now. There is still some construction to do and bits to add on this model. In the mean time I have started on some paint work, and decided to do the model in oils. well not entirely...

The hull was sprayed with a Tamiya Light Grey (Rattle can), black (Tamiya Matt Black rattle can for the waterline) and Hull Red (?) also with the Tamiya rattle can. The rest, such as the lighter grey colour on the hull and the deck were done in oils. For the deck the oil colours that I have used was burn sienna, yellow ochre and white. I found the oil paints quite forgiving, easy and effective to apply, and the drying time to be not too long, 24 hours or so. The deck will receive another coat of the buff/light wood mix and the super structure and all the other bits, masts, guns life boats etc will be done in oils. I like the old school approach.

I have added a few pictures as well as one of the view from my room:cool:

SimonD.jpg

SimonC.jpg

SimonB.jpg

SimonA.jpg
 
Well there is a time for everything. Made to many rookie mistakes on this old lady. Oil paint takes too long to dry and cure properly, especially in the Western Cape. So on this project I will be calling it a day. Learned a lot though, so no time was wasted. Will need to ove on to a new project.
 
Beautiful model of the Graf Spee at the NZ Naval museum Devonport Auckland. Sadly light reflection of the glass case ruined most photo's leaving this one as the only photo worth keeping. This post brings back so many memories of the second model I ever made (1st was Golden Hind) I was about 9 or 10 and had to do extra chores around the house because the kit cost One shilling and Six pence.. Ahhhh those were the days of YuHu glue and sticky fingers. :). Looking forward to following this build.

Graf Spee.png
 
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