As I am planning to do a ROG Bismarck in the not-too-distant future (as soon as I can get my hands on a 1/350 Prinz Eugen!), and as I have not built the Bismarck for many years in any scale, I thought it might be a good idea to work with a ‘test bed’ first. Accordingly, I managed to pick up an old Tamiya Bismarck kit and will use this for practise. It’s the version that offers a motorised version, and I think I will build it this way and give it to my very young nephew when I am done with it. All the parts are there, and after doing some trial fittings, it appears that Tamiya has done a very good job, and no wonder this kit has been around for so long! Anyways, does anyone have any tips or warnings about this kit that I need to look out for?
It is a very good kit for its time. The three deck pieces and gluing them to avoid a seam are about the only thing, and of course getting correct decals for when you do the Revell kit.
Well, I’m not planning on one of the fancier paint schemes that Bismarck was known for in the4 Baltic, but her appearance during her encounter with HMS Hood. This leads me to some problems in finding the right paints! It appears that Bismarck was essentially in a ‘50/51’ paint scheme at the time, with RAL 7000 (Squirrel grey) for the hull, and RAL 7001 for the superstructure (I can fool around a bit in shading the ‘painted out’ chevrons and swastikas). Problem is, I am having a hard time finding a suitable paint source to convert these to Tamiya colors. It seems absurd, but they don’t appear to have anything that really matches, other than ‘Neutral Grey’ for the hull, and ‘Light Grey’ for the superstructure. Oh, and don’t just say ‘buy some paints from WEM,’ because WEM doesn’t seem to have anything in stock, and are in the midst of some great move to the US, and it is unknown when they will be up and running again… Any thoughts?
Searat12:
Could you use some of the Tamiya spray can colors? I really haven’t looked at the exact colors of the Bismarck but if it’s basically a dark grey/light grey combo, how about one of the Japanese colors such as Kure or Sasebo grey? They also make a light grey for Japanese naval aircraft that might match (AS-2). I too have a Tamiya Bismarck that I haven’t started yet and would be interested in what you decide on. I bought the Eduard PE set for it and it is very nice.
Michael Lacey
I can confirm that contrary to many false rumours and disinformation, WEM are not moving to the US, nor are any of their products not in stock. John Snyder is moving, but not the company.
Everything is still available as I write this.
Kriegsmarine colours can be found here -
RAL 7000 translates to FS35237 ‘Grayish Blue,’ and RAL 7001 translates to FS36375… but that’s about as far as i have gotten so far, and any help would be appreciated!
The last three orders I made with WEM were not filled (paints, and a book assigning colors to Japanese ships), and there was no indication on their website that they were out of stock either, so just a lot of time wasted with no results. Even more annoying, the last time they sent me a package (at my expense) which only contained their latest price lists, and not the paints that I ordered! So i think i will wait a few months before trying to order anything from them again…
Seems odd.
Out of all the retailers I have dealt with, WEM would come out tops in terms of speed of order turnaround, quality, and sheer helpfulness.
Have you contacted them about any of this? I’m sure they’d love to hear about it.
Model Master & I believe poly scale are based on the FS numbers you metioned.
if you can’t find them there try here this may help
HTH
Paul
Had you looked at the bottom of that invoice in January, you would have seen the following:
“Items shown as ordered but not supplied are back-ordered and will follow as soon as possible.”
And in fact, you were not charged anything when we sent you those price lists–that was at OUR expense. The total on the bottom of the invoice was £0.00. The backordered book and paints WERE charged on March 16, and are now on the way to you–as promised by that statement on the bottom of the first invoice.
As for there being no in-stock indication on our website, we just don’t have the facility or the staff to do that. If you ever have a question about stock availability, just drop us an e-mail. We’re always glad to check stock for anyone.
Well, that’s nice to know, but again, the order was in January, and here it is late March, and still no goods. I ordered some other paints back last Summer, and only some came through initially, though some more showed up later. Generally, it is not a big deal, and in future, I will always email first to make sure the stuff is in stock before ordering, but a simple email back when the order is being processed to indicate that there is a problem would be a good thing, yes? Might save you on postage and other handling as well…