Rear superstructure section. Nothing lines up properly. Original had been clad with PE but was so irregular and mismatched I decided to dismantle it all, sand it and start again on a cutting board grid to align it
Bismarck 1/200 Hachette rebuild
- Thread starter Uncle Davydd
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This section was a nightmare. The top left side had been tapered by 3mm from the centre. The reason totally escapes me but as a result the entire platform was skewed. Out came the exacto knife, sandpaper, emery boards and acetone to clean it all up. PE, as you all know is utterly unforgiving on irregular sufaces and no aligned areas. Tiny errors mean gaps and gaps means putty, but it may never look quite right even if puttied up, especially on a very geometric and complicated superstructure with many layers and levels
Lots of putty here and irregularities. Once reconstructed there was no putty required. Well worth many hours of destruction and reconstructions. More soon on how it turned out. Thanks again for following. I appreciate all of your input and likes.
Thank you to everyone so far for all of your likes and positive vibes. It is very encouraging and I appreciate it a lot and a special thanks to Marty Hopey for inspiring me to start a log. Marty only just joined and got straight into it with a log. Well done mate.
Hi everyone. I have recently been working on the hangars next to the funnel. Some of these PE parts are minuscule and can be very difficult to place and glue. I left a bit of sprue on them to make it easier to pick up and then cut off the excess.
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The little triangles are used as supports for a small platform and the rectangular piece is a step. The circle is where the platform support goes. I lost a few of these wedges and had to make some more out of PE fret. Starting to get better at the whole process.
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I am sure it will all look a lot better once it is painted. Hachette instructions show to paint the hangar first and then attach PE but I feel you get a better bond of parts with metal on metal or metal on timber. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thank you
Hi all. Rear superstructure rebuilt. Section on right was redone in timber planks and then finished with epoxy putty, Everything lines up a lot better now
This section was very skewed and uneven. Sorry I didn't take pictures before I dismantled it.
side view
A few wonky vents that I will reposition
Starting to look the business. Be nice to see it painted and see how it looks but lots more to do before that
Hello again everyone. Just been working on this funnel and hangar section. It isn't news that Hachette kits are a bit high maintenance and need lots of attention to get a good result. Their plastic parts look good. Nicely molded etc but they don't always fit together so easily or well. The actual funnel took quite a bit of coercing in many dry fit stages and since there are no positioning tabs I finally decided to just do it bit by bit. It lined up reasonably well in the end but still required some sanding. It is close enough for me now but it could do with a little more finessing. The rear platform just does not fit at all. I tried all sorts of things and eventually decided to split it in half and then a bit of epoxy putty to disguise the sin. Ugly gaps between the funnel top and funnel also needed some putty
Another pic from the top. It was about 1mm altogether but will look good when painted. Thanks for keeping an eye on this build. It keeps me motivated. Happy building. Cheers Davydd
Hello again. I really should take my own advice and "hurry slowly." Although, in my defence Hachette instructions for this and probably all of their kits bounce around like a ball in a pin-ball machine. This error of mine has been bugging me for a while so I decided to correct it. I don't like making mistakes and definitely don't like pulling apart what has already been done. It is very gratifying to solve problems, but not gratifying to make them. These hangars are supposed to have the inner wall sanded to half width so they don't protrude too close to the barbette. Out came my trusty box cutter, a crude but devastatingly effective weapon. Fortunately the walls are MDF and cut like butter. A bonus that half the wall stuck to the funnel and was easily scraped off which prompted me to pare the walls down with the box cutter and then only a light sand required.
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A quick clean up required. Note left hand wall thickness in second pic.
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A much used and valuable friend. Hangars are in spec and the glue should be dry now. Enjoy your day and thanks for looking
Thank you Uwe. I didn't have any cake unfortunately but I did manage a few beers. lol
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1) I am going to look over your shoulder together with there rest of the crowd. Really informative and instructive. And beautiful progress.A much used and valuable friend. Hangars are in spec and the glue should be dry now. Enjoy your day and thanks for looking
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2) I just bought my second caliper, as I have two benches and get tired of looking on which I left it. Couldn't do without!
Have a good one!