My New Year is going to start with the Bismarck. Does anybody know which books are the best source of information? I opened the little main gun kit and found no color directions for the below deck items. So much for quick fun build. Thanks for any help.
The “Anatomy of the Ship” book series for the Bismarck is good, also check out the German Archives (Bundersarchiv, search as “Schlachtschiff Bismarck”) for LOTS of historic photos of the ship. There is also a Haynes “Bismarck Owner’s manual” coming out in January (I think!) that looks interesting.
Seriously, that will never be a quick build. I’d give myself at least a full year, if I were to attempt such a thing.
You’ll be a real Bismark expert at the conclusion if you do the research and save what you find.
My only advice would be that don’t ever believe any one single source, although the AOS series is always excellent.
I’m sorry, I was talking about the Stand Alone Main Gun Kit as a quick build… With all the aftermarket parts I have, I’m hoping to live long enough to finish the main kit. LOL!
I do not recommend the AOTS Bismarck book, it has many errors which surprised me for such a good series e.g. some decks are shown as planked when they were in fact steel, sometimes overlaid with gratings.
A better source would be the books by Skwiot, but is out of print, can be expensive and difficult to find (and not without errors as well). There were two books on Bismarck by Kaiser, one volume photos of the real ship, the other photos of a fine model of Bismarck, but again these are out of print, difficult to find and usually expensive. I would recommend websites like kbismarck.com and bismarck-class.dk in the first instance. Also look in their forums for more information. There were many changes in her paint scheme in her lifetime and some are not known for certain.
I haven’t seen the Kagero book, I am not a fan of their series after seeing so many errors on e.g. Scharnhorst, but it may be better than the AOTS book.
Not overly useful in building, but Robert Ballard’s book on finding the Bismarck (he’s also the guy that found Titanic) is really interesting and does have some cool photos. Not to mention, as a history buff I ran through it pretty quick.
Groot